Remember how we had to elect a member of Congress to serve in
the First Congressional District for one month following Jay
Inslee’s resignation? Same goes in Bremerton, it seems.
Despite the fact that the Bremerton City Council named an
interim council member, Wendy Priest, following the resignation of
Roy Runyon, county elections officials say there has to be someone
elected to fill the remainder of the term. That election will be in
November and the new person would serve from the day the election
is certified, late November, until the day a new council is sworn
in, early January.
Again, what makes this necessary is redistricting. The council
boundaries will change beginning in January. In fact, they’ll go
from nine council seats to seven.
Filing for races across
the state and in the county has begun. To the right
appears to be the first filing in the state, an 8 a.m. entry by
Republican Bill Brunson of Legislative Distirct 7. As we pointed
out in the story about the legislative race in the 26th District,
odd-year elections are typically reserved for local races, such as
city councils and port and utility commissioners.
This year, though, voters in the 26th Legislative District will
get to participate in a high profile race. I plan to
add more to the blog later about the nature of that race and why
it’s high profile, as well as diving further into some side
issues.
The county will update county filings beginning at noon.
Candidates can file online now, but Dolores Gilmore, county
elections manager, said there is still a need to verify a
candidate’s eligibility before the filing is posted online.
10 a.m. update: Bremerton Mayor Patty Lent and
Bremerton City Councilmen Adam Brockus and Greg Wheeler were among
the first to file for re-election this week. Also running for
Bremerton City Council, the first to file in District 5, is Dino
Davis. In Port Orchard incumbent Jerry Childs filed, and Bek Ashby
filed to run for Position 2. In Poulsbo Ed Stern is running for
re-election. Ken Ames will run to retain his North Kitsap School
Board seat, and in Central Kitsap Victoria Crescenzi filed to run
for the seat she sought appointment to. In the South Kitsap School
District Rebecca Diehl will run for the District 4 seat held by
Kathryn Simpson. Larry Stokes is running to hold on to his Port of
Bremerton seat. Fire districts and other port districts also have
candidates.
Noon update: Becky Erickson is running for
re-election as mayor in Poulsbo. Faye Flemister and Nick Wofford
have filed to run to hold onto Bremerton City Council seats. Val
Tollefson wants Bob Scales’ Bainbridge Island council seat. Jeanie
Schulze will be running to keep the seat she was just appointed to,
facing off against at least Victoria Crescenzi.
2 p.m. update: John Green is running for Debbi
Lester’s seat on the Bainbridge Island City Council. In Bremerton
Cynthia Triplett Galloway wants the First District seat. Robert B.
Putaansuu seeks re-election to his Port Orchard City Council seat.
So does Christopher J. Lemke for his South Kitsap School Board
seat. In Manchester Steve Pedersen and James E. Strode both have
seats on the Port of Manchester and the Manchester Water District
seats. Pedersen, so far, has only signed up for the port board and
Strode has only signed to run for the water district. I believe the
next update will be the last one of the day.
5:30 p.m. Jerry McDonald joined the race for the Bremerton City
Council seat Adam Brockus wants. Jerry Childs seeks re-election to
the Port Orchard City Council. So does Jim Henry in Poulsbo. In the
North Kitsap School District Cindy Webster-Martinson will run for
the seat currently held by Tom Anderson. Bruce Richards is running
for re-election for his Central Kitsap School Board seat.
More tomorrow.