Stephanie Wright is trying to win her first election to the Snohomish County Council after being appointed to the job last year.
To keep the job, the former high school teacher and onetime Lynnwood city councilwoman needs to beat Snohomish County Public Utility District Commissioner Kathy Vau
ghn on Nov. 8.
Wright, a Democrat, surely disagrees with her Republican opponent on at least a few issues. Rather than attack, however, she wants to focus on her own record and what she has to offer.
“The citizens are supporting me because I have done well,” she said. “They feel like I
‘m representing them.”
Vaughn also focuses on her own accomplishments, which includes battling former energy giant Enron on behalf of PUD customers. She’s also worked for 30 years in the mortgage industry.
“I’ve stayed focused on what the issues are,” she said. “And the issues are the economy and jobs and how we bring jobs back to the community.”
The two are competing for the County Council’s District 3, which includes the areas of Edmonds, Lynnwood and Woodway.
Heading toward the general election, Wright clearly has momentum on her side. In August’s two-way primary, Wright won nearly 59 percent of the vote to Vaughn’s roughly 41 percent.
Wright grew up at Priest Point in Tulalip, but has lived in Lynnwood for about 17 years. She taught high school in the Northshore School District and worked as a librarian at Woodinville High School. She was elected to the Lynnwood City Council in 2007.
The County Council selected her to fill former County Councilman Mike Cooper’s seat when he left to become mayor of Edmonds, where he’s also up for reelection.
Wright said the county budget has been absorbing much of her attention on the council these days.
Some of the largest concerns involve cuts to social services, which could affect programs for veterans, the elderly and children. Looming state and federal cuts could hit those programs hard.
“They’re very concerned about what the trickle-down effects are going to be,” Wright said. “And our partners in the cities have some of the same concerns.”
Shoring up the county’s budget reserves also appears on Wright’s priority list. Healthy reserves help keep the county’s bond rating high, which allows it to borrow money at a lower interest rate. Improving county transportation systems is another goal, she said, because better roads and transit should help attract more employers.
Wright also said she’s been an active volunteer at cleanup parties on the west side of Lake Stickney north of Lynnwood, where the county has bought land to keep it from being developed.
Vaughn moved to Lynnwood in the mid-1960s, before it mushroomed into the commercial and transportation hub that it is today. She grew up in Ballard in a blue-collar, union family. She earned her high school equivalency after leaving school to get married.
She continues to run her mortgage business, Goldmark Financial Corp., which has been pinched by the economic downturn.
Vaughn, who is in her third six-year term as a nonpartisan PUD commissioner, promised she’ll bring a politically balanced approach to the County Council.
“Just because I have a party designation doesn’t change the way I approach things,” she said. “I work in a bipartisan way.”
She said experience as a business owner and PUD commissioner sets her apart from other candidates who talk about creating more jobs.
“We have the room within the county, we need to bring more technical jobs, more biomed,” she said.
Her plan to accomplish that is to reduce barriers to creating private sector jobs. Her campaign website says, “My opponent’s record is the same tax-regulate-spend approach that does more harm than good.”
Vaughn said that Wright’s service on the Lynnwood City Council deserves scrutiny given that city’s financial turmoil.
In recent years, city leaders drained the city’s rainy-day fund and borrowed from other sources to keep up with spending. Last year, the state auditor blasted the city’s poor financial condition and put the blame directly on elected officials. The city continues to face layoffs and other cuts in the face of budget shortfalls.
“I have a big record to run on,” Vaughn said. “I know she has a small record, and I’ll leave it at that. She came from the Lynnwood City Council and people will have to make their own determination as to whether the council has been working efficiently or not.”
Wright said Lynnwood Mayor Don Gough hid the true extent of the city’s budget woes from the City Council. She and other former city council colleagues worked hard to shore up city finances once they learned how grave the problems were, Wright said.
“I think the economy has affected all jurisdictions, and I think Lynnwood has done a good job putting corrective actions in place,” Wright said. “We faced the issues, and I’m really proud of my colleagues in Lynnwood.”
Both candidates oppose a developer’s plans to put towers of up to 180 feet containing more than 3,000 condominium units at Point Wells, a waterfront industrial site in unincorporated Snohomish County next to Woodway. Wright and Vaughn each said transportation is a problem for the site, since the property is only accessible by a two-lane road through King County.
What the winner can do to address the concerns may be limited. The developer’s application appears to be vested under the county’s old rules, even though a state growth board earlier this year ordered the county to rewrite them.
Wright had raised more than $36,000 for her campaign and reported spending about $24,000, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission. Vaughn reported raising about $19,000, including $4,700 of her own money, and spending about $15,000.
The job pays $102,779.05 per year.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
Stephanie Wright
Age: 39
Occupation: Snohomish County Council (appointed in 2010); former high school teacher and librarian in the Northshore School District (resigned on taking the County Council job), former Lynnwood City Council (resigned on taking the County Council job)
Residence: Lynnwood
Party: Democrat
Website: www.wright4council.com
Priorities: economic development, public safety, transportation.
Kathy Vaughn
Age: 61
Occupation: Snohomish County PUD commissioner since 1994; owner of Goldmark Financial Corp.; executive board of Energy Northwest, a public power consortium.
Residence: Lynnwood
Party: Republican
Website: www.kathyvaughn.com
Priorities: the economy and jobs; transportation; avoiding new taxes.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
