Candidate Ellen Hiatt Watson offers District 1 voters an excellent alternative to its incumbent for County Council. Because whoever is in office makes decisions on policy that affects all districts, I hope the people who can, will vote for her.
Hiatt Watson has worked better for Snohomish County in the last year than John Koster has his entire two terms in office. From winning a court battle (to enforce the county’s own code and stop duplexes on lots too small for houses), to her push to save Wenberg State Park; from leading her 7-Lakes group against a new city in their midst, to the battle against fully contained communities countywide, Ellen’s service to the community has been skilled and effective.
Just what has Koster done to deserve a third term? Does he really represent people of District 1? For my neighborhood, in District 5, he has voted against every issue we ever cared about. Any time we petition the council to follow existing rules or improve others to maintain our quality of life, ensuring reasonable development projects or zoning limits, he is on the side of mega-development, aquifer destruction and substandard drainage policies, to the extreme.
His reported statement on the unethical conduct of disgraced planning director Craig Ladiser, partying with the Master Builders Association, is troubling: “Ladiser was a straight shooter. … If Craig erred, he would err on the side of helping people through the permitting process.” (Under code), that is support of bias, to the extreme.
Council members have enormous influence on how our region copes with today’s looming economic, social and environmental problems. For the sake of your future and mine, I encourage District 1 voters to elect the candidate with vision, skills and heart necessary to meet it: Ellen Hiatt Watson.
Laura Hartman
Snohomish
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