Lisa Brown promises millions more & how hubby helped
POSTED 12 July 2023
Still reeling and unable to reconcile revolving door policies that she passed in the WA legislature, Lisa Brown is digging herself deeper into an unethical abyss.
Just yesterday, Lisa Brown posted her promises,
“ … such as bringing in millions of dollars of intergovernmental revenues that this administration [Woodward] has left on the table.”
Is Lisa Brown claiming that she knew of funding for Spokane that she didn’t help happen? Or, is it that perhaps Lisa’s program millions weren’t appropriate, effective and/or only were to benefit her lobbyist friends, campaign donors and grant-grabbing “nonprofit” allies? She provides no examples of the money (our taxes) that she says she would have and will move between governments if she becomes Mayor.
Brown’s approach to budgeting (which also includes calls for a state income tax) reminds one of the movie, “Brewster’s Millions.”
How Lisa’s Husband Helped Move the Money
While Lisa Brown was Director of WA Commerce (serving our whole state) her husband, Brian McClatchey was the Spokane City Council policy advisor and governmental affairs director who told The Inlander reporter Daniel Walters,
“Former policy adviser, Brian McClatchey, says he wouldn't even show up for meetings that discussed Commerce Department funding when his wife — Lisa Brown, who announced her campaign for Spokane mayor last week — was director of that state agency.”
McClatchey’s claim that he and his wife Brown kept strict ethical boundaries is difficult to believe on its face - insulting when you consider just three of hundreds of emails between the two …
In this one, Lisa emails Brian about how she can put Spokane Council Members in touch with her subordinates for small business grants. Please note that this email didn’t include the Mayor of Spokane, Council Members, business organizations – just her husband, so that he could “broker” the news. Did Lisa send such a personal touch note and offer to expedite contact with her staff to our state’s hundreds of other cities, counties, etc?
Here, McClatchey emails his wife and another Spokane City employee to set up a meeting regarding funding Dept. of Commerce funding. Not a bad move, except that this is exactly the opposite of how he portrayed his relationship with his wife in The Inlander above. Also, how many of McClatchey’s counterparts throughout our state had such special privileges to access a Cabinet Director? Most others likely had to go through a series of schedulers and subordinates.
This third example is yet another request from McClatchey to discuss Commerce funding. While he addresses another contact at Commerce, he includes his wife (the person’s top boss) on the email. This is the public servant protocol equivalent of demanding to be seated at the best table at the restaurant immediately, because, “I know the owner.”
Note that Betsy Wilkerson is the person for whom McClatchey is attempting to schedule the meeting. Is this what Wilkerson means when she campaigns for her “full force political trifecta” with Lisa Brown as Mayor, Wilkerson as Council President and her politically-aligned Council majority?
PART 2 COMING – STAY TUNED … and stay On the Ball 509!