Voters keep council incumbents

The Mirror

Voters in Federal Way re-elected two City Council members Tuesday, rejecting their challengers' calls for change.

Position 4 incumbent Jeanne Burbidge won her third four-year term by collecting 53.6 percent of the votes in her general election race against Mark Walsh, who finished with 46.1 percent in unofficial results.

In the Position 6 contest, incumbent Eric Faison captured his second term easily over Dini Duclos. Faison received 64.6 percent of the votes to Duclos' 35.1 percent.

A third council incumbent, Linda Kochmar, ran unopposed and will begin her third term in January.

Burbidge fended off three challengers in the primary election in September, then completed her re-election bid against Walsh, a businessman who campaigned aggressively with claims that Federal Way suffers from an unfavorable business climate, an inadquate employment base and crime. Burbidge, a council member since 1997, defended her record and the council's, saying the city is a good place to live, raise families and cultivate businesses.

Faison, a councilman since 2001, and Duclos offered few substantial differences in their campaign positions. Both are strong advocates of downtown redevelopment, for instance, though Duclos took relatively mild exception in campaign apperances to some of the approaches favored by Faison and the council as a whole.

Duclos, who made her first foray into elected politics, heads Multi-Service Center, a social services agency.

About 26 percent of Federal Way's 38,863 registered voters cast ballots.

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