Maggie Fimia, Paul Grace, Jim Leigh, Dan Mann and Bob Ransom should have seen their defeats coming.
It makes sense in hindsight. Incumbent Shoreline Councilmembers Fimia and Ransom, and incumbent school directors Leigh and Mann were caught in general citizen anger against the local elected bodies.
Grace was a victim of that same anger despite being a non-incumbent, running against the machine that had dominated city politics the last two years. He is, after all, a former councilman and former school director, running at a time and place in which name familiarity was a disadvantage.
Conventional wisdom says that voters in doubt vote for the more familiar name. This year, Shoreline voters had little doubt that they wanted unfamiliar names.
It didn’t matter that Fimia and Ransom were now on different sides or that Grace was trying to change the direction of the council. All were victims of the voters’ mood.
The one exception was incumbent school Director Mike Jacobs. He survived because 1) voters were reluctant to leave the board with no one who had been in office more than two years and 2) the “throw-the-bums-out” mood didn’t extend to putting Jacobs’ 21-year-old opponent into office.
What does all this mean for the next two years?
On the school board, expect new members Maren Norton and Richard Porter to ask tough questions about some of the district’s decisions that have left us with crowded classrooms.
On the City Council, expect new Councilmen Terry Scott and Chris Eggen to join Councilwomen Cyndy Ryu and Janet Way in organizing the council, but don’t expect the four to continue to vote as a block. Scott is too smart and too independent to be a cog in a machine.
Ryu and Way, the likely new mayor and deputy mayor, need to change the council’s ways or they may go the way of Fimia and Ransom in two years.
32nd District Democrats hit 43percent, R’s hit 61 percent
The 32nd District Democratic Committee won with 43 percent of its endorsements, recommendations and preferences, while local Republicans won with 61 percent of theirs.
The Democrats hurt their score by backing two losing candidates for Shoreline School Board and being on the losing side of four state ballot measure. The score will change because one state ballot measure, a Seattle Port Commission seat and an Edmonds City Council position were too close to call at press time.
The Republicans did better on state ballot measures and by successfully endorsing candidates in Kenmore and Lake Forest Park, some of whom were unopposed.
Parties endorse members and issue preferences for other candidates. For example, the Democrats endorsed Chris Eggen, Maggie Fimia and Dan Mann while the Republicans “preferred” the three.
Evan Smith is the Enterprise Forum editor. Send comments to entopinion@heraldnet.com.
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