Democrats endorse freeholder candidates, Republicans decide against endorsing
Overwhelmed by the number of freeholder candidates on your ballot? Longing for advice from your favorite political party? Your decision might have gotten easier, depending on your political stripes.
The Clark County Democratic Party has a list of endorsements in freeholder races listed on its website. Among them are well known candidates such as former state legislator Val Ogden and current state Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver.
The Clark County Republican Party, meanwhile, decided against making endorsements in the freeholder elections.
“We could list those who we believe are good Republicans, but in many races that would be almost half of those running,” the county GOP posted on its website. “We would recommend reading the candidate statements, visit their websites if they have them and contact them directly.”
The nonpartisan board of freeholders will draft a new county charter, which would be offered back to voters for approval as soon as November 2014. The new charter would allow the county to be governed by its own set of rules, as long as those rules don’t conflict with the U.S. or Washington state constitutions, or state laws. Freeholder positions are unpaid.
According to the GOP’s website, party members have a variety of opinions on what a county charter should look like, so they were unable to agree on which candidates to support.
Here’s who the Democrats are endorsing in the freeholder races:
Commissioner District One
Position 1: Morris Foutch
Position 2: Tom Lawrence
Position 3: Rob Lutz
Position 4: Steve Foster
Position 5: Patricia Reyes
Commissioner District Two
Position 1: Jamie Hurly
Position 2: Lloyd Halverson
Position 3: