In my opinion, the county executive should be impartial and treat all constituents with respect. My experience with Snohomish County Councilman Somers has been the opposite. In one of his previous voter pamphlets he presented himself as “easily approachable.” I found him to be the opposite. I have known of Somers for most of the years he served on the Snohomish County Council. As I worked on projects in his district I needed his input on many occasions. Of the many phone calls and emails sent to his office I have never received a personal reply. In conversation with Neil Watkins, former president of the Monroe Chamber of Commerce, Neil offered to arrange a private meeting for me with Somers to discuss one of my projects. Two weeks later Neil informed me that he had had no reply and could not understand why. President Watkins and his 400 member association, together with the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau, were in support of my project. The project had the potential to inject millions of tourism dollars and jobs into the Sky Valley and Monroe economy.
What a different reception I received years earlier from the late Willis Tucker, a former County Executive, when I told him of the possibility of attracting a Swiss Aerospace Company to Snohomish County. Executive Tucker together with Gov. Gardner and other officials in Olympia enthusiastically arranged for a meeting with the Swiss representative of Bucher Aerospace and were able to persuade Bucher to build a 78,000 square foot facility in Everett, instead of Beaverton, Oregon.
Self-serving Councilman Somers does not qualify for the office of Snohomish County Executive.
Marc Bhend
Lynnwood
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