From Stark
At his Election Night bash at the Bayou on Bay Restaurant, Mayor Dan Pike sounded calm and confident after the first vote count showed him trailing Kelli Linville 51-49 percent.
Pike noted that on primary night, he also trailed Linville, but had a narrow lead once the final votes were tallied. He said he was “reasonably confident” that was going to happen again.
A few blocks away at The Copper Hog, former Mayor Mark Asmundson gave Kelli Linville a hug and told listeners that Linville’s lead will grow, not shrink, as the remaining votes are counted. He predicted she will finish with 54 percent.
The next count will be released late tomorrow afternoon. The outcome may become clear at that point. Or not.
It’s so good to know we could return to politics as usual in Bellingham, where the Son of Tut and all the usual cronies will decide everything for us.
“The Son of Tut”- You make that sound as if it’s a bad thing? Tut Asmundson was integral in many important things in Bellingham as Port Commissioner; ie: The Alaska Ferry as well as expansion of the Airport. Even though he (Mark Asmundson) wouldn’t have garnered my vote, and I didn’t always agree with things he did, he did do some good and valuable things for the City of Bellingham while he was in office. Pike, on the other hand has done virtually nothing for us. Kelli made good choices for this community when she represented us at the State level, and I think her leadership will be a positive, forward move for this City. Good Luck Kelli!!
The Mayors race comes down to two issues.
And, surprisingly, one for each candidate.
If Mayor Pike loses, it will be because of his stance on the traffic cameras.
If Ms. Linville loses it will be because of her stance on the coal trains.
One deal breaker issue for both.
The late votes, my bet, will trend towards the incumbent.
Asmundson was an idiot. I always wondered how Bellingham voters could have put up with him. Linville won’t be much better, if she hangs on to her lead. They were both very beholden to special interests, whether those interests be corporate, unions, or environmental.
Last year, Bill Kidd thanked Kelli Linville for helping BP avoid paying the rightfully assessed fees in a fee based stormwater district that BP helped create. That’s all I needed to know about Kelli Linville.
I hope to be able to say Madam Mayor to a future mayor the first elected woman mayor of Bellingham soon, don’t ya know!
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
Like the rising sun, we can always count on cynical and loony conspiracy theories from g.h.kirsch. I think Adobe is working on a version of Photoshop just for him. It’s called Conspiracyshop. It renders files that are simultaneously hateful, insane, and tasteless.
While I’m no Asmundson fan, calling him an idiot is pretty inappropriate. After all, he’s no g.h.kirsch.
Math time !
Dan Pike ….6,831 votes
Kelli Linville 7,219 votes
first count :
38,237 Whatcom votes
14,050 of which in the Bham mayor race (around 37% of Whatcom votes include Bham city votes)
20,000 left to count
…so if there is an upsurge in Bham city votes, lets say to 45%, that’s 9000 more Bham votes.
Pike is behind by 388 votes on the first count, so he needs the remaining ballots to go 50/50 plus an additional surplus equal to half of his current deficit, ie he needs 194 more votes than half of the remaining votes.
ie Pike would need 4,695 of the uncounted 9000 votes, with Kelli getting 4,305 of them.
So for Pike to win, the trend would need to switch from :
Kelli 7,219 / Dan 6,831
to
Kelli 4,305 / Dan 4,695
Possible? Yes. possible.
Is it the most likely outcome?
Funny, Ed, how one man’s view of history is just another’s conspiracy theory.
Well, if you support the cronyism of the last decade or so, how do you suppose those water lines got run up the Guide to CAITAC?
Inspite of a clear prohibition of the extension of urban water or sewer services into rural areas not designated for urban growth, somehow, Bellingham quietly ignored the law to provide water service beyond the city limits for somebody.
Or how about the way they cooked the books, underestimated the land supply, to rationalize expansion of urban growth areas around the city.
I could go on.
Sure good to have friends in the right places.
Oh, but I’m just a cooky conspiracy theorist.
Fortunately, there are some conspiracies which can be demonstrated by factual evidence. Those conspiracies are not simply theories.
I agree with Mr. Kirsch that the city absolutely had Caitac in mind when it extended those larger than needed water lines up the Guide. At the Council afternoon session when this was debated, Caitac was clearly mentioned (by Councilwoman Barbara Ryan, by Mayor Asmundson, and perhaps others) and Caitac’s attorney (‘brother’ Tull) was in attendance.
I also agree the the land supply books were cooked to force an expansion of the UGA.
That being said, I hope Mr. Kirsch is wrong about Kelli Linville being one of the cronies he refers. Is a hug from the Son of Tut factual evidence that Kelli is one of Asmundson’s cronies?
Could someone please explain the Tut reference ?
Richard – that was actually his name – T.B. “Tut” Asmundson.