Familiar names on ballot for county charter-review commission

You’ll see a lot of familiar names on the November ballot for positions on the Snohomish County charter-review commission.

Ballots will include a state senator, several former office holders, and several current and former candidates for public office.

Elections for Charter-Review Commission are exempt from state laws that otherwise prevent candidates from running for two offices in the same election.

County voters elect 15 charter-review commissioners every 10 years for one-year terms to review the county charter and propose possible amendments.

The commission will send proposed charter amendments to the County Council, which will place them on an upcoming ballot.

The commissioners elected in 2005 proposed six amendments for the 2006 ballot. Five passed.

Each of the five county council districts selects three review-commission members.

All candidates who filed in each district will appear on the November ballot, where each voter will select three candidates.

Voters this year face as many as 16 candidates in Edmonds, Lynnwood, Woodway and the rest of County Council District 3, 17 in Everett and the rest of Council District 2, and as few as five in Stanwood, Arlington, Marysville and the rest of District 1; there are 10 candidates in Mountlake Terrace, Brier, Bothell and the rest of Council District 4, 13 in Snohomish, Monroe, Lake Stevens and the rest of District 5.

Candidates running in District 3, the district that Democrat Stephanie Wright represents on the county council, include Democratic State Sen. Marko Liias, Mukilteo School Board member Geoffrey Thorp, former County Councilman and Edmonds Mayor Mike Cooper, former Lynnwood City Councilman Jim Smith, former Lynnwood City Councilwoman Lisa Utter, Edmonds School Board candidate and 32nd Legislative District Democratic Chairwoman Carin Chase, Fire District 1 Commission candidate Mike Luke, Republican* 32nd Legislative District precinct committee officers Dustin Goodnight and Mark Young, along with Mike Arendt, who registered to run for a school board position before withdrawing, Jared Karstetter, who registered to run for a position on the Fire District 1 Commission before withdrawing, and Randy Hayden, who was a Republican candidate for state representative in 2012 and now is a Republican* PCO.

Candidates in District 4, the district that Democrat Terry Ryan represents on the County Council, include former Snohomish County Auditor Bob Terwilliger; former legislative candidates E Barton, Robert Reedy, Brian Travis, and Heidi Munson; and County Planning Commission member Cheryl Stanford.

Candidates in other parts of the county include Mukilteo Mayor Jennifer Gregerson, former County Councilman and congressional candidate John Koster, former legislative and congressional candidates Dan Matthews and Dick McManus, and Norm Nunnally, who recently ran in the primary for county executive.

I plan to post introductory statements here from candidates in Council Districts 3 and 4 over the next few days.

Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@frontier.com.

*An earlier version of this story misidentified these candidates as Democrats.

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