Snoqualmie Valley voters return incumbents to city council and School Board
November 4, 2009
By Laura Geggel
NEW — 1:51 p.m. Nov. 4, 2009
Snoqualmie Valley voters favored incumbents in the Nov. 3 general election, according to early results.
Snoqualmie City Council incumbent Maria Henriksen and Snoqualmie Valley School Board incumbent Craig Husa had staked strong leads in early returns. Longtime school volunteer Scott Hodgins was ahead of fellow first time candidate Paul Houldridge.
Snoqualmie City Council
As of Nov. 3, Snoqualmie City Council incumbent Maria Henriksen had established a strong lead against challenger Terry Sorenson with 68 percent of votes counted.
All other Snoqualmie candidates ran unopposed and easily won election, including Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson, council position no. 1 Robert Jeans, council position no. 3 Bryan Holloway and council position no. 7 Kathi Prewitt.
As of Nov. 3, King County elections had counted 1,070 of a possible 5,450 ballots for the city of Snoqualmie, or about 19 percent of registered voters.
In North Bend none of the incumbents had challengers. Alan Gothelf won City Council position no. 2 and Ross Loudenback won City Council position no. 4. As of Nov. 3, King County had counted 699 of a possible 3,157 ballots, or 22 percent of registered voters.
Snoqualmie Valley School Board
Although four seats on the Snoqualmie Valley School Board were up for reelection, the School Board will only see one new face in January.
Snoqualmie Valley School Board district position no. 3 incumbent Craig Husa was ahead with 56 percent of votes counted against challenger Kevin Bardsley.
Husa was in a meeting election night, but his daughter texted him the results.
“There are still a lot of votes out, but it looks positive for me,” he said.
During the campaign Husa said he did his best to reach out to the community, both through conversations and election signs — which he is now asking people to help him take down. He invited everyone in the community to work together to help make Snoqualmie Valley School District a better place.
“Kevin (Bardsley) has a number of supporters, and so the challenge going forward will be to get everyone working together,” Husa said. “Having a difference in opinion and a different point of view is actually a healthy thing.”
In the other contested race, for the district no. 1 seat, Scott Hodgins has taken the lead with 63 percent of the vote against Paul Houldridge.
Hodgins was in bed with the flu election night, but his eldest daughter Shila woke him up to deliver the results.
He credits his success to working with friends he has made since moving to North Bend in 1981. He had groups of people canvass neighborhoods in support of his campaign.
If he wins the election, Hodgins said, he would work with the board to strengthen its leadership role and build trust between it and the community.
He also extended a hand to people he has yet to meet.
“There are some people out there I don’t know and I plan to listen to,” Hodgins said. “Anybody that comes to me I’m going to listen and do the best that I can.”
The other School Board incumbents up for reelection — Marci Busby and Dan Popp — ran unopposed.
As of Nov. 3, King County had counted 4,602 of a possible 21,035 votes, or 22 percent of registered voters in Snoqualmie Valley School District.
King County Elections
At the county level, County Councilman Dow Constantine had posted a strong lead in the county executive’s race, with 57 percent of votes counted to his opponent Susan Hutchinson’s 42 percent.
All four of the county’s ballot measures look to have passed based on early returns.
In the five-way race for assessor, Lloyd Hara has 33.5 percent of the vote, the next closest candidate, Bob Rosenberger, has 29.1 percent.
At the state level, results will continue to come in over the next few weeks. Most counties do not have King County’s all-mail ballot system, so the results from the rest of the state will appear, but King County’s vote will be underrepresented.
As of Nov. 3, Referendum 71, which would affirm rights for gay and unmarried heterosexual domestic partners, had 65 percent of the vote. If the measure passes, the rights enacted by state legislation will remain in place.
Initiative 1033—Tim Eyman’s effort to control government spending—was losing by a large margin, 64 percent of early returns voted against the measure. As of Nov. 3, the initiative was trailing in 10 Eastern Washington counties which Eyman had to win.
The initiative was opposed by a broad range including education, labor and health-care groups, along with elected officials. In Snoqualmie Valley, city councils in North Bend and Snoqualmie, and the School Board officially opposed the measure.
Opponents heavily outspent Eyman. The No on 1033 campaign raised and spent more than $3 million and blanketed the region with television ads, according to The Seattle Times. Eyman, by comparison, raised and spent less than a quarter of the money raised by the opposition.
Ari Cetron contributed to this report. Material from The Seattle Times was included in this report.
Laura Geggel: 392-6434 ext. 221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
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