By Evan Smith
Results of the Lake Forest Park election show some loss of strength for the Lake Forest Park GovWatch organization that had dominated City politics in recent years.
In 2010, the organization brought prominent Democrats and Republicans together to defeat a tax measure on the August primary ballot, giving the levy-lid lift a 78 percent "no" vote with the highest election turnout in King County.
In 2011, the organization helped Mary Jane Goss win the mayor’s race over longtime Deputy Mayor Dwight Thompson and saw its endorsed candidates win two of three City Council contests.
This year, however, both of the candidates that the organization endorsed in contested city council elections – Jason Colberg and Alan Kiest – appear to be headed for defeat in votes counted through Friday night.
Both winners had a big financial advantage over the Gov-Watch backed candidates.
Hilda Thompson, daughter of the losing 2011 mayoral candidate, who led Colberg 60.84 percent to 38.92 percent, led all Lake Forest Park candidates in fundraising with $20,233 raised and $15,116 spent to no fundraising for Colberg.
John Resha, who led Kiest 60.34 percent to 39.55 percent, reports raising $14,184 and spending $11,827 to Kiest’s $4,595 raised and $2,943 spent.
Kiest also was hurt by a late report that he was being investigated for a complaint of sexual harassment on his state job.
The one winning GovWatch-endorsed candidate is incumbent Councilman John Wright, who ran unopposed. He did no fundraising or spending.
Colberg attributes his loss to Thompson to a combination of a financial disadvantage and attacks by groups opposed to the GovWatch-endorsed candidates.
“I think it's both,” he said Saturday. “It looks like this is the first election season where GOVWatch has been attacked on a broad scale.
“I do think that took a toll. People don't want partisan politics and bickering. I think GOVWatch had done a pretty good job of staying out of that fray. This year, probably mostly and not necessarily positively from me, the attacks on GOVWatch, in my opinion, needed response.
“Money also played a role,” he added. “Getting into this race I was not aware of how effective mailers can be. I see now how presenting my message more professionally and more clearly via one or more mailers probably would have helped. The other thing about the money factor is that I was able to ‘save’ my campaign a lot of money because I do have the skills to be able to add elements to my campaign that it didn't look like my opponent was able to do on her own.
“It looks like I was able to contribute in-kind services to my campaign that my opponent had to pay for.
“There are other factors. I did walk and knock on a lot of doors. But, my commitment to my family and our life took a toll on how much time I could spend out on the campaign trail. I think that and the race being made partisan are probably the greatest factor that contributed to my defeat.”
Lake Forest Park political activist Jean Thomas cited several factors:
One is money.
“In the past, candidates limited their campaigns to a maximum of $5,000 raised and spent (and frequently less)” she noted. “Three of the candidates this year raised several times this amount.”
Another is outside involvement.
“One candidate (Resha) raised a substantial amount -- $6,800 -- from unions and other special interest groups; much of this money from outside the local area and in some instances, from out of state,” she said. “He also received substantial personal contributions from outside our city. Mr. Resha used outside organizers both to doorbell in Lake Forest Park and to phone bank. I personally received a phone call from Pierce County, insisting that I should vote for Mr. Resha because he was the only Democrat in his race (a blatant falsehood I have heard Mr. Resha mention on multiple occasions).
“These are nonpartisan offices, and the Lake Forest Park City Council currently and in years past has consisted of residents who represent the spectrum of political interests in our city. One result of GovWatch’s previous success was an organized effort during this campaign season to discredit the nonpartisan PAC with ongoing misrepresentations that it is a ‘tea party’-based organization and that its endorsed candidates represent tea-party values. There is no question that this affected our endorsed candidates (one of whom is a life-long progressive Democrat). The GovWatch focus has always been -- and continues to be -- promoting transparency and accountability in our local government, a position that represents the interests of all Lake Forest Park residents. It is unfortunate that there are a few individuals in Lake Forest Park who continue to stir up divisiveness rather than focusing on the common good and the real issues our city faces.”
Thomas also noted that all but one of the races was contested, whereas many past campaigns have had several unopposed races.
The organization had not endorsed a candidate for the fourth position on the 2013 ballot in which Mark Phillips led opponent Edgar Escandar 71.96 percent to 27.99 percent.
Phillips has reported raising $11,263 and spending $6,948 to no fundraising for Escandar.
Officials had counted 9,720 Lake Forest Park ballots Friday with 5,189 on hand ready to be counted.
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