EDMONDS — Elections here are expensive affairs.
With ubiquitous yard signs, incessant mailings and regular newspaper ads, candidates in Edmonds spend money — and raise it — like few others in Washington state.
Home to just 40,900 people, the city is not among the state’s 20 most populated cities.
Edmonds’ council elections, however, regularly rank among Washington’s most expensive.
In 2005, Edmonds featured the state’s 10th most expensive council election. In 2007, it was ninth.
So far this year, candidates have raised more than $64,500 — on pace for eighth — and the primary is still weeks away.
Two races will be on the Aug. 18 ballot. Six people are fighting for those seats. A third council position will also be contested in the Nov. 4 general election.
Already, the candidates have raised $1.58 for every person in Edmonds.
On a per capita basis, it gives Edmonds the state’s fourth most expensive council election, behind just Seattle, Olympia and Shoreline.
“I am appalled at how much money I have to raise,” said first-time candidate Diane Buckshnis. She was told by political allies that she needed to raise $20,000 to $25,000 for her race. “It amazes me that there is so much money involved here.”
The money seems to matter.
Since 2001, Edmonds’ best funded candidates have beaten their opponents in nine of 11 contested races.
With so much money involved, candidates sometimes accept campaign contributions that put them in hot water.
In June, for instance, incumbent Councilman Ron Wambolt accepted a $1,000 donation from a group called ESC Associates.
This month, the group submitted an application for two 75-foot-tall condo towers near Edmonds’ waterfront.
The application has sparked controversy in a city that has never looked kindly upon developments that would relax the city’s strict height limits.
Wambolt considered returning ESC’s donation, he said. He hasn’t, though.
A campaign is expensive, Wambolt said. Yard signs cost about $5 each.
Returning the money “is the easy way out,” said Wambolt, who said no amount of money could buy his vote.
The city needs to encourage development to diversify its tax base, he said.
“Why can’t developers give money to some council members who will not summarily dismiss their proposals, but will review them objectively?” he asked. “Whatever comes, I will review it objectively, and come to the conclusion that is in the best interests of the most people.”
One of Wambolt’s opponents criticized his decision.
Adrienne Fraley-Monillas called the move “questionable ethics at best.” In 2007, Fraley-Monillas raised more than $26,000 in an unsuccessful campaign against council president DJ Wilson, who raised nearly $38,000.
Earlier this year, the Edmonds City Council discussed ways to limit campaign spending in local elections.
During that discussion, Wambolt said he was considering not running because of the financial pressures.
“I’m leery I’ll have to raise all that money,” he said in February.
Now that he’s running, he’s raising money.
That’s what he has to do, he said.
“I’m of the belief that the candidates who are opposing me cannot do as good a job as I can do,” said Wambolt, who criticized his opponents for being in the pockets of Edmonds’ anti-development crowd. “I’m not tied to any particular group. I’m not the spokesman for anybody.”
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