Intramural challenges fail to oust incumbents

Published 7:47 pm Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Attempts by city council members to knock off the mayors of Lynnwood, Mill Creek and Mountlake Terrace in last week’s election all fell short.

Lynnwood Councilman Jim Smith was one of three council members to challenge Mayor Don Gough in the August primary. When Gough got only 37 percent of the primary vote, he seemed to be in trouble against Councilman Jim Smith, who had finished second in the primary to win the right to face Gough in the general election, but Gough pulled out a surprisingly easy victory.

Council members in Mill Creek and Mountlake Terrace challenged the fellow council members who were presiding over the councils as mayor.

In Mill Creek, Councilwoman Mary Kay Voss gave up a run for her own council seat to challenge Mayor Terry Ryan for his seat. She lost; as of Monday afternoon, she was trailing Ryan by a 61 percent to 39 percent margin.

In Mountlake Terrace, Councilman John Zambrano, who is in the middle of his four-year term, challenged Mayor Jerry Smith for Smith’s council seat. Smith didn’t seem to be campaigning, but he ended up beating Zambrano overwhelmingly. The Monday vote count showed Smith leading by a 60 percent to 39 percent margin.

Smith clobbers Zambrano

Jerry Smith’s easy victory came despite doing little campaigning. He never responded to newspaper inquiries.

Zambrano will retain his seat on the council. He has two years left on his current term.

Voss loses big

Voss gave up her seat to run against Ryan. As of Monday, she was trailing with only 39 percent.

Councilwoman Donna Michelson, who ran unopposed and campaigned for Voss, said Monday that Voss didn’t want to serve with Ryan and achieved that either way.

Ryan and Michelson joined the other vote leaders, former Councilwoman Kathy Nielson and political newcomer Tim Masterson.

Nielson was in the closest contest, leading Deputy Sheriff Vincent Cavaleri 51-49 percent. Cavaleri said Monday that the counting wasn’t yet over.

Gough’s easy win

Gough held a 54-45 percent lead over Councilman Jim Smith on Friday.

Smith attributed Gough’s lead to heavy spending by the mayor and his own failure to win over supporters of the two other council members who had challenged Gough in the primary.

Time for incumbents

There were no intra-council challenges in Edmonds, but there were hard-fought, expensive contests between incumbents and challengers.

Councilman Ron Wambolt lost in the primary, but Councilmen Michael Plunkett and Strom Peterson won easily.

Nick has tiny lead

Challenger Mike Gallagher trailed by three votes behind incumbent City Councilman Dennis Nick in Brier on Monday.

When Gallagher appeared to be ahead Sunday, he said he was surprised to be doing so well.

The contest probably is headed for a recount, most likely a hand recount.

State law requires a recount if the margin between the two candidates is less than 0.5 percent of the total vote for the two candidates. With the two candidates having 1,915 votes, a margin of 9 votes or less would trigger a recount, re-running the ballots through the counting machines.

However, if the margin is less than 0.25 percent — in this case, four votes — there would be a hand recount, meaning people looking at every ballot to determine voter intent.

Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@verizon.net