Election reflections and steps moving forward | Inside Politics

Published 5:12 pm Thursday, November 12, 2015

Apathy was the big winner in last week’s election as only 31 percent of Federal Way’s 42,778 registered voters bothered to fill out their ballots.

However, if you are conservative, Republican or don’t want marijuana in Federal Way then you were happy with the results. But, if you are moderate, Democrat or were looking forward to adding Cheetos to your weekly shopping list, then you were likely disappointed.

With two good candidates running for the House of Representatives — appointed Democratic incumbent Carol Gregory and Republican challenger Teri Hickel — and with potential control of the state Legislature hanging in the balance, 68 percent of the voters yawned and watched reruns of the “Big Bang Theory.” This race will be the most expensive race for the Legislature in history, approaching $2 million, and only 31 percent bothered to vote in the 30th District. Hickel won with 55 percent to Gregory’s 45 percent.

Historically, off years tend to be the purview of Republican voters, who after years of minority status in Washington politics have become much more disciplined voters than Democrats who usually wait until a presidential year to show up. Democrats had huge stakes riding on the outcome. Control of the House, a good incumbent to protect and even an issue to draw out the faithful in marijuana. But turnout was low and for the first time in many years the Democratic leaning district will have three Republican legislators.

Gregory will still be on the local school board, but they lost her vote in Olympia.

Hickel turned out to be a better candidate than some of the other possible “name” candidates that were approached before she was. However, even though control of the House of Representatives will be fluid, Hickel will have to work extra hard to get anything passed as she will likely be a target next fall when her one year term is up. But the biggest question for Democrats is, who will be their candidate?

Democrats did a good job of building a bench that included Council members Lydia Assefa-Dawson and Martin Moore. But Moore turned Republican after he was elected and Assefa-Dawson seems to have followed Moore. Also, Anthony Murrietta lost in the primary for the City Council, so the search is on to find candidates for all three legislative races.

In council races, incumbent Dini Duclos was the biggest winner carrying almost 68 percent of the vote to PK Thumbi’s 32 percent despite his hard charge at the end. This was Duclos’s fourth race and will be her third term, but some political insiders wonder if Duclos was really that strong or did Thumbi’s campaign simply never catch fire? It was a good learning experience for Thumbi and we may see his name on the ballot again.

Assefa-Dawson scored 53 percent of the vote to defeat Mark Greene’s 46 percent. This was Assefa-Dawson’s first election, but this race shouldn’t have been so close, and suggests that Assefa-Dawson has work to do on the issues. She had all the benefits on her side compared to Greene and Greene still captured over 5,000 votes.

In the race for the open seat being vacated by Councilman Bob Celski, third-time candidate Mark Koppang won over first-time candidate Julie Hiller by a score of 56 percent to 44 percent. Since it had no incumbent, this race attracted the most interest. Last summer when candidates were considering their options, some people encouraged Hiller to look at another council position. In retrospect, that might have been a good idea.

South King Fire and Rescue had three issues to watch. But the overall theme of interest to many was sending a message to the board of commissioners that it was time to open up the “insiders club” and become more transparent. Roger Flygare was chosen by the political insiders at the district but he only attracted 39 percent and was defeated by Bill Fuller who carried 61 percent. Fuller, an unknown, had burst onto the scene in the primary with a message of rational change. Some feared that Jerry Galland’s write-in effort might subtract votes from Fuller and help Flygare win. But the write-in had no impact. In the other race John Rickert was unopposed for reelection as his opponent, Marty Grisham, had dropped out prior to the primary. But in a “message vote,” 23 percent still voted for Grisham. More importantly, while the levy passed it only got 2 percent more than the required amount on its second try. There is a message in those three votes. Will the fire district hear it? Will Fuller, who wouldn’t be on the board without the “message vote,” actually follow through and try to move the board into policies more in step with today’s expectations of government?

School district voters decided to keep the same team together and voted to retain Claire Wilson with a 52 percent win over Angela Griffin who carried 48 percent. Peter Sanchez was elected to a vacant position on the Lakehaven Utility District. Julie Wise won big as the new director of elections and incumbent Assessor Lloyd Hara was defeated by his former Chief Deputy John Wilson.

And for those of you who feel guilty about not voting, the elections for 2016 and 2017 are already underway and you will get another chance!

Federal Way resident Bob Roegner is a former mayor of Auburn: bjroegner@comcast.net.