Evan Smith on Politics: Reviewing 2013 in Shoreline and Lake Forest Park
Saturday, January 4, 2014
By Evan Smith
Local politics in 2013 featured an election where the major contests were for the Ronald Wastewater District Board and for the Lake Forest Park City Council.
While positions on those two bodies were hotly contested, four incumbent Shoreline City Council members and two incumbent Shoreline School Board members won easily, with three of the Shoreline Council members and both School Board members unopposed.
The year started with the appointment of Seattle attorney Rod Dembowski to a vacancy representing Shoreline, Lake Forest Park and the rest of County Council District 1 on the Metropolitan King County Council. County Council members from the other eight county council districts chose Dembowski over Shoreline City Councilman Will Hall and Democratic 32nd District State Rep. Cindy Ryu to replace Bob Ferguson after Ferguson became state attorney general.
When both Hall and Ryu decided not to challenge Dembowski for a full four-year term, Dembowski had an easy run through the August primary and November general election, defeating November opponent Naomi Wilson, 75 percent to 24 percent.
Instead of challenging Dembowski, Hall won re-election to the Shoreline City Council. Hall and fellow Council members Keith McGlashan and Shari Winstead all won without opposition. A fourth incumbent Shoreline council member, Chris Roberts, defeated his opponent by a 75 percent to 24 percent margin.
Lake Forest Park voters elected three new Council members – Mark Philips, John Resha, and Hilda Thompson, while incumbent Councilman John Wright won without opposition.
In the Ronald Wastewater District, incumbent Art Wadekamper was eliminated in the primary and saw the candidate he endorsed in the general election, Ginny Scantlebury, lose to opponent Gretchen Atkinson by a 51 percent to 48 percent margin. Appointed incumbent Ronald Wastewater Commissioner Richard Matthews survived the primary but lost in November to challenger George Webster by a 53 percent to 47 percent margin.
A statewide ballot measure that would have required labeling of genetically modified food, got strong local support but lost statewide by a 51-49 margin.
News outside the election saw Julie Underwood resign as Shoreline city manager when she moved with her family to California during the summer. The City Council replaced her by elevating Debbie Tarry from assistant city manager.
Reach Evan Smith at schsmith@frontier.com.
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5 comments:
Odd that the author regards Shoreline's Underwood resignation and Tarry promotion as a political topic, while ignoring every other council action.
Wadekamper was "eliminated," Matthews "survived," but no mention of Degginger, who failed to threaten. Such biased annd uneven reporting is a disservice. Must the readers be forced to depend on commenters to provide balance?
Well, Mr. Smith, I have appreciated your reporting for the year. Thank You!
~ Jason Colberg
How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don't think.
~ AH
In reviewing the Rona,d Wastewater District election, I viewd the big news az the rejection of the incumbents, one of whm was eliminatec in the primary and the other who survived the pri.mary but lost iin the general election. I didn't mention the other losing primary candidate for the same reason that I didn't mention the candidate who lost in the primary for county council or all of the candidates who lost November city-council elections.
As for mentioning the change in city managers, I was noting the change in Shoreline's chief executive. I had just written a similar review of the year in Soutn Snohomish County, where a major event was the departure of the longtime Mountlake Terrace city manager, an event that is just as signficant as the defeat of Lynnwood's mayor and the election of two new Lynnwood council members.
--Evan Smith
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