Another election, another crib sheet. I've dropped all pretense of objectivity. I am of the Green persuasion and view all candidates through that filter. First and foremost I want to be sure we have a functioning planet on which to live. Then I want to be sure that everyone has the minimum necessary to live a meaningful life. You will find that bias evident in all my comments on candidates. I have really tried to keep the snark level to a dull roar.
Where a candidate has provided contact information, I have posted it. A surprising number have not. I was also surprised to discover that some of the candidates have not filed any reports with the state Public Disclosure Commission. For those who did, I have included the basic financial information.
For more information (precious little of it from what I see), check out the on-line voters' pamphlet at https://wei.sos.wa.gov/county/island/en/Elections/Pages/OnlineVotersGuide.aspx
And then there are the basics of the voting process. Your ballot envelopes need to be stamped and in the mail before the last dispatch (somewhere around 4:00 pm) on August 5, or in one of the special collection boxes (no stamp needed) before 8:00 pm on August 5.
Those boxes are at:
Island County Elections Office 400 N Main Street Coupeville
Oak Harbor City Hall 865 Barrington Drive Oak Harbor
Trinity Lutheran Church (in the parking lot) 18341 SR 525 Freeland
Ken's Corner (in front of Red Apple) 4141 SR 525 Clinton
Camano Annex 121 N East Camano Drive Camano Island
U.S. Representative
Partisan Office,
2-year term
Mike Lapointe
Independent
Mike
Lapointe is that refreshing phenomenon: someone who speaks his mind, without
first weighing how his response will play with this or that constituency or
potential donor. And what I heard him say was also refreshing, as well as
encouraging. He calls himself the 99% Independent for the People. Here is a
genuine populist in the mold of Jim Hightower. He is clear that corporations
are not people and money is not speech, and that we must not destroy the
environment for profit. His focus is jobs, but along the way he also has good
positions on issues such as the Growlers at OLF and coal trains to Bellingham. I intend to vote for Mike.
http://mikelapointe.org/voter-guide-statement/
Rick Larsen
Democratic - incumbent
I used to
hold my nose and vote for Rick because the alternative was usually some
unthinkable right wing loonie. No more. Rick has overstepped the last bound as
far as I’m concerned. He does not recognize the global impacts of the proposed
coal terminal at Bellingham, trotting out the tired old mantra of ‘jobs’ to
justify this planet killer, and he says “if we don’t do it, somebody else will”.
He supports the KXL pipeline for the
same tired old reasons. He also supports the Navy in any and everything it
does, whether its driving people out of their heads on central Whidbey or
killing Orcas and just about anything else in the ocean with ‘active sonar’
military exercises.
Sorry Rick, but you can’t keep spitting on your constituents
and expect them to continue to support you.
http://www.ricklarsen.org/
B.J. Guillot
Republican
Your
typical computer geek, working in “public safety” related fields. His take on
issues appears to be Libertarian Republican, and overly simple. Because he’s a
geek he favors internet freedom and curbs on NSA spying. But he is focused on
the national debt and what is euphemistically called a ‘fair’ tax, a shift from
income taxes to sales taxes. The best I can say after checking their website is
that the ‘fair’ tax folks are well meaning but deluded. The worst I can say is
that they are trying to bankrupt the country.
He favors a strong military, but not endless war (well, one positive
point). On the other hand he “fully supports the 2nd amendment” and
has a concealed pistol license (so he's against gun control). On energy he says he wants ‘all forms of
energy’, including nuclear, oil, gas, coal, hydro, geothermal, solar, and wind.
He thinks research on nuclear should be a priority, along with fusion reactors.
Oh boy.
http://www.vote4bj.com/
State
Representative Position 1
Partisan office, 2 year term
Norma Smith Republican - incumbent
Norma wants to promote
jobs by making life easier for business, reducing the cost of doing business,
“attracting job creators.” This usually means foregoing serious review and analysis. She talks a good line about protecting farmland (by
protecting farmers from environmental regulations), supporting state parks (gotta say, she’s good on this
issue). My personal dealings with Norma have been positive. Its just her votes
that bother me – a lot. Given that she
has only one opponent and he is downright scary, I’ll be voting for Norma.
$56k raised, $18k spent
Michael Scott Libertarian
Libertarians
are so far out there its hard to explain. They want to move to a “uniform
consumption tax on all final retail sales of goods and services.” They prefer
user fees to taxes. That includes for transportation. Sure, all the folks who
use the ferry will just pay a user fee to support building new boats. Oh, we
already do that. Hmm. On health care,
they want to focus on catastrophic instead of comprehensive insurance and care.
Oh boy. Don’t bother with preventive medicine, just wait until after the heart
attack. And they want to focus on cash subsidies. Not clear where that cash
would come from since they don’t want to collect taxes. Fundamentally, they
don’t believe there should be a state to oversee commerce, and a doctor/patient
relationship is a commercial one, so they see not need for government oversight
of doctors (or other professionals). You just decide for yourself if this
person is competent to perform surgery on you, and we don't need to bother with all that paperwork involved in certification. Who needs all those bureaucratic departments like public health, food inspections, occupational safety, etc? Individuals will just make their individual decisions about whether the water is drinkable or the food untainted.
