SPOKANE -- Spokane County Assessor Ralph Baker has purchased an ad in the Spokesman-Review newspaper criticizing KREM 2 News over our series of investigative reports called "The Assessor's Mess."
According to the Spokesman-Review, that ad will appear in tomorrow's paper.
Our series stemmed from a whistle-blower complaint filed by appraiser Debi Mason. Mason claimed potential fraud after discovering that millions of dollars in properties were not on the tax roles. Many homes had gone unassessed for years although we found them to be in plain sight.
The Assessor's Office did an internal investigation and found no wrong-doing. County Assessor Baker transferred Mason to work under the supervision of the person she had filed the complaint against. Mason subsequently resigned.
In Thursday's article, Baker says he was being blamed for a problem he inherited and fixed when he took office in January, 2005.
When we began this series, KREM 2 News sought an interview with Assessor Baker. We wanted to hear what he had done to fix the problem. And with so much property missing from the tax roles and an allegation of fraud, we wanted to know why the Assessor's Office did the bulk of the investigation itself instead of turning it over to a third party or police.
Over the course of many weeks, I talked to Baker on the phone and he agreed to an interview to answer the questions. Just hours before the interview, he canceled, saying he did so on the advice of his attorney.
I haven't seen a copy of Friday's ad. We stand by our story investigating Mason's whistle-blower complaint and what Assessor Baker did or did not do as a result.
The Spokesman-Review called me to ask if my own telephone challenge to an assessment three to four years ago was my motivation for the story. I told them that was ridiculous and I never appealed.
