Tag Archives: state government

Inslee, Rolfes take early leads in primary election

Islanders Jay Inslee and Christine Rolfes took early leads as the first batch of primary election results were released last night.

Inslee, who is seeking his seventh term in Congress, had 56.8 percent of the vote, according to early returns. Of his three challengers, Republican James Watkins had the strongest support, with 26.1 percent.

Inslee’s support in Kitsap was actually slightly lower than in the rest of his district, which includes Redmond, Kirkland, Edmonds and Shoreline. The Kitsap portion of his district (Bainbridge, North Kitsap, Silverdale) gave Inslee 53.6 percent of the vote. Kitsapers also cast slightly more ballots in favor of Inslee challenger Matthew Burke than the rest of the district, and gave just a little less support to Watkins.

Rolfes, a former Bainbridge city councilwoman who now represents the 23rd Legislative District in the state House, drew 56.6 percent of the early return votes. Republican challenger and fellow islander James Olsen had 32.8 percent. A second Republican candidate, Aaron Winters, drew 10.3 percent.

For more coverage of the primary, head over to the Sun’s main page, HERE.

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VIDEO: Bainbridge candidates square off for state House

Rep. Christine Rolfes (D-Bainbridge Island) has a fellow islander challenging her for the state House seat she’s held for nearly four years.

Retired U.S. Coast Guard officer and local Republican activist James Olsen is running against Rolfes on a smaller-government, pro-business platform.

They are joined by Poulsbo Republican Aaron Winters, an unemployed construction foreman.

Watch the above video to see all three discuss the economy, state spending and other matters with Sun editor David Nelson. That’s Rolfes on the left side, Olsen’s in the middle and Winters is on the right.

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BI’s change-in-government bill passes House of Representatives

Rep. Rolfes
Rep. Rolfes

A bill allowing Bainbridge Islanders to vote early on changing their form of government passed the state House by a wide margin on Wednesday.

Sponsored by Rep. Christine Rolfes (D-Bainbridge Island), House Bill 1066 passed 95 to two. The bill now moves to the Senate, where it is scheduled for a committee hearing on Monday.

If expedited through the Senate, the bill could allow a public vote in May on whether to replace the city’s elected mayor position with a hired city manager.

“It was remarkable,” Rolfes said of the bill’s easy passage. “It passed by such a large margin most likely because it’s a very straightforward bill.  Legislators, all of whom have run for office, many of whom come from local government, could see the difficulty of the situation and were willing to fix it.”

Sen. Phil Rockefeller (D-Bainbridge Island) persuaded his colleagues on Thursday to allow the bill an early hearing on the Senate Government Operations and Elections Committee.

“This will expedite action on the special election bill, and I hope we can get it voted out of that committee quickly,” he said.

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Closing state parks raises big questions on Bainbridge

Gov. Chris Gregoire’s cost-cutting plan to close Fay Bainbridge and Fort Ward state parks came as a surprise to many island residents and public officials.

It also raised some big questions: Will the land be sold to developers? What about the planned sewer system connecting to Point Monroe? Is the Bainbridge park district or city or even the county willing to absorb and manage the large waterfront parks? Why does Bainbridge have to suffer the loss of two of the 13 parks slated for closure?

For now, there’s more questions than answers.

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City won’t hire a lobbyist. It’ll borrow one.

The city has opted not to hire a lobbyist to push for an early island-wide vote on changing Bainbridge’s form of government.

Instead, the city will leave the lobbying in Olympia to the Association of Washington Cities, a group in which the city is already a dues-paying member.

“It’s a great solution because it doesn’t cost us anything,” said City Councilman Kjell Stoknes, who joined his colleagues last week in supporting the altered plan.

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