I may have my differences with Norma, but at least she
believes in government.
$0 raised, $0 spent
State Representative
Position 2
Partisan Office, 2 year term
Dave Hayes Republican - incumbent
Your typical middle aged white cop (He’s a Snohomish County
deputy). He is endorsed by the National Rifle Association and by Human Life of
Washington for his votes against gun control and insurance coverage for
abortion. He’s also endorsed by some very anti-environmental organizations such
as the Farm Bureau and Association of Washington Business. Probably because he
voted against a proposed carbon emission reduction study. He voted in favor of
law enforcement being able to use “extraordinary sensing devices” – a bill
Governor Inslee vetoed. And he sponsored a bill to make compliance with water
quality standards voluntary. He failed Project Vote Smart’s “Political Courage
Test” in 2012 (politicalcourage@votesmart.org).
He’s had his turn. Now its time for someone who actually represents us and our
values.
50k raised, 29k spent
David Sponheim Democratic
This guy is not actually a democrat. He’s with something
called America’s Third Party, which appears to have a fairly typical
Libertarian agenda. This is the guy who does a takeoff of Barack Obama, in
blackface and phony ‘darky’ accent, and can’t understand why people are put
off. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWXMqpb8tpg.
His website touts “Free Speech, Gun Rights, and Privacy.” One of his major
issues is repealing the septic tank inspection requirement. Hard to take him seriously as a candidate.
no record
Nick Petrish Democratic
Starting from a focus on jobs and the infrastructure
necessary to create and maintain them, Mr Petrish goes on to specify the need
for clean energy, support for local agricultural production, and local
(in-state) banking services. He has a comprehensive overview on state budgets
and how we support positive change. I would like to know a whole lot more about
this guy, but given the three other candidates, I’ll be voting for Nick
Petrish.
$1925 raised, $0
spent
Brien Lillquist Republican
Mr Lillquist has been running for one office or another for
decades. We are all very lucky that he has never won. There is no information
about him available from Project Vote Smart or Ballotopedia. He has no website,
no facebook page, and no twitter account. He has been a gadfly around Oak
Harbor for many years, throwing the school board and the parks board into
turmoil on various occasions. He had a Huey helicopter sitting in his front yard for
5 years. He’s a former airplane mechanic, inspector, and pilot. He used to
write semi-coherent letters to the editor. Not a serious candidate.
$0 raised, $0 spent
County
Assessor
Partisan Office 4
year term
Mary Wilson-Engle Republican - incumbent
She is running unopposed so I will not be voting for this
position.
County Auditor
Partisan Office 4
year term
Pretty stupid to have this be a partisan position.
Rebecca (Becky) Wagner
Independent
Becky has a ton of experience in the field. She actually has
an accounting background and has worked in both the Skagit and Island county
auditors’ offices. She knows the job and has the head for the accounting and
record-keeping part of it. She has provided long and thoughtful responses to
questions about the office and how she would handle it. From personal
interactions with Becky I believe that she will assure that elections are open
and honest, and that voter registration will be encouraged. I’ll
be voting for Becky.
$0 raised, $0 spent
Sheilah Crider
Republican - incumbent
I’ve known Sheilah Crider since she sat on the county
planning commission, many years ago. She was for many years a realtor in Oak
Harbor. She went on to Oak Harbor city council and eventually to Island County
Auditor. The auditor’s office has several broad functions: 1) it oversees
elections 2) it maintains records relating to marriages, property titles, and
property taxes. It is an important job with a lot of nit-picky detail. Sheilah
has been doing a minimally adequate job with a lot of help from long-employed
support staff. I was not able to find anything on line more recent that 2-6-13.
Sheilah did not
respond to the Vote 411 questionnaire.
$1348 raised, $706
spent
County Clerk
Partisan Office 4 year term
Debra Van Pelt Democratic - incumbent
Because there is only a single candidate, I will not be
voting for this office.
County Coroner
Partisan Office 4 year term
Robert Bishop Republican - incumbent
Because there is only a single candidate, I will not be
voting for this office.
County Prosecutor
Partisan Office 4 year term
Greg Banks No Party Preference - incumbent
Even though I think of Greg as a friend, because there is
only one candidate, I will not be voting for this office.
County
Sheriff
Partisan Office 4
year term
Mark C Brown
Republican - incumbent
Mr Brown has been a disappointment. He appears to represent
his friends and the owners of certain private property rather than the
community at large. Thus far he and his deputies have threatened people
with arrest for walking on public tidelands based on unsubstantiated (because
they are not true) claims by neighboring private property owners that they
owned those public tidelands. I deal with a lot of panicky phone calls from people reporting
unpermitted logging and ground clearing, usually beginning on Friday afternoon
and finishing up late on Sunday. I asked Sheriff Brown shortly after he began
his first term if he would send a deputy to ask the operator to hold off until
Monday morning so that county staff could come check it out. He replied that he
would not risk one of his deputies on a “mere civil matter.”
