By Jim Haley
Herald Writer
A lot of attention has been paid to two Snohomish County state legislative races this fall because the results could affect the makeup of the House of Representatives.
Next year, lawmakers take up the troublesome tasks of solving transportation woes and dealing with the declining economy.
The Legislature, strangled with a 49-49 tie in the House last session, tried at length but failed to pass legislation aimed at solving the horrendous traffic problems. Democrats blamed Republicans, and Republicans blamed Democrats.
About 125,000 registered voters along the I-5 corridor between Marysville and Woodway hold the makeup of the House in their hands and could give either political party a majority on Nov. 6
Only two legislative races go to voters in the state this fall, and both of them are in Snohomish County.
The incumbents, in this case, were both appointed to fill vacancies and this is the first year they are standing for election.
Up for grabs are single House seats in both the 21st Legislative District and the 38th Legislative District. The 21st includes Mukilteo, Lynnwood, Edmonds, Woodway and a part of Mountlake Terrace. The 38th includes Everett and Marysville.
The campaigns in both districts are important, as shown by the amount of outside money that has been spent to send out mailed attack pieces to candidates on both sides of the aisle.
However, some of the politicians say they are having a more difficult time than usual getting voter attention this fall. With the terrorist attacks and the playoff run of the Seattle Mariners, citizens have been distracted.
"Some people don’t even know there’s an election," said Rep. Jean Berkey, D-Everett. Part of the challenge is to bring draw attention back to the election, she said.
Her opponent, Republican Erv Hoglund of Everett, said he thinks "people are coming around to recognizing the importance of an election Nov. 6."
In south Snohomish County, Rep. Joe Marine, R-Mukilteo, also is worried.
"There’s just a whole lot of noise out there to compete with," he said.
His Democratic challenger, former Mukilteo Mayor Brian Sullivan, said people have been glued to their TV sets following national events. He knows, because he’s knocked on the doors of some 14,000 registered voters, he said.
Along with terrorist events, he said traffic and transportation problems are still the biggest problems cited by voters, but the attacks have raised public safety a few notches.
![]() Brian Sullivan |
21st District
South Snohomish County voters will have a contrast of style and experience from which to chose when they cast ballots for their Position 2 representative in the state House of Representatives Nov. 6.
Rep. Joe Marine, R-Mukilteo, is in a battle with former Mukilteo Mayor Brian Sullivan to retain the seat to which he was appointed late last year.
In addition, Libertarian Michael Enquist and the Green Party’s Young S. Han are still in the fray.
![]() Michael Enquist |
Sullivan edged out another Democrat in the September primary, earning nearly 30 percent of the vote. Together, Sullivan and fellow Democrat D. J. Wilson compiled 57 percent of the vote to Marine’s 39 percent.
Marine, who was appointed to fill in for Rep. Renee Radcliff when she quit soon after she was re-elected last fall, is a 39-year-old health care insurance salesman. He previously was a Mukilteo City Council member and the 21st District GOP chairman.
![]() Young Han |
He’s fighting to retain his position in a district that could easily go to the Democrats or the Republicans. There are those who will nearly always vote one way or the other, Marine said.
That leaves the 30 or 40 percent in the middle who could be persuaded to vote either way, he said.
“The people in the middle have to believe Joe Marine did do a good job as a legislator” last session, he said. Or do they think he needs to be replaced?
“That’s what it comes down to, ” he said. “I think I’ve done a good job.”
He cites the troublesome transportation package that never got to the floor for a vote because of the 49-49 tie in the House. He said he broke ranks with the GOP caucus and would have voted for a measure that would have eventually raised the gasoline tax 9 cents. But the measure never came to a floor vote.
“I was clear when I went down there that it wasn’t going to be partisan for me,” Marine said. A fix for our transportation woes “is something we desperately need.”
Sullivan, 43, a small business owner in Mukilteo, served both on the city council and as mayor. He presided over the city during a time of great expansion. He has ardent support from labor and most usual Democratic partisans, including numerous fire departments.
His style is a little less polished than Marine’s, but Sullivan said he’s ready to rise up the political ladder.
