Tag Archives: Jason Ritchie

City Council candidates vow no tax hike but endorse new spending anyway

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All eight candidates for Sammamish City Council vowed last night that they would not raise taxes, but nonetheless most of them endorsed a host of new spending programs.

A few expressed fiscal caution about new programs and only one called out endorsement of new debt bonds for road infrastructures as “not free.”

This was perhaps the highlight of the only forum for all eight Council candidates for the Nov. 7 election. Eight people are running for four positions. Ballots are mailed to voters Oct. 18.

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City Council Candidates Forum Monday 6pm

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The only candidates forum for the Nov. 7 Sammamish City Council election will be Monday, Sept. 25, at City Hall. Details may be found here. Ballots are mailed to voters Oct. 18.

The forum runs from 6pm-8:30pm. Sammamish Comment will be at the forum and provide coverage either that evening or the next day.

The City will tape the forum for broadcast within a few days on Comcast Channel 21 and the City’s website/YouTube channel.

Four Council positions are up for election: 1, 3, 5 and 7. For the first time since 1999, there are no incumbents for these positions. The candidates are (in the order they appear on the ballot):

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Reichert’s retirement long overdue

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The news last week that US Rep. Dave Reichert will retire is welcome, and overdue, news.

I’ve got plenty of courage. Really. US Rep. Dave Reichert. Photo via Google.

Reichert, a Republican, has been the 8th Congressional District Congressman for 14 years. The 8th includes Sammamish, other Eastside suburbs, Southern King County and east of the Cascades into Chelan County.

Reichert is one of the few so-called Republican moderates in the US House. While he indeed has been more environmentally friendly than most of his colleagues, his has been a mostly reliable Republican vote throughout his 14 years, including the last nine months under Donald Trump.

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Primary results certified for November City Council election

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King County Elections today certified the results of the Aug. 1 primary, in which three of the four seats for Sammamish City Council were on the ballot.

The fourth seat only had two candidates and were not subject to the primary.

The winners are as Sammamish Comment projected on primary night. The final results are below.

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Election day for Sammamish City Council primary

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It’s election day for the Sammamish City Council primary.

Mail-in ballots must be post-marked today; there is a drop-in ballot at the Sammamish City Hall.

The first results will be posted by King County Elections about 8:15  8:30 pm; Sammamish Comment will post shortly afterwards. It takes about three weeks for all mail-in ballots to be received (allowing for overseas and military ballots to arrive) and the votes certified. History shows that election night results are within 1%-2% of the final results.

Our final readership tracking of candidate questionnaires is below. We don’t know if election results will follow the readership interest; it’s the only “polling” available.

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