Anderson

From Paben

Tom Anderson, who is running for County executive, has scheduled his campaign kick-off event for Sunday, June 5 with a meet and greet event.

Anderson is running against County Executive Pete Kremen, who is running for re-election. Anderson is a local business owner and was manager of the county Public Utilities District for 16 years. He’s an engineering consultant and part owner of Advanced Solar Energy LLC. He is currently chairman of the Whatcom Dispute Resolution Center board.

The meet and greet is scheduled for 3 p.m. on June 5, at Ridge Wine Bar, 1017 N. State St. Click here to see his campaign website.

According to the press release:

“We’ve had a failure of leadership. To restore a smartly run county and a vibrant local economy, I will work with the public to promote understanding of our local governments, and cultivate governmental partnerships. I will listen to my constituents to determine how to best manage planning. I will seek public input on criminal justice solutions, and I promise action on the issues of our water quality and availability.”

Click here to see my last post on Kremen.

From Paben

Bellingham Mayor Dan Pike has been endorsed by a local firefighters union in his re-election bid.

Pike, who is running for re-election and is being challenged by Kelli Linville and Clayton Petree, got the endorsement from the Bellingham-Whatcom County Professional Fire Fighters IAFF LOCAL 106. IAFF stands for International Association of Fire Fighters.

“In the tough economic times Dan inherited, we feel strongly that no leader could have done a better job of steering the City,” Political Action Chair, Willie Spaulding, stated in a press release. “He has shown his dedication to public safety as well as his integrity by collaborating up to a point, and then taking a principled stand for what’s right when compromise would hurt the community. He has earned the respect of the membership, and we wholeheartedly endorse Mayor Pike for re-election.”

Linville, a longtime state representative for the 42nd District, recently received the endorsement from the Bellingham Police Guild, the union representing police officers. Click here to see more on that. Click here to see Linville’s election page.

Click here to see Pike’s re-election webpage. Click here to see his Facebook page.

Click here to see Petree’s election page. Petree owns a company called Public Policy Perspectives with his father, Jack Petree.

According to the state Public Disclosure Commission, Pike has raised $17,856 for his re-election, Linville has raised $6,570 and Petree raised $820.

From Paben

Some of the mayors of our towns have endorsed County Executive Pete Kremen in his re-election bid, Kremen announced.

The following mayors endorsed him:

• Gary Jensen of Ferndale
• Bonnie Onyon of Blaine
• Bob Bromley of Sumas
• Jim Ackerman of Nooksack
• John Perry of Everson

The two that aren’t on the list are Mayor Dan Pike of Bellingham and Mayor Scott Korthuis of Lynden.

From Kremen:

“Executive Kremen has worked collaboratively and effectively with the municipal leaders of Whatcom County over many years,” Small Cities Caucus Chair and Sumas Mayor Bromley noted. Onyon said she’s supporting Kremen because “Pete has earned my trust and respect to solve problems. He genuinely cares about the well being of all the cities throughout Whatcom County.” Kremen also has received endorsements from former Bellingham Mayors Mark Asmundsen and Ken Hertz.

Kremen said he was grateful and proud of the widespread support from so many leaders of the Whatcom County community and vowed to continue his efforts and cooperation with all of the county’s municipalities.

“I am truly humbled by this show of trust and encouragement. The County and its cities face many important issues, and I look forward to continuing to work with our local officials to address our collective issues and challenges, including improving our overall local economy and employment base, as well as protecting our coveted quality of life.”

Tom Anderson, former general manager of the Whatcom County Public Utility District, has filed to run for executive. Click here to see my previous article on his filing to run.

From Paben

Republican congressman Ron Paul has a big announcement he plans to make tomorrow in Iowa (gee, what could it be?), according to USA Today.

During the 2008 presidential election, about 8 percent of Whatcom County’s GOP voters supported Ron Paul in the primary. John McCain won here with about half the votes cast.

UPDATED AT 5:10 P.M. ON APRIL 22: Herald reporter Zoe Fraley intereviewed Rojsza today. The following is from Fraley:

Political newcomer Norbert Rojsza has announced that he’s entering the mayoral race in Ferndale, joining City Councilman Brent Goodrich and current Mayor Gary Jensen in the ring.

Rojsza

Rojsza recently turned 24 and graduated from Western Washington University in December 2009 with a degree in economics, politics and philosophy. He has been working as a project manager for Artus Construction Co., owned by his dad, Art Rojsza (who you may remember from the story about his, um, interesting house), but he’s going to be working full time on his campaign now. Though he’s certainly younger than the other candidates, he seemed well-spoken and enthusiastic about the campaign.

