There’s something about Mayor Liz Loomis that makes her the brimstone of political fire in Snohomish, and I wanted to know what.
This week, I drove the ever-clogged Highway 9 into the historic district of this venerable town to breakfast with her.
I ordered pancakes, she called for biscuits and gravy, and then we devoured a meal of city politics. Afterwards, we set off on a short walkabout through the streets of downtown, passing a onetime speakeasy, the former opera house and the building where the largest suspended ballroom dancing floor west of the Mississippi can be found.
By the time we parted, I had learned three important things about the 35-year-old public relations consultant.
She’s getting married on New Year’s Eve in England to a red-headed bloke from the East Coast. That explains the sparkling boulder of compressed carbon lodged on her ring finger.
She is spirited, irrepressibly personable and consumed with confidence. What other mayor bounds around town in a shirt, shorts and tennis shoes?
She is proud to be a politician and unapologetic about her politics. It is the style and substance of her leadership that is catalyzing opposition and making her a prime target in the fall elections.
Her critics say she brooks no dissent to her policies and that those policies are turning Snohomish into a theme town while risking financial stability by limiting commercial and industrial growth.
They warn that she is an upwardly mobile politician intent on running next year against Republican state Sen. Dave Schmidt; it’s a rumor that she does nothing to squelch.
This is the general rhetorical backdrop heading into the campaign season. Control of the seven-member council is up for grabs with four seats on the ballot, including hers.
Already and unofficially, people are staking ground on one side of the Loomis line or the other.
Drawing the line is Councilman Doug Thorndike. He unexpectedly abandoned his seat to challenge Loomis and then recruited candidates for the other posts in hopes of seizing a council majority this November.
Thorndike is a nine-year council vet, a man with an analytical mind and a free-market heart. He said his decision to run followed months of clashing with Loomis – and losing – on votes involving naked pigs, sign heights and new development.
“I have a way different agenda than she does,” he told me at the time he filed to run. “I don’t think there is a better contrast in town today than Liz and me.”
This will be the first time Loomis, a two-term incumbent, will face opposition. As one who feasts on politics, she’s looking forward to the battle.
“I think it’s clear the majority of the council has made some good, progressive change,” she said
Loomis and Thorndike insist their duel will be done without acrimony and personal attack.
It will be won in the neighborhoods, one home at a time, where they’ll learn whether there is something about the mayor that truly matters to voters.
Reporter Jerry Cornfield’s column on politics runs every Sunday. He can be heard at 7 a.m. Monday on the Morning Show on KSER 90.7 FM. He can be reached at 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
