Dear Voter

There has been a lot of intentional misinformation spoken and reported about our decision to purchase the Spokane Raceway Park, and we have found it impossible to get the truth out through local print and electronic media.

For instance, truth is we paid half of what a similar industrial parcel just 1 mile away from this site sold for several years ago. If it were down zoned to housing, we paid about $2500 per residential lot (lots go for around $40,000 as a minimum today); and industrial is worth much more. Experts continue to tell me this was an extremely good price and that we could resell it tomorrow for a profit.

Second, my opponent is trying to scare you into believing this is an environmental "SuperFund" site and that it will cost more than $5,000,000 to clean up. Neither of these are true; both our and independent experts have verified this. Most importantly, the company handling the sale (in contract and then again orally last week before the Court) confirmed they will set aside 125% of the cost estimate required to clean up the site out of their proceeds, not your tax dollars, to pay for the clean up; no matter what the cost is.

Third, some want you to believe we stripped this from the hands of the private sector at the auction and we knew it. If that were true, why did it take the Spokesman Review court action and 3 months to get the names of the bidders at the auction?

Finally, though it is true one of our motives was a bold investment to help diversify our local economy in the area of tourism (Harry Sladich, the CEO for Spokane Convention and Visitors Bureau in charge of tourism called our decision a Home Run), we also acquired the facility to get kids off of our streets with their street rods, to run a law enforcement training facility, and to partner with the City of Airway Heights on a regional baseball and soccer park. Either one of these last two functions would have cost taxpayers more than we paid for the whole deal!

I have thought long and hard about how to describe the 8 months of research or the numerous reasons why we took such a bold step, but after reading the following article in last month's Spokane Journal of Business, I believe the best thing to do is let you read what well-respected business writers think about our decision.


Here are some links to more information regarding these issues:


Spokane Journal of Business news article -

"Big projects eyed near raceway" -By Kim Crompton


RichardforCommissioner.com Issues Page


RichardforCommissioner.com Press Releases Page