County Treasurer
Partisan Office 4 year term
Here’s another office which really
should not be partisan. As far as I know, cash does not come in red and blue.
Its all cash and the treasurer has to account for it and invest it for the
benefit of the county.
Wanda J Grone Republican
She say’s she’s a CPA, and that’s
a useful skill in this position. She did declare for the position without
notifying her boss, the current Treasurer – which led to her being fired. It
feels like this is a petty argument among staffers in one office. I don’t have
enough facts and don’t want to contribute to the argument.
$3436.59 raised, $2972.15 spent
Christa E Canell
Republican
I’ve seen her signs on the roads, and her facebook page
touts available T-shirts. Her website lists what she sees as her
qualifications. She might be able to do the job. She’s a branch manager at Land
Title Escrow.
$3816.00 raised, $2835.49 spent
Ana Maria dNuñez
Democratic - incumbent
She’s the incumbent, and I see no reason not to re-elect
her. She has the educational qualifications, complete with a Masters in
Accounting & Fiscal Management. She’s been doing the job and upgrading the
technology in a very difficult context. And people I consider terribly
irresponsible have been gunning for her. If for no other reason, I’ll support
her against that sort of attacks. I’ll
be voting for Ana Maria.
$0 raised, $0 spent
District
3 only
County Commissioner, district 3
Partisan office 4
year short and full term
Most of us don't get to vote for the District 3 commissioner in the primary. Only residents of District 3, which includes all of Camano and Whidbey north of Oak Harbor. Two of the five candidates below will advance to the general election. All of us in Island County will then vote for one of the two in the general election.
Karla Jacks
Democratic
I attended a candidate session with Ms Jacks. I wish she had
stronger environmental leanings, but at least she favors maintaining what’s
left of our environment, the "no net loss" position, as opposed to improving our degraded environment. She is very strong on social services and protecting
those without power – children, the elderly, disabled people. I’m not happy
with her unwillingness to confront the Navy about the Growler operations at
OLF, but understand why that might be hard.
I would call her a Chamber of Commerce Democrat, someone who believes in
creating more jobs. I think we will be able to work with her and when I have
the opportunity in November, I will vote
for Karla.
Rick Hannold
Republican
Yet another retired Navy guy, tea party type. He supports
the Navy (natch) and the 2nd amendment (so he’s against gun
control). He was one of the 3 candidates nominated to finish out Kelly
Emerson’s term and as such was interviewed by the sitting commissioners. I
heard him say that he would do whatever the people wanted – as long as it was
consistent with his beliefs. I found him scary. He patently has almost zero
experience or understanding about how Island County works. He believes that the climate change controversy is manufactured, that climate change is just part of the natural course
of events. He asserts that ‘mankind is not changing the weather.’ He cites his experience on the
Oak Harbor Christian school board as preparation for sitting as a county commissioner.
$0 raised, $0 spent
AubreyVaughan
Republican - very short term incumbent
He is now the incumbent, having been chosen to fill out
Kelly Emerson’s term. I couldn’t find any website, facebook or twitter for Mr
Vaughan. He did not respond to a Vote 411 survey. I watched Mr Vaughan in
action at the 7-21-14 Commissioners’ hearing on a subject near and dear to my
heart. I am appalled. His entire focus was on private property rights and blowing up beaver dams. He had
no concept at all of protecting rare and endangered species. He wanted Island
County to opt out of the Growth Management Act and had trouble believing the planning director when he said that was not an option. He saw no reason why new
agriculture should abide by environmental laws. He said it was Island County’s
duty to challenge the state and federal governments. Really? This guy is scary.
Kelly Emerson with a veneer of civility.
$7041.44 raised, $10,949.91 spent (no info on source)
Kelly Bagley
Republican
Hey, maybe this guy is onto something. He says as a
commissioner it will be his priority to bring Joy to islanders. He learned all
about Joy as a missionary in Africa. He wants to focus on GMA and whether the
county is serious about it. He’s worried about the long-term water supply. He
wants to see if we really need the Conservation Futures Fund.
I couldn’t find any website, facebook page, or twitter
account. And this guy makes his living testing smart phones for Amazon. Hmm. https://www.elance.com/s/robertkellybagley/
No financial info available
Marc Hennemann
Republican
One more retired military guy. MA in public administration, USAF 22 yrs, high school social studies
teacher 10 years, which makes me pity his students. Clearly of the tea party persuasion. His most important issue is taxation. He basically wants to do away with taxes. He is fixated on property rights. He believes local, state, and federal agencies should take no action on climate change until it has been proven. Like all the other candidates, he loves Island County and wants to keep it
beautiful. He thinks his education & training qualify him above the other candidates.
$3144.20 raised, $1381.31 spent
