• There will be a candidates forum Wednesday, October 7, at 7pm at the Boys and Girls Club, Inglewood Hill Road and 228th Ave. NE. It is sponsored by the Sammamish Chamber of Commerce and the Sammamish Rotary. It will not be videotaped or broadcast on Sammamish TV Channel 21, so this is your only chance to see the candidates and ask questions in a forum.

Beginning Thursday and ending today for five consecutive posts, Sammamish Comment will provide information about the five active candidates for Sammamish City Council running for Positions 2, 4 and 6. There is a sixth candidate, but he dropped out of the race two months after entering, but too late to withdraw his name from the ballot. Sammamish Comment began with Position 2 and continued in order, finishing today. Each profile will be for one candidate. Information will come principally, but not entirely, from the candidate’s website and the Public Disclosure Commission.

Today’s profile is of Tom Vance, who is seeking reelection to his second term to the City Council. Vance is current Mayor, a position that is elected by the Council itself; Sammamish citizens vote only for Council Members and not the specific position of Mayor. The Mayor’s position typically rotates among Council Members and is for a two year term.

Vance’s opponent is Tom Hornish.

Previous profiles:

Position 2:

• Christie Malchow
• Mark Cross

Position 4:

Ramiro Valderrama

Position 6:

Tom Hornish

Today:

Position 6: Tom Vance

Website

Biography

Vance, 63, is completing is first term on the City Council, having been elected in 2011. He first ran for election in 2009 and was defeated by John Curley. Vance served four years on the Sammamish Planning Commission, including two as chairman.

Vance is an active member of the Democratic Party and served as the chairman of the 5th Legislative District Democrats at a time when the 5th LD covered all but eight precincts of Sammamish in the far north. Following the recent redistricting, the 5th covers the Klahanie area (which officially becomes part of Sammamish January 1). Sammamish is now otherwise covered by the 41st and 45th LDs, with SE 8th Street being roughly the dividing line.

Vance chaired the 5th in 2004 when then-Mayor Kathy Huckabay ran for State Senate. Barbara de Michele and Jeff Griffin ran for State Representative. All three lost. (Scott Hamilton, now editor of Sammamish Comment, was campaign chairman of the 5th LD Demcrats at the time.)

Issues

Vances lists on his website the following issues:

• Fiscal responsibility
• Minimizing growth and development
• Environmental protection
• Mitigating growth and development
• Roads

Endorsements

Vance lists 52 endorsements on his website. Many are Democratic political party endorsements and Democratic politicians.

His endorsements include:

• King County Democrats, 41st and 45th Democrats
• Tara Senn, State Rep (D-41st)
• Marcie Maxwell, former State Rep (D-41st)
• Mark Mullet, State Senator (D-5th)
• Sammamish Council Member Tom Odell
• Sammamish Council Candidate Mark Cross
• Sammamish Council Member Bob Keller
• Sammamish Deputy Mayor Kathy Huckabay
• Barb de Michele, former Democratic candidate for State Rep (5th District)
• Cheryl Wagner, Planning Commissioner
• Larry Crandall, Planning Commissioner
• Hank Klein, Parks Commissioner, candidate for Sammamish City Council (withdrawn)

In examining the list, only one Planning Commissioner who served with Vance during his four years on the Commission, including two as chairman, endorsed Vance. Not a single former City Council member who served with Vance endorsed him, and the current Council endorsements are all part of the current power structure.

Some of what should have been Vance’s core constituency, the city’s leading environmentalists, have abandoned Vance. Although one leading environmentalist, Wally Pererya, contributed to Vance’s campaign, he wound up endorsing Vance’s opponent, Tom Hornish.

Financial Contributions

Financial contributions are one way to gauge support.

Vance raised $5,300, including a $1,000 personal loan, from 32 individuals and one organization.

• All data, websites and PDC reports current as of Sept. 28, 2015.