News - Elections

POSTED: Tuesday, Nov. 03, 2009

Caskey-Schreiber voted off County Council, other progressives lead

Whatcom County Councilwoman Laurie Caskey-Schreiber has conceded in her bid for the At-Large council seat against conservative small-businessman Bill Knutzen.

Knutzen was defeating Caskey-Schreiber, seeking to switch from her District 2 seat to the At-Large position, 52 percent to 48 percent.

"I think the people of this community are ready for change," Knutzen said. "That's what they said with their votes."

Caskey-Schreiber acknowledged the results don't look good for her, especially if the trend of the primary and previous elections holds. In the primary, she was leading but a larger conservative turnout toward the end of voting eventually put Knutzen ahead in the three-way race that included Dave Pros, a former planning commissioner.

In other recent elections, conservative voters have tended to wait to mail their ballots until later, meaning Knutzen's lead could widen even further.

Caskey-Schreiber said she hopes Knutzen will maintain the county's medic services by keeping them under one union, rather than two, and that he focuses on Lake Whatcom.

Meanwhile, three progressive Whatcom County Council candidates had slight leads over their conservative opponents on election night, according to early results Tuesday, Nov. 3, from the Auditor's Office.

The results have the potential to flip as more mail-in ballots come in.

In the District 1 race, former County Councilman Dan McShane led Kathy Kershner 51 percent to 49 percent. Kershner was excited about the results, pointing to previous election trends where conservative voters came out later. McShane said it was pretty hard to figure out how he felt about the early results, saying the past trend of more conservative votes coming in later concerned him.

He felt the campaign went well but wished there would have been more specific dialogue about economic development.

"It's like if you care about the environment, you're somehow anti-business," he said.

District 2 candidate Ken Mann led Mary Beth Teigrob 54 percent to 46 percent. Mann had the biggest lead of any candidate in the County Council races.

Councilman Carl Weimer led his District 3 opponent Michelle Luke 52 percent to 48 percent.

Candidates were cautious about the results.

"I like the trend. I hope it continues," Mann said, noting he had learned his lesson during his 2007 challenge to Councilman Sam Crawford in which conservative voters would eventually give Crawford a wide lead in later vote counts.

The four conservative candidates constantly raised concerns over growth planning at the county level and criticized regulations that have been enacted based on state mandates, including stricter septic tank inspection rules and proposed changes to the county's rural zoning as well as where cities will annex future areas outside their boundaries. The regulations, they argued, were overly strict and hurt businesses and the rights of property owners as well as local farmers, already hurt during a slumping economy.

The four progressive candidates maintained that the various planning efforts were required by state law and stood by the changes as responsible ways to protect the rural areas of the county.