(The Center Square) – Spokane County appointed Preston McCollam on Tuesday to serve the last year of former Prosecuting Attorney Larry Haskell’s term, maintaining the status quo until the next election.
The Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously for McCollum after interviewing him and two other candidates. While each had a chance to present their case, Tuesday’s appointment follows a July vote that elevated McCollum to acting prosecutor ahead of a more formal process for the interim role.
Haskell announced his retirement in June after having served as chief prosecutor since 2015, with his replacement serving under him for the last 10 years. The county named McCollum as the head of the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney’s criminal division in 2023, and he is now in charge of 65 attorneys.
“When we have a project to address, I will routinely pick people that I know will disagree with me and that will fully flesh out what their position is, and then I’m prepared,” McCollum said Tuesday about his approach to management. “Because a good leader doesn’t just pick people that say yes to them.”
McCollam cited his current job as the greatest achievement of his career. The interim prosecutor plans to address inefficiencies in the system by prioritizing charges instead of forwarding every option they have for a case. Building stronger connections with surrounding jurisdictions is also a top priority.
The other two candidates were Marshall Casey, an attorney with his own practice, and Steve Garvin, an assistant attorney general for the state’s chief legal officer. The Spokane County Republican Party recommended all three applicants last month to serve the rest of the term pursuant to state law.
The Washington State Constitution requires that local officials fill any vacancy in a partisan office with one of three applicants nominated by the county’s central committee of the last official’s party. In this case, voters elected Haskell as a Republican, so the Spokane GOP was in charge of the nominations.
Casey said he put his name in the hat last to give the county an option outside of those serving the office. Unlike the other two, he doesn’t have any prosecutorial experience, but has litigated for years, representing plaintiffs such as Sean Feucht, a Christian activist suing the city of Spokane.
“I’m your third option,” Casey told the board, “but if you’re looking for something unique, that’s me.”
The last time that voters reelected Haskell was in 2022, with that term ending on December 31, 2026.
The winner of the 2026 General Election will take over as the county prosecutor in January 2027, with McCollum and Garvin currently campaigning for office. The deadline to file as an applicant is in May 2026, so others could still join the race, but McCollum and Garvin have raised around $25,000 already.
“Communities that work together make the most progress,” Garvin said. “There’s a lot of friction between, particularly the city of Spokane and Spokane County, so I’m eager to get in there and work hard on those issues to identify where we can collaborate, where we can compromise and negotiate, and if we can’t, I’m proposing to you that we bring effective measures like nuisance lawsuits.”