“I voted on four (Mukilteo) budgets, and I wrote eight. I have the ability to lead in a nonpartisan fashion and deal with issues aggressively,” he said. “Leadership starts with ideas and taking ideas and acting on them. That’s what I have a reputation for doing.”
If the election is settled solely on who compiles the biggest war chest, Marine will be the clear winner. He has raised more than $240,000 and hopes to raise $300,000.
Sullivan has raised about $90,000 and hopes to add another $30,000 before the voting.
“That’s a lot of money for a job that pays $32,000 a year,” Sullivan said.” In the 21st District, you can’t buy votes. I think it will come down to who works hardest.”
He has countered the spending difference by knocking on doors from Woodway to Mukilteo, about 14,000 of them.
Enquist said he has no realistic chance of winning, but he’s in the campaign to build name familiarity and to preach Libertarian doctrine.
“I’m running to get the Libertarian message involved in the campaign,” he said. He eventually wants to win a seat in the Legislature, where he would push for lower taxes.
“Once I’m there, I hope to push the power back down to the local communities where it belongs,” he said.
Green Party candidate Han could not be reached.
38th District
The 38th Legislative District in Everett and Marysville often has been a safe haven for the Democrats.
But you can’t tell that to either of the front-running candidates in the Nov. 6 election for the Position 2 House of Representatives seat. Both lifelong Everett residents, neither is taking anything for granted and both are pounding on doors and trying to raise money for the home stretch.
![]() Jean Berkey |
Incumbent state Rep. Jean Berkey, D-Everett, has been involved in more political races than her primary opponent, but Republican Erv Hoglund has the edge on Berkey in the number of campaigns in which he has been a candidate.
Berkey, who was appointed to the job earlier this year after the death of friend and longtime legislator Pat Scott, is in a close race to continue in the post. She previously has managed numerous campaigns for other people, including Scott, but this is the fist time the freshman legislator has tried it herself.
Hoglund, on the other hand, was 4,000 votes shy in 1998 of beating Rep. Aaron Reardon, D-Everett, in his first run for a House seat.
![]() Erv Hoglund |
A third candidate in the race is Thomas Kinnebrew of Everett, a Libertarian.
The Democrats see this as a must-win race in order to maintain a 49-49 membership tie in the House – or perhaps eke out a majority if a Democrat wins in the neighboring 21st Legislative District.
Republicans, on the other hand, see newly appointed Berkey as vulnerable because she is less established, and are pushing hard for Hoglund. The winner will have a one-year term and will have to come back to the voters next fall.
Berkey, 62, said she took some pleasure from the primary vote tallies.
“Since the primary, (raising money) has been a lot easier,” Berkey said. “I think they looked at the numbers and think I’m going to win.”
Berkey got 47 percent of the vote to Hoglund’s 43 percent. Another Democrat got 7 percent.
Berkey hopes to eventually raise $150,000, and Hoglund $120,00. Both she and Hoglund are above the $100,000 mark now.
Berkey is bracing for new state problems in the wake of Boeing Co. layoffs.
“I think jobs and the economy will be more of an issue” and state revenues will decline, she said. That will mean budget cuts and tough decisions.
“I do not pretend to know all of the issues, but I am willing to listen and to learn,” Berkey said. “My door will always be open. If they come and talk to me, we can work together.”
Hoglund, 63, a Vietnam War-era Navy commander and a retired airline pilot, is wearing out shoe leather going door to door.
He said he’s ready and willing to go to Olympia but doesn’t really relish the idea of an even split between Republicans and Democrats.
“I’m ready to do go down and make some decisions – pull up my sleeves and get to work,” Hoglund said.
Like Berkey, Hoglund sees fixing the traffic mess as the biggest challenge, but he favors a smaller plan that would help relieve traffic in the Puget Sound area, where the heart of the state’s economy is.
“I have the experience, the decision-making leadership experience that will enable me to analyze and make decisions that will get this state government moving,” Hoglund said.
Libertarian Kinnebrew could not be reached for comment.
You can call Herald Writer Jim Haley at 425-339-3447
or send e-mail to haley@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.