Rojsza said he’s running because of what he called an explosion of debt under the current administration. If elected, he’d like to work to attract more businesses to Ferndale, build civic participation and reduce the city’s long-term debt, and he thinks he’ll be able to offer fresh ideas for how to run the city.

He said he’ll be filing with the PDC soon and has set up a campaign account at WECU.

Anyone interested in his campaign can send him an email at votenorbert@gmail.com, or can check out his blog by clicking here.

START OF ORIGINAL POST

From Paben

Ferndale resident Norbert Rojsza has announced his candidacy for Ferndale mayor, according to the Ferndale Record.

Mayor Gary Jensen has already announced he’s running for re-election, and City Council member Brent Goodrich has announced he’s running for the office.

Rojsza is the son of Art Rojsza, who has been involved with various causes in the Ferndale community. He also is building the eye-catching house with a tower Herald reporter Zoe Fraley recently featured.

Fraley is setting up an interview with Norbert right now. More to come …

From Paben

Laura Weide, a commissioner for the Lake Whatcom Water and Sewer District, has filed to run for re-election.

She is from Sudden Valley. Click here to see the list of members.

I just took a look at the state Public Disclosure Commission filings and this was the only new filing we haven’t previously reported. I did notice, however, that the dollars figures for money raised are getting pretty high for some candidates.

The five-digit sums raised:

Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo (re-election): $19,800
Debbie Adelstein (for county auditor): $16,375
Bellingham Mayor Dan Pike (re-election): $14,321

Click here to see what the candidates have raised and spent.

From Stark

A bill that will move up the state’s primary election by two weeks is on its way to the governor after a unanimous vote of approval in the State Senate Thursday, April 14. Secretary of State Sam Reed says the bill will make it easier for  overseas voters, including members of the military, to cast their ballots.

Here’s the press release from Reed’s office:

Washington lawmakers have voted to move the state’s primary election two weeks earlier and to make it easier for our military and overseas voters to cast ballots electronically.  Secretary of State Sam Reed, who championed the legislation, hailed the Senate’s unanimous vote Thursday that sent the measure to Governor Gregoire for her signature.

The measure, Senate Bill 5171, allows service members and Washington voters abroad to return their voted ballots by fax or email, as many states do. Currently, ballots can be sent electronically to the voter, but the final voted ballot must be returned “snail mail” before the vote will be counted.

Another key feature of the bill, also aimed at serving military and overseas voters, is moving the state’s Top 2 Primary two weeks earlier in August.  That would help the state’s 39 counties meet new federal mandates that all military and overseas ballots go out at least 45 days before Election Day.  Currently the state’s relatively late primary makes it difficult for some counties to get the ballots in the mail on time. (After each primary, it takes three weeks to have results certified, followed by state certification, possible recounts or court proceedings,  and preparation of a wide array of ballots.)

Last year, the state got special federal permission to keep its 30-day advance mailout deadline, since Washington accepts military and overseas ballots for three weeks after the Election Day. That gives the state over 50 days total transit time.  However, the feds advised Washington that the 45-day pre-election deadline is important and that the state shouldn’t try to get by with annual requests for waivers.

The measure, sponsored by Sens.  Steve Hobbs, Pam Roach and others, also moves filing week earlier and revises candidate filing provisions in the event of a vacancy.

The earlier primary will begin next year.

Reed said: “We appreciate the virtually unanimous support in our Legislature for changes that will bring us into full compliance with federal law, which we have long supported.  Senator Hobbs, Rep. Chris Hurst and other key legislators were extremely helpful in moving this legislation forward.  and we thanks them.

“We have a long and proud history in this state of providing strong voter services to our military and to the many people whose jobs take them abroad or serve so well in mission and relief work.”

Washington has roughly 50,000 military and overseas voters, and the fifth highest military population in America.  We have five military installations.

From Paben

I found the entire Associated Students of Western Washington University election code, which was just revised and approved in February. Click here to see it.

The student government board of directors approved the policy.

Here is the language regarding writing editorials for publications for or against candidates:

The following campaign activities shall not be permitted at any time for students seeking or considering seeking elective office, or seeking to place a measure on the ballot, or campaigning for or against a measure on the ballot, or for students associated with a campaign:

(1) the authoring of articles or editorials in campus publications explicitly supportive or disparaging of a candidacy, unless the publication offers equal space and opportunity to publish to all candidates for a given position.

