News - Elections

POSTED: Tuesday, Nov. 03, 2009

Lilliquist leads Chambers for Bellingham City Council

BELLINGHAM - Fairhaven neighborhood activist Michael Lilliquist had a large lead over Democratic activist Catherine Chambers for the City Council Ward 6 seat, according to early election returns.

Lilliquist lead with 56 percent of the vote to 44 percent for Chambers in the race for the seat being vacated by Councilwoman Barbara Ryan. The lead is large, and historically it has been difficult for candidates behind by more than 10 percentage points to come back.

"The trend is looking really good, we're optimistic that it will hold," Lilliquist said of the early vote tally Tuesday, Nov. 3. "A lot of people put a lot of hard work and effort into this campaign. It looks like that work might have paid off."

Chambers couldn't be reached for comment, but campaign manager Riley Sweeney said Chambers was not conceding to Lilliquist yet.

"We're cautiously optimistic," Sweeney said. "We are not declaring anything at this point because there are still a lot of votes to be counted and we respect the will of the city of Bellingham."

The two candidates campaigned on similar platforms, but the 46-year-old Lilliquist argued that he had more civic experience than Chambers. In terms of local experience on volunteer boards for city government and local organizations, Lilliquist trumped Chambers, though she has had decades of participation in the local Democratic Party and other Democratic women's groups.

The 56-year-old Chambers also suffered a minor hiccup toward the end of her campaign, when she was cited for driving with a suspended license after having failed to pay a speeding ticket. Chambers said she had forgotten to pay the ticket due to the busy campaign.

Meanwhile, Whatcom County Councilman Seth Fleetwood received 9,129 votes Tuesday night in his bid for the City Council's At-Large seat being vacated by Councilwoman Louise Bjornson. He was pretty optimistic about his chances on the council.

Fleetwood is challenged by write-in candidate Orphalee Smith, but votes for her candidacy will not be released until Wednesday, Nov. 4.

"The first thing I'm going to do is get up to speed. Obviously there's a whole ton of things to learn and I'm going to look forward to diving in to a whole series of issues," Fleetwood said when asked what his first priorities would be if elected, mentioning Chuckanut Ridge, waterfront planning and greenways expenditures.

"It's going to be a fun, it's kind of like going back to college being on the council, so I'm looking forward to something new," he said.