News | Election 2013
Outflanked on the Right Gary Schimmels helped a conservative group take over the Spokane Valley City Council — but now he’s facing a primary challenge from someone claiming to be even more conservative By Daniel Walters
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n 2009, Spokane Valley Councilman Gary Schimmels, despite being an incumbent, brandished the banner of “Positive Change.” He joined Dean Grafos, Brenda Grassel, Tom Towey and Bob McCaslin to shift the balance of power on the council and irrevocably changed the direction of Spokane Valley. But now he’s under siege from many of his former allies. Schimmels is used to running unopposed. Yet he’s defending his council seat on two fronts, facing a primary with longtime political candidate DeeDee Loberg on the left and Ed Pace, a part-time Lutheran pastor, on the right.
spokane valley primary
Spokane Valley Councilman Gary Schimmels (left) faces two challengers: DeeDee Loberg and Ed Pace.
“The bottom line is I have two people running against me, and I’m not used to it,” Schimmels says. A few years ago, Schimmels and the Positive Change bloc defeated the Sprague-Appleway Revitalization Plan. SARP, as the plan was dubbed, was an ambitious, pricey overhaul of city zoning and signage codes, intended to resurrect vacancy-ridden Sprague Avenue and give the Valley a distinct downtown. The Positive Change group eliminated the program, believing it would suffocate the free market. Over the past year, the city of Spokane Valley has focused on more immediate concerns, like looking for a city hall location, funding reconstruction of the Sullivan Road bridge and fixing roads. Loberg thought SARP was a good idea. Running
against Schimmels and Pace, she says the city needs a vision. “There’s no long-term strategic planning going on,” Loberg says. She worries that the Valley is focused too narrowly on pleasing businesses. “They’re leaning too far toward ‘business-friendly’ stuff,” says Loberg. “I understand being friendly, but there’s quality-of-life issues that butt up against businessfriendly issues.” So far, the deeper conflict seems to be between Schimmels and Pace, who accuses Schimmels of abandoning the Positive Change ideology. “It turns out his participation in Positive Change was mainly opposition to SARP,” Pace says. “He drifted away from them on anything else. I would stick with the original Positive Change principles:
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