Elenbaas answers whether he’d keep Whatcom council seat and run for Senate in November
Ben Elenbaas said he would keep his Whatcom County County Council seat if he is named to replace late state Sen. Doug Ericksen, and a usually straightforward appointment process turned ugly this week amid partisan accusations after a decision was delayed until at least Tuesday, Jan. 11.
Elenbaas told The Bellingham Herald in an interview that because the process has become politicized, he will keep both positions if he is named to replace Ericksen, a Ferndale Republican who died Dec. 17 after a five-week battle with COVID-19.
“There are a lot of issues that I understand at the local level,” Elenbaas told The Herald, adding that his County Council experience would give him additional perspective in the Legislature.
He also said he’d run to keep the Senate seat in the top-two August primary, where 42nd District state Rep. Sharon Shewmake, D-Bellingham, has already declared her candidacy.
“I’d serve in both capacities if that was the will of the people,” he said.
A 60-day session of Washington’s part-time Legislature starts Monday, Jan. 10, and adjourns March 10 in a combination of in-person and online meetings amid a continued threat posed by COVID.
Concurrent roles
Members of the Legislature can hold concurrent nonpartisan elected positions, and at least two legislators have done so:
▪ State Sen. Tim Sheldon, D-35th District, has served in the Legislature since 1991 and has been a Mason County commissioner, a Port of Hoodsport commissioner and a Mason County PUD 1 commissioner while representing his district in Olympia.
▪ State Rep. Davina Duerr, D-1st District, is also a member of the Bothell City Council.
Selection process
Ericksen represented the 42nd Legislative District for more than 20 years — from 1998 to 2010 in the state House and from 2010 until his death in the state Senate.
Because Ericksen was a Republican, the local Republican Party is required under the state Constitution to submit three nominees to the County Council, which has 60 days to choose a replacement.
Otherwise, Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democrat, will pick a successor for Ericksen in the 42nd District, which covers north Bellingham and northern Whatcom County.
Elenbaas, who represents the council’s 5th District covering western Whatcom County from Lummi Island to Blaine, was one of three candidates to replace Ericksen submitted by the Whatcom County Republican Party on Dec. 31.
He lives in Custer and works at BP Cherry Point refinery and is a farmer.
Elenbaas was elected to a four-year term with 59% of the vote in 2019.
Other nominees are Simon Sefzik of Ferndale, a recent graduate of Patrick Henry College and a White House and congressional intern; and Tawsha Dykstra Thompson, a former Bellingham Police sergeant who left the department in December 2021 but didn’t respond to The Herald’s question about her reason for leaving.
Elenbaas has recused himself from the discussion on Ericksen’s replacement.
Partisan allegations
Meanwhile, several members of the County Council are angry that a decision on Ericksen’s replacement was delayed by a 4-3 vote in a special meeting Tuesday, Jan. 4 — where it was thought that a replacement would be named.
That delay came during a meeting where tempers flared as four members of the council sought to have the nominees respond to questions from the public.
But three members of the council wanted to vote on the nominees so the 42nd District would have representation in Olympia when the legislative session starts Monday.
“Today’s politically-motivated inaction is a slap in the face to Doug and his legacy of helping those who needed it most, of being a voice for those who didn’t have one in Olympia,” Councilwoman Kathy Kershner, a former chair of the Whatcom Republicans, posted on her Facebook page.
Current Whatcom Republicans Chairman John Ramsey also criticized the delay.
“The council is now on record stating their intention to select our new senator next Tuesday, January 11. There should be no further stalling,” Ramsey said in an emailed statement.
Four members of the non-partisan County Council have ties to the Democratic Party and three have received endorsements from the Republican Party.
It’s the four Democrats — councilmembers Rud Browne, Barry Buchanan, Todd Donovan and Carol Frazey — who sought a delay to consider the nominees further.
Browne and Frazey missed a special meeting on Dec. 22 to set a selection timetable because they were aboard commercial airline flights.
Donovan criticized what he said was a slow submission of candidates to replace Ericksen from the Republicans, who wanted to wait until after the senator’s Dec. 29 funeral.
“Put the names out on New Year’s Eve on a Friday? Have the meeting on a Tuesday? Make sure that there’s no way that the media can cover this?” Donovan said at the Jan. 4 meeting.
But Councilman Tyler Byrd said the members of the 42nd District deserve representation in Olympia immediately, especially as hundreds of residents are in temporary shelters or living in what’s left of their ruined homes and seeking government help after devastating floods along the Nooksack River in November.
Byrd said the Republicans also had to spend time during the holidays vetting candidates for Ericksen’s seat, even as they grieved the death of Whatcom County’s senior legislator.
“I’m just incredibly disappointed in my peers,” Elenbaas told The Herald.
Recent vacancies
Whatcom County Council members have replaced members of the Legislature in recent years:
▪ State Sen. Liz Lovelett, D-Anacortes, was named Feb. 5, 2019, to replace state Sen. Kevin Ranker, who resigned Jan. 12, 2019, a few days before the start of the legislative session.
▪ State Rep. Alex Ramel, D-Bellingham, was named Jan. 6, 2020, to replace Rep. Jeff Morris, who resigned Nov. 27, 2019.
Both Lovelett and Ramel serve the 40th Legislative District, which includes southern Bellingham and part of southern Whatcom County.
Under the timeline set Tuesday, the County Council will meet Tuesday morning, Jan. 11, to discuss the candidates.
A District Court or Superior Court judge will be ready to swear in a new senator at that time, according to council discussions Jan. 4.
But Browne will not be among the council members voting to replace Ericksen.
Brown didn’t run for a third term, and Kaylee Galloway was elected in November to serve the council’s District 1, which covers south Bellingham.
