Tag Archives: 2015 Sammamish Election

Know your candidate for Sammamish City Council: Christie Malchow

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  • 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 today and continuing for five consecutive posts, Sammamish Comment

Christie Malchow

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 begins with Position 2 and will continue in order. Each profile will be for one candidate. Information will come principally, but not entirely, from the candidate’s website and the Public Disclosure Commission.

Position 2: Christie Malchow

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Valderrama endorsers pressured, intimidated

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Ramiro Valderrama, Sammamish City Council Member.

At least a half dozen supporters of Sammamish Council Member Ramiro Valderrama who lent their names to his Endorsements page on his campaign website have been pressured and intimidated to remove their names, eliminate references to their titles and affiliations and in some cases, drop their endorsement of Valderrama and endorse his opponent, Hank Klein, a Sammamish Comment investigation has shown.

In addition, efforts are underway by Valderrama’s opponents to dig up “dirt” to make allegations of impropriety in the closing weeks of the campaign, it has been learned.

The pressure and intimidation have been traced to some members of the so-called Gang of 4, the ruling majority of the Sammamish City Council, according to interviews.

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Issaquah sponsors, broadcasts candidate forum, but Sammamish won’t; why not?

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The City of Issaquah will host, sponsor and broadcast one of three candidate forums for its City Council election, but Sammamish won’t.

Sammamish said it will broadcast a forum, but only is someone else pays for it. CJ Kahler, treasurer of the Sammamish Rotary, which is co-sponsoring with the Sammamish Chamber, the only candidate forum set so far in our City Council elections, won’t allow videotaping the forum unless Sammamish pays for it.

Four years ago Sammamish said it wouldn’t allow a candidates forum in its chambers for some obscure reasoning. Now it says it will, but it won’t pay for videoing it and broadcasting it.

This is all nonsense.

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Rotary, Chamber still say “no” to videotaping and broadcasting Sammamish City Council candidate forum; Mayor Vance, seeking reelection, objected

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Update, Sept. 23: Deb Sogge, executive director of the Sammamish Chamber, responded today to the emails sent Sunday about the objections Sammamish Comment reported coming from Mayor Tom Vance about videotaping the October 7 candidates’ forum.

Sogge was one of four people to make the decision to not tape; the other three were Bob Toomey, president of the Chamber; CJ Kahler, treasurer of Rotary and Bill Shaw, publisher of the Issaquah-Sammamish Reporter, who will moderate the event. Shaw could not be reached when any of The Comment’s articles were written because he was on vacation.

Kahler told The Comment that “a couple of candidates” objected to videotaping. The Comment verified that Ramiro Valderrama, Christie Malchow and Tom Hornish favor taping. Valderrama said he encountered Mark Cross at the Farmer’s Market last week, who said he also favored taping. Cross did not respond to an email from The Comment. That elft Vance, who also did not respond to an email asking if he objected and why.

In a later interview with Toomey, he said Vance objected and provided detail surrounding the issue. He said Sogge spoke with Vance and told him that a commitment made to Vance not to tape should be honored.

In today’s response, Sogge denied all of this. She said Vance agreed to taping. Vance continues to stonewall The Comment. As noted in the report below, Kahler is, appears, the key holdout.

Original Post

The Sammamish Rotary and Sammamish Chamber of Commerce have stuck to their

Tom Vance, seeking reelection to the Sammamish City Council, objected to videotaping the October 7 candidates forum.

decision to not videotape the Sammamish City Council candidates forum, which will be at 7pm October 7 at the Boys and Girls Club, Inglewood Hill Road and NE 8th St.

A Chamber official confirmed the decision Friday to Sammamish Comment.

Sammamish Comment also confirmed that Mayor Tom Vance, who is running for reelection, objected to videotaping and the groups agreed to forego taping. The four other active candidates favor videotaping. Vance did not respond to a request for comment for the original story last Thursday when it first appeared he had objected.

“I think this shows a lack of transparency in our government leadership,” said Tom Hornish, Vance’s opponent in the November 3 election.

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Sammamish Kiwanis drops plans for candidates forum over political image concerns

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The Sammamish Kiwanis Club dropped plans to host a candidates forum at its October 7 regular membership meeting.

An club insider told Sammamish Comment that concerns inside the club that the organization developed an image of becoming a political group led to canceling plans for the five active candidates for Sammamish City Council to appear at the October 7 meeting.

Three sitting council members, Tom Vance, Kathy Huckabay and Bob Keller, are members of Kiwanis. Vance is running for reelection. The concerns about the politicizing Kiwanis are outlined in yesterday’s Sammamish Comment post.