Before the pizza cheese coagulated on election-night buffet tables, it was clear who will duke it out in November for spots on the Edmonds City Council.
Early returns in the race for Position 1 held firm for incumbent Michael Plunkett who will face off in the general election with former councilwoman Lora Petso. Downtown businessman Strom Peterson finished third.
Plunkett attracted about 42 percent of the vote; Petso, 33 percent; and Peterson, 24 percent.
In the race for Position 3, political newbie Ron Wambolt led incumbent Jeff Wilson from the get-go. Both will move onto the Nov. 8 ballot. Bart Preecs, whose campaign was one big Public Disclosure Commission filing no-no, brought up the rear.
About 49 percent of voters went for Wambolt, 39 percent for Wilson and 13 percent for Preecs.
The outcome of the general election could tip the balance of the City Council toward strict caps on downtown building heights, a hot-button campaign issue and one on which the current council often splits, with the majority favoring extra height as a trade-off for good design.
Shortly after 8 p.m. and dinner out with a friend, a confident and relaxed Plunkett read this prepared statement over the phone: “It’s clear by the votes tonight that the people of Edmonds have declared that I have repeatedly voted against taller buildings and stand firmly against casino gambling and vote consistently for public safety.”
He said his win definitely was a mandate from the people that Edmonds doesn’t want higher buildings downtown.
With homework help and a violin duet with her son on the evening’s agenda, Petso had precious little time to talk elections Tuesday night. “Looks like I’ll be moving on,” she observed, noting that “every race I’m in is a tight race, it seems.
Of the third-place finisher Petso said, “Mr. Peterson ran a nice, clean campaign. I’ll thank him in the morning.”
That the beer didn’t give out before the party at Portofino’s ended was the best news Peterson had the evening of his first election.
“We were confident going in, even though I was the new guy and I started late,” said Peterson with a shrug. He said he isn’t convinced Plunkett’s win signaled a building-height mandate and that “people outside the ‘bowl’ need to take a hard look at what they want the city to do. The people they choose to work for them are going to be there a long time.”
Wambolt chose an evening at home in his top-floor condo in downtown Edmonds to listen to election returns with his wife, Shirley. Obviously pleased with his win over Wilson, he said he was not “totally surprised with the outcome. I know I picked the right issue (building heights). I worked hard and hard work has worked for me all my life.”
From his election-night gathering at the newly opened Café Lladro, Wilson said he’s not overly concerned about being runner-up. He insisted he “wasn’t worried about getting through the primary” and conserved his time and money in order to concentrate on the general election.
“Most of what comes before the council are land-use issues and no one can touch my experience on that,” he said when asked about his platform.
“I can assure you that’s a discouraging number,” admitted a subdued Preecs as early returns showed him lagging. “It’s hard to be optimistic,” said the candidate who hoped voters would buy into his vision of a community broadband network, “but I’ve learned a great deal from this experience.”
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