(2) the posting or writing of campaign materials or messages of any sort on classroom chalkboards or whiteboards, or on screen savers or backgrounds of any campus computer.

(3) the distribution, posting or display of any physical campaign materials on the main campus of WWU, except at those times and places permitted by this code.

(4) campaigning of any sort in the public spaces of WWU residence halls or WWU dining halls.

(5) verbal campaigning of any sort, with the exclusion of the collection of signatures on a filing petition, in academic classrooms.

When a candidate breaks the rules, an opposing candidate or “affected party” can file a grievance. It could result in forfeiting of the campaign filing fee ($25) and disqualification.

Combing through the election code, I found other requirements of interest. For example, the limit for campaign expenditures is $150: (more…)

From Paben

Under new rules, students running for student government positions at Western Washington University can be punished based on the actions of a newspaper they have no control over.

Let me explain. According to The Western Front, the student-run paper at Western, new elections rules state that if any candidate writes a piece about their candidacy in a publication, the publication must also offer the other candidates the same opportunity, as well as the same amount of space. If it doesn’t, then the original candidate could be disqualified.

It doesn’t even have to be the candidate writing the piece. The rule also applies to people associated with a campaign who write in favor of a candidate.

Click here to see the article in the current issue (it starts at the bottom of the front page).

The Front’s editorial board is against this particular rule. See page 15 for the editorial. The effect of the rule, the editorial board wrote, is to deter candidates from writing in the Front about their candidacy, depriving the campus community of candidate information during elections.

“In the outside world, candidates running for office are able to freely use newspapers when campaigning,” they wrote. “Why should the rules be different on a college campus?”

What do you think?

Gov. Chris Gregoire laughs with Secretary of State Sam Reed at the ceremony for the signing of SB 5124, which makes voting state wide entirely by mail.

Our state has become the second in the union to conduct elections entirely by mail.

The governor just signed Senate Bill 5124, which required all counties to use the vote-by-mail system. The lone holdout was Pierce County.

The first state to vote completely by mail was Oregon.

From the state Secretary of State’s Office:

As a practical matter, it won’t be a change for most voters, since 98 percent of the statewide vote is now conducted by mail. It will, however, mean that Pierce County, the lone holdout, will need to end use of polling places.

Vote-by-mail gained traction incrementally in Washington. In 1993, the Legislature authorized voters to sign up for permanent absentee voting, meaning a ballot would be sent out automatically for each election. Well over half of the electorate eventually signed up. That same year, a new law authorized nonpartisan primary elections to be handled by mail.

In 2005, six years ago, counties were allowed to decide whether to switch to all vote-by-mail, with the decision to be made by the County Auditor and the County Commission or Council. Counties soon signed up, with some also holding public advisory votes. King, representing 1 voter in 3, was the last major county to switch. That left Pierce as the lone outlier; the County Executive and Auditor supported the change, the County Council did not.

For several sessions, the Legislature declined to mandate that Pierce join the rest of the state, citing the state’s tradition of local control. As more and more Pierce voters themselves switched and as the participation rate for pollsite voters lagged and the price tag rose, Secretary of State Sam Reed, Auditor Julie Anderson, Executive Pat McCarthy, County Auditors and others again turned to Olympia for help. Sen. Scott White, D-Seattle, sponsored the bill and it passed both chambers.

The governor was joined at a bill-signing ceremony by White, Reed and three auditors (Kris Swanson of Cowlitz, Marianne Nichols of Pend Oreille and Kim Wyman of Thurston).

Reed said later that he was pleased that the state is now all vote-by-mail and predicted that the system will spread to other states, particularly in Western states that already have permanent absentee voting as an option.

“Vote-by-mail has been very successful in Washington, including in Pierce County. It simplifies things for the voter and for the election administrators not to have two parallel methods of voting. It is less expensive and I believe it boosts voter participation. Even before counties started switching, many voters themselves decided that this is the way they prefer to vote, over a period of several weeks, in the privacy and convenience of their own homes.”

CORRECTED AT 4:50 P.M. ON APRIL 1: Anderson is one of the owners of Advanced Solar Energy LLC. There are other partners in the corporation. Click here to see more. I’ve corrected it below. - JP

From Paben

I just got off the phone with Tom Anderson and he confirmed that he has filed to run against Pete Kremen for county executive.

