Three primary races with bearing on South Kitsap – the Port Orchard mayoral race, the Port Orchard City Council at-large race and the Port of Bremerton race, district 2. Would you have bet good money on the outcomes?
To summarize:
Port Orchard Mayoral Candidate Lary Coppola easily locked in a slot
in the general election, earning just over 58 percent of votes (591
out of a total of 1,016) in today’s primary election. Tom Saunders
will also move on, with 271 votes, nearly 27 percent of ballots
cast.
Out of the running is candidate Kathleen Dolan-Bowes, who earned
just over 13 percent of the vote with 136 of the ballots cast.
Write-in candidates earned 18 votes or 1.77 percent.
Coppola said he was “humbled.” Saunders said he was “pleased.” And
Dolan-Bowes submitted the following statement to the Kitsap Sun, “I
just read the PO Mayoral election results: I respect the decision
of the voters and wish both Tom and Lary the best of luck in the
November 2007 General Election.”
In the City Council race for the seat to be vacated by Bob Geiger, Jerry Childs and Dick Fitzwater moving on to the November general election. Childs earned nearly 50 percent (49.69) and Fitzwater got nearly 31 percent (30.55) of the vote, with a total of 982 ballots cast. The third candidate, attorney Dennis Xavier Goss, earned nearly 19 percent (18.64), and write-in candidates earned 1.12 percent of the vote.
And in the Port of Bremerton Race, driven by the looming elephant in the living room that is the tax levy for a Bremerton Marina overhaul … “Port of Bremerton Commissioner Mary Ann Huntington will make it to the November general election, but Tuesday returns show she’s paying a price for a tax increase to help build the new Bremerton Marina” wrote reporter Steve Gardner. “Former port commissioner Larry Stokes emerged from Tuesday’s primary with 56 percent of the 4,400 votes cast in the District 2 race for port commissioner. Huntington came in second with 27 percent, while Martin DiIenno, a retired carpenter and former live-aboard boat owner was a distant third place with 15 percent.”
So, blog readers, how many of you were clarvoyant enough to accurately predict the results in all three races? Anything in the results surprise you? Anyone want to venture predictions on the November election?
If Huntington gets 20% of the combined votes of all 3 Port of Bremerton Disticts in the November election I would be shocked. My prediction is defeat for all three incumbent Port of Bremerton Commissioners between now and 2011.
Roger Gay
South Kitsap
Two years ago, my Association President and I won the Kitsap Sun’s “Political Pundit of the Year” contest, accurately guessing the outcomes of the political election contests. Will you have the contest again this year?
I guessed Coppola would be first and would exceed 50%. However, I was surprised he achieved 58%.
I also predicted Childs and Stokes would both come in first place. Stokes’ lop-sided margin of victory, however, was a surprise. He is a well-known and highly regarded businessperson, and it’s evident the voters who cast ballots are perturbed by the port’s tax increase and/or the SEED project.
Don’t believe all the hype around Coppola. He states that he is a confident person. In my opinion, arrogant would be a more fitting description.
Want to know the person behind the candidate? Check with his neighbors to find out what kind of neighbor he his. In my opinion, if the Citizens of Port Orchard elect him as their Mayor, they will be getting what they ask for. He will run the City the way he runs his life. The way he wants to without any regard to the rules and regulations he is supposed to be bound by.
This is my personal opinion based upon my personal experiences with the Coppola family.
I figured Larry Stokes would win handily in the Port race. Thought he would get about 50%. Nice to see he got a little more.
I also figured Lary Coppola would win handily and face Tom Saunders. I like both Lary and Tom. To me it is win-win with either. Since I don’t live in Port Orchard city limits, I don’t have a vote anyway.
I hadn’t a clue on the city council race.
My prediction is that Larry Stokes will win the Port of Bremerton seat by no less than 65% of the general election vote. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it about 70%.
The sad thing is that those currently seated on the Port of Bremerton don’t seem to understand what the uproar is all about.
Regards,
Kathryn Simpson
By the way, do all three Port of Bremerton Districts vote in the Stokes-Huntington race in the general election?
Regards,
Kathryn Simpson
Kathryn (and anyone else who may have been wondering) – That’s correct, only district 2 residents got to vote in the Port of Bremerton primary, even though all three candidates are from South Kitsap. We South Kitsapians will get to vote in the general election.
I didn’t know about this until the day before the primary, when I went into the auditor’s office to ask why I hadn’t received a ballot. After all I had received a property tax assessment that included a hefty increase in the POB levy.
Oh, well, we’ll have our say soon enough.
Thanks, Chris.
Sounds like we will all get a say about Mahan and Kincer in two years too. It will be interesting to see what the next two years will bring.
Regards,
Kathryn Simpson
I also live in the same complex as Lary Coppola. My husband and I find the Copolla family to be very friendly and great neighbors. I find the blog that was sent on Aug. 23rd by another neighbor in our complex to be inappropriate and untrue. So all you readers out there…you can check with me anytime. She has never met Lary Coppola, so how can she call him “arrogant”??
It’s sad, that our neighbor cannot get along with others.