The year before Danny Tarkenton filed to challenge Preston McCollam in his first election to be the Spokane County Prosecutor, he fired her from her job as a deputy prosecutor in the same office. Less than a month later, Tarkenton brought a tort claim against the county, which it settled in January for $20,000, according to documents obtained by RANGE. After the settlement, the prosecutor’s office recorded her separation as a resignation rather than a termination.
The documents show McCollam terminated Tarkenton on August 25, 2025, accusing her of insubordination, after she’d alleged her supervisor violated due process rights in multiple cases and created a workplace in which she felt unsafe.
She had been on the job for five months…