Anderson, 62, a Bellingham-area resident, owns an engineering company called “Solutions by Engineer” and is one of the owners of a solar power company called “Advanced Solar Energy LLC.” His company did the solar panels recently for the North Fork Brewery.

Anderson said he is running because he doesn’t see Kremen taking action to prepare the community for the rough ride we face in the economy and because of climate change. The county needs to take the lead in informing people of the risks we all face, he said.

“I’m thoroughly convinced that the human species faced a time of potentially significant change,” he said. “If we don’t work on understanding what those changes are and what they mean to us, locally and collectively, we’re going to have a really rough time of it.”

Specifically, he said one of the biggest things the county can do is switch to compressed natural gas to power vehicles. We’re already creating energy from manure in the county, and if county government signed a contract for natural gas to power its fleet it would bring facilities need to fuel up their own CNG-powered vehicles, he said.

“People don’t do it because, right now, there is no CNG to fill up their car,” he said. (more…)

From Stark

Scott Brown delighted Republicans when he won an election that enabled him to serve out the remainder of Sen. Ted Kennedy’s term after the Massachusetts liberal lion died in 2009.

But now, Politico reports, one Tea Party leader says Brown is throwing his former supporters under the bus in arguing against cutting social and cultural program funding too deeply.

Brown is modulating his message in an understandable effort to improve his reelectability in what tends to be a blue state. (Mitt Romney did the same when he was running for and serving as the state’s governor, and the positions he embraced then are still haunting his latest likely presidential candidacy.)

Brown’s moderation has provoked talk of running a more acceptable Tea Party person against him in the next Republican primary.

From Paben

The Ferndale Record is reporting that Brent Goodrich will run against incumbent Gary Jensen for Ferndale mayor this year. Click here to see more.

Goodrich

The article states that he has concerns about the city’s indebtedness, as well as project management and long-term planning for downtown.

It doesn’t appear that he’s filed paperwork with the state Public Disclosure Commission yet. Under state law, he must file paperwork within two weeks of becoming a candidate. Simply announcing his candidacy makes him a candidate (he doesn’t necessarily have to start raising money for the campaign).

It’s not clear exactly, but it appears he sent out a notice to the Record that he’s a candidate on Friday, March 18. The article, which is dated March 23 (when the paper came out) says he provided notice on Friday.

From Paben

A Ferndale resident named Jeff Marks has filed with the state to run for Ferndale School District, position 2, this fall.

This isn’t the position that’s now vacant after the board director resigned. Instead, this is the seat currently held by school board vice president Stuart McKay.

This would normally be a School Days blog item, but reporter Kira Cox is on vacation, so I thought I’d post it to the Politics blog. Click here to see Marks’ C1 filing at the state Public Disclosure Commission.

Click here to see the district boundaries.

In other election news, Debbie Adelstein, chief deputy auditor at the Whatcom County Auditor’s Office, has raised $10,000 in her bid for auditor. A total of $4,500 has been donated to her campaign from her personal funds, and her husband gave her $800. She lended herself another $4,700 for the campaign. She hasn’t spent any more yet, records show.

Her opponent, J. Lynne Walker, legislative administrator for the Bellingham City Council, has raised a total of $5,062 and spent $2,687. She also loaned herself $4,700, and she her largest cash contribution comes from Janet Cray ($250), a wetlands specialist. Her largest expenditure is to her campaign manager, Nick Fletcher, for $2,500.

From Paben

CORRECTED AT 9:30 A.M. ON MARCH 22: I had a bad link below to previous post about J. Lynne Walker filing to run for auditor. I’ve fixed it now. Sorry about that. - JP

Debbie Adelstein, chief deputy auditor for Whatcom County, will run to replace Auditor Shirley Forslof, who is retiring after this term, Adelstein announced.

J. Lynne Walker, legislative administrator for the Bellingham City Council, has also filed to run for the auditor’s position.

Following is the announcement from Adelstein, who has worked for the office since 2003 and for Whatcom County government since 1996:

Debbie Adelstein, the Chief Deputy Auditor, has announced her candidacy for Whatcom County Auditor. Adelstein brings six years of senior experience to the office as the Chief Deputy of the Auditor’s office.

Adelstein

“It is with great pride that I would continue the important legacy of innovation and efficiency that has been created in the Auditor’s Office under Shirley Forslof’s leadership,” said Adelstein. “Having performed the function of supervising our operations over the past six years, there would be no transition period required in the change of office administrations.” (more…)