THESE RACES WILL BE RED HOT THIS OFF YEAR ELECTION!

Well with the filing date come and gone, we now know the political landscape in this off year going into the primary in August and the election this November for the red hot Snohomish County Council seats now up for grabs. Let’s take a hard look:

In Council District 4, which includesBrier and Bothell, Mill Creek, Mountlake Terrace and parts of Everett, Councilman Dave Gossett, a Democrat from Mountlake Terrace, is being challenged by Republican Bob Meador of Mill Creek. While Meador does have a great base of support around the Mill Creek area, observers believe that unless he can knock on 10,000+ doors and do some savvy campaigning, he will come up short in a head to head with Gossett in November. When the votes are tallied for the August 18^th Primary, we should know exactly how close this race will be. Your humble blogger gives this one 52 to 48% vote tally to Gossett in a surprisingly hard fought campaign. I will say this: a four point spread is DANGEROUS for Gossett and a lot can happen between now and November. I understand that the latest polling has Gossett ahead, but not enough for comfort! Meador does have name recognition in that District.

In Council District 1, which is really the Northern half of the 39^th Legislative District in SNO County, nothing much has changed and I predict that John Koster will walk away, winning this election with a hefty margin of victory. Again, we will be looking at the August Primary tallies. Here was and is my take on the race in a previous blog: LINK

NOW THE BIG ONE! Council District 5! In probably one of the biggest surprise moves in Sno County history, the mayor of Lake Stevens: VERN LITTLE has jumped into the race as a REPUBLICAN! Vern apparently decided only at the last minute to run, primarily at the urging of many city council leaders and mayors in the District. That is without a doubt was a clear slap in the face for Dave Somers, the incumbent Democrat, who has a reputation for ignoring the needs of the cities in the district. Dave has very HIGH UN-APPROVAL RATINGS across the boards with most of the cities, including his home town of Monroe. Here is the shocker: I am led to believe from MANY sources that Democratic County Executive Aaron Reardon even suggested INDIRECTLY that Vern Little run, but as a DEMOCRAT.  This is rumor and if I am wrong about this, I will be happy to retract, but I got this from an impeccable source.

Anyway, the introduction of Vern Little in this campaign virtually eliminates any chance that already declared Republican candidate Steve Dana had to emerge from the August top two primary. Dana, former Snohomish City Mayor, was saying all the wrong things to Republicans in the 44^th and the south part of the 39^th LD’s this last month, so his campaign was going nowhere anyway. Little is having his kickoff on the 23^rd: LINK.

No race is any good without a dark horse and this particular dark horse has shown his ugly face again and that is KING COUNTY RESIDENT Greg Stephens who has filed to run using a ‘shack’ in the city of Snohomish as his mailing address, while he lives in King County. Legally using that as his residence apparently gives him a pass with the County Auditor, however Sno County Republicans are considering a court challenge to remove him from the ballot. Stephens drew off enough votes in the last election in this district to cause Jeff Sax the sitting Republican to lose to Dave Somers. Stephens says he is running as a Republican, but he is afraid to show his face at ANY Republican meeting or gathering in Snohomish County and FOR GOOD REASON.

Right now Dave Somers is hurting for money! He has gotten a $32K boost from some developers at a recent fund raiser, but that will not be enough to tide him over and unless Seattle CRACKPOT enviro-nazi Paul Brainerd steps up to the plate and has his friends put down some hard cash, this election could be tough going for Somers. Somers right now is HIGHLY UNPOPULAR all over the county and particularly in his own district.

Where does that leave us? I think that if Vern Little can get the local mayors and councilman to help spread the word, he probably will come out on top IN THE AUGUST 18^TH PRIMARY. Under the top two system that would pit him against Somers in November and barring some unknown factor, he has a clear shot at unseating Somers but not without a hotly fought campaign!

ITS GOING TO BE A HOT TIME IN THE OLD COUNTY THIS YEAR! STAY TUNED, FOLKS!