Everett Council candidates decidedly different

EVERETT — First-time City Council candidate Shawna Forde wants to unseat incumbent councilman Drew Nielsen so that she can bring the national debate on illegal immigration to Everett City Hall.

The council hopeful isn’t spending the final stretch before Election Day knocking on doors or raising money to get her message out.

Instead, the co-founder of the controversial citizen border watch group Minutemen American Defense is on the Arizona-Mexico border with a video camera.

She’s collecting footage for documentary about volunteer border guards who are trying to cut down on drug trafficking and illegal immigration across the border.

“I put my country first as opposed to running around,” said Forde in a telephone interview from Three Points, Ariz. a border town southwest of Tucson. “If I don’t win this race, that’s OK, I’ll run again.”

Nielsen said he doesn’t quite know what to make of his opponent. He said he’s never been introduced to Forde or even seen her in person. That’s rare among the relatively small political community in this city of 100,000, Nielsen said.

Forde hopes to join a handful of people affiliated with anti-immigration groups that have run for office and sought appointments for a number of municipal boards across the country.

In June, Forde made headlines after hosting Jim Gilchrist, co-founder of the Minutemen Project, at a fiery anti-immigration rally in downtown Everett. The event drew about 100 people and a handful of protesters.

If elected, the Lowell native said she would work to make sure that Everett does not become a “sanctuary city” a term used to describe communities, such as Seattle and San Francisco, where police and other city employees are directed not to check into the immigration status of people they encounter.

No one has proposed that Everett become a sanctuary city.

Additionally, Forde said she would like to improve public safety and help seniors. She said she would have to first meet with department managers before coming up with specific goals or plans to accomplish them.

Forde, a licensed cosmetologist and esthetician, volunteers giving haircuts to homeless people and works with foster children. She said she knows seniors who can’t afford to pay taxes on their homes and she is concerned that elected leaders aren’t looking out for them.

“We’re not a world-class city. We’re a working-class community,” Forde said.

In August, Forde pleaded guilty to stealing chocolate milk from an Everett grocery store and was ordered by an judge to attend a theft awareness class, pay fines and to stay crime free or face possible jail time. Forde said the whole thing was a misunderstanding, but she pleaded guilty to put the matter behind her.

If Nielsen is elected to a second term, the Everett real estate attorney said he will support quality residential developments downtown, back more park space in south Everett, and push for his long-held plan to link northwest Everett and the marina with a pedestrian bridge.

Nielsen, 56, said he’ll keep pushing a mobile home preservation ordinance that he proposed earlier this year and continue working with Mayor Ray Stephanson’s administration to attract a University of Washington branch campus to Everett and to build a new neighborhood along the Snohomish River.

Nielsen first became involved in city government as a founding member of the Northwest Neighborhood Association. He later went on to chair the Everett Planning Commission, Council of Neighborhoods, tree committee and shoreline public access committee.

He sits on a number of council sub-committees and chairs the facilities committee. He recently took over City Councilman Mark Olson’s vice president position, as well as his transportation committee chairmanship. Olson stepped down from those leadership positions while he’s the focus of a rape investigation. No charges have been filed.

As of last week, Nielsen had spent $4,000 on the campaign — mostly for yard signs and food for volunteers. His political donors have given his campaign about $9,000 so far. Financial supporters include Council President Brenda Stonecipher, Councilman Arlan Hatloe and Everett Deputy Police Chief Greg Lineberry.

Everett City Council members are paid an annual salary of $24,000, are eligible for medical benefits and serve as elected representatives of the city’s legislative branch. Council members set policy direction for the city’s administration, approve most major contracts and pass city ordinances.

Voters will cast ballots on four of seven Everett City Council positions this election, although they’ll only have one choice for Position 6: Stonecipher is running unopposed for her second term.

Everett City Council Position 5

Drew Nielsen

Age: 56

Occupation: Attorney

Web site: None provided

Shawna Forde

Age: 42

Occupation: Border security activist and cosmetologist

Web site: www.minutemenamericandefense.com

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