Category Archives: City Politics

Position 1 City Council Candidate Questionnaires today

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Today Sammamish Comment publishes the candidate questionnaires of Position 1 for City Council.

Note that because there are only two candidates seeking this position, they do not appear on the Aug. 1 primary ballot. However, Sammamish Comment believes it is only fair that all candidates respond to the questions at the same time.

Position 1

The candidates for Position 1 are Mark Baughman and Jason Ritchie.

The candidate responses are printed verbatim. The Comment only checked their responses for spelling and grammar. Each response is in its own post, so scroll down on The Comment’s Home Page to see each response.

The responses were reviewed and processed by Scott Hamilton.

Position 1 Questionnaire: Mark Baughman

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Mark Baughman

Questionnaire

Name:                  Mark Baughman

Position:              Position 1

 General

Why are you running for Sammamish City Council?

My wife and I have lived on the Sammamish Plateau since 1997 and have seen the inception and development of the City of Sammamish and the simultaneous and continuing development, growth and changes to our community during these 20 years. I experienced the angst with King County that ultimately lead to the founding of our City and the aspiration that local control would provide the opportunity to greatly improve the prioritization of local projects and the level of service from local government. Much of this vision has been accomplished through the dedication of many of our City leaders over the past 18 years. Now that there will be a significant transition in the City Council, I hope to lend my experience from the private sector to help guide the City’s path to continue in a long term, well planned trajectory of financially disciplined progress toward accomplishing those goals that were expressed in the founding of the City of Sammamish.

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Position 1 Questionnaire: Jason Ritchie

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Jason Ritchie

Questionnaire

Name:  Jason Ritchie

Position:  Sammamish City Council Position 1

 General

Why are you running for Sammamish City Council?

I believe in public service. I want to be a part of creating a future for our City that we can all be proud of. This means managing growth with significant investments into our infrastructure, protecting our environment, including heritage trees and wildlife and making sure we are creating a transparent, accountable and balanced budget process. I own and operate a small business here in Sammamish helping to create housing for people with physical challenges. I want to be a voice for the small business owner on the Council.

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Democrats, Unions lining up behind some City Council candidates

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Democratic elected officials and other known Democrats, plus several labor union organizations, are lining up behind several candidates in the Sammamish City Council primary.

The City Council is a non-partisan election, but it’s not at all unusual for the Democratic and Republican parties to endorse and even send mailers or undertake robocalls on behalf of candidates.

So far, the Republicans haven’t endorsed any of the candidates–at least none is listed on any of the candidate websites–except for King County Council Member Kathy Lambert.

Unlike the 2015 City Council election, the incumbents are largely staying out of this election. The exception: Kathy Huckabay, who is retiring at the end of her term in December. Huckabay publicly endorsed Jason Ritchie, who is running in Position 1. (Position 1 is not on the Aug. 1 primary ballot, however.)

Former Mayor Tom Vance, who was defeated in his bid for reelection in 2015, endorsed two candidates.

Behind the scenes, several Council Members are helping candidates.

A graphic of the elected officials and organization endorsements is below the jump.

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Keller is Mayor through the end of the year

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Bob Keller

Bob Keller has been selected mayor through the end of the year.

Don Gerend resigned as mayor, but remains on the City Council, due to personal commitments.

Council Member Tom Hornish nominated Ramiro Valderrama for mayor for the sake of leadership continuity with a new Council coming in come January.

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