Majority
voting control of Kitsap County's Board of Commissioners will be
decided by voters in next month's general election. On the same ballot, they'll be electing an auditor who will oversee
the county's voting and elections procedures for the next two years, plus other duties. Running for Kitsap County Commissioner Dist. 1 are appointed incumbent Steve Bauer,
D-Hansville, and Sandra LaCelle, R-Poulsbo. Competing for an open seat in Dist. 2 are Charlotte Garrido, D-Olalla, and Tim
Matthes, R-Port Orchard. Seeking election as auditor are Walt Washington, D-Poulsbo, who was appointed to the post this year,
and John Clark, R-Silverdale. Our editorial board is recommending
Bauer, Garrido and Washington. Bauer was appointed to complete
Chris Endresen's unexpired term 15 months ago, and now is seeking election to a full term. He retired as city manager
of Bellevue, and previously served as director of finance and administration for
the city of Portland, Ore. LaCelle has been an attorney for nine years, and currently has a small legal practice. Both candidates
are concerned about improving county government efficiency within budgetary limitations, but Bauer clearly has the edge in
government management experience, and has put it to good use during his tenure as an appointed commissioner. We encourage
voters to elect him to a full term. In District 2, our editorial board
initially endorsed Monty Mahan last summer. However, Mahan was eliminated in the primary, leaving Garrido and Matthes —
and our board viewed both with concern. Garrido previously served as a commissioner, but her one term in office ended with
her being voted out in 2000.
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For his part, Matthes serves on
the Port Orchard Planning Commission and the county's property tax Board of Equalization, but he also is past vice president
of the Kitsap Alliance of Property Owners — which is suing the county. If Matthes were elected, we have concerns the
county might return to costly and ultimately unproductive legal battles with the state over land-use regulation. Garrido argues
that she has learned lessons in consensus-building from her first time around, and we're recommending her, in hopes that
she'll demonstrate just that. In the auditor's race, John
Clark and his supporters are seeking to link Walt Washington with King County's gubernatorial election problems of four
years ago. Washington was King County's interim assistant director of records and elections from August to December of
2006; prior to that, he'd served as manager of animal services and property. "Let's keep King County's politics
out of Kitsap County," warns Clark, in a video on his Web site. The
fact is, Kitsap County's elections were conducted openly, fairly and honestly under retired auditor Karen Flynn, and Washington,
her chief deputy, has shown he's well qualified to continue in that tradition. Judging by their campaigns, the best way
to keep partisan politics out of the auditor's office is to elect Washington instead of Clark. Contact Commissioner Steve Bauer
at sbauer@co.kitsap.wa.us or (360) 337-7146.
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