I recently attended the candidate’s forum sponsored by the chamber here in Stanwood. I was very interested in the questions asked of John Koster, candidate for Snohomish County Council. Mr. Koster was asked about his involvement in sponsoring legislation to undermine Snohomish County and allow the formation of Freedom County. He stated he felt it was his duty to do so because his constituents asked him and after that he was done with it – besides he said it failed and that was the end of his involvement.
After doing a little research, it seems Mr. Koster has a little memory problem. Mr. Koster sponsored two bills trying to allow the formation of Freedom County, HB 2120 and HB 1548. Apparently his involvement doesn’t end there with failed attempts at the break away Pioneer and Skykomish County’s HB 1660. This doesn’t sound like doing your duty for a few constituents and washing your hands of it.
Mr. Koster was also asked about the large amounts of contributions to his campaign from developers and realtors. He stated that he could not be bought and that most of his contributions were $5 and $10 from average people and we could check that on file with the PDC.
Upon checking with the PDC web site, www.pdc.wa.gov, I discovered that of the $90,273.55 contributed to his campaign a whole $882 was contributed by $1, $5 and $10 contributions, in fact excluding the contributions from his failed congressional bid over half came from developers and related entities and their employees.
So it seems John Koster’s math skills are suspect – too suspect to be entrusted with millions of the county’s funds. His short-term memory is frightening, and I hope that, as a career politician, he can remember which office he is running for.
Stanwood
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