By Warren Cornwall
Herald Writer
Dave Schmidt planned to spend October going door-to-door asking Snohomish County residents to vote him onto the county council.
Instead, the 47-year-old Republican lawmaker packed his bags and donned his military fatigues Saturday, bound for a month of National Guard service near Tacoma.
The repercussions of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., already rippling across the nation, have now reached the local political arena. At the height of the election season, with control of the county council in the balance, Schmidt said he will be spending much of the next 30 days at Camp Murray, the state National Guard headquarters south of Tacoma.
It throws an unexpected curve into the District 4 race between Schmidt, a four-term state legislator, and Democrat Dave Gossett, the mayor of Mountlake Terrace. Three seats are up for election on the five-member council.
What impact it will have, however, is unclear.
Throughout his campaign, Schmidt has stressed the importance of doorbelling in local elections — going out to voters’ homes and talking one-on-one. Now, Schmidt said, he will be sending out a letter telling voters that he may well not be knocking on their doors because of his National Guard duties.
"Doorbelling is really important. But I think it’s amazing how things can change perspective," Schmidt said.
He said he was uncertain whether he could return to Snohomish County to doorbell very often, but he can communicate with campaign staff and voters via e-mail and cell phone.
Gossett said he believed that Schmidt would be able to return at times to campaign, including a candidate’s event this week, based on Schmidt’s statements at a Friday candidates’ forum.
"I don’t think it’s going to have a giant effect," he said of Schmidt’s move to Camp Murray. "If he’d been called out of the state, that would obviously have a major impact."
However, at a time when patriotic spirit is running high, Schmidt hopes his willingness to put military service before politics might appeal to voters.
Gossett said that while the national issues are important, he thought voters looking at the local race would be concerned largely with local matters such as growth and transportation.
"I think it’s much more likely that this race is going to turn on the same local issues that have been the focus since the beginning," he said.
Schmidt, a staff sergeant in the state’s National Guard, learned he would be called up Thursday while at a guard training exercise, he said. It’s part of an activation of guard members across the state to bolster security at airports, authorized by Gov. Gary Locke on Thursday.
The Federal Aviation Administration had asked the Department of Defense to oversee the call-up of 5,000 guard members around the country to help secure airports.
Schmidt predicted he could wind up helping to coordinate the statewide security measures from Camp Murray. He said the job could run seven days a week, 12 hours a day. It could be extended for an additional 30 days, he said. But if elected, it wouldn’t overlap with the time when he would need to take office, he said.
Schmidt said he might have been able to seek an exemption from the call-up because of the pending election, but opted not to.
"Elections come and go. This is hopefully a once in a lifetime crisis for the country," he said.
You can call Herald Writer Warren Cornwall at 425-339-3463 or send e-mail to cornwall@heraldnet.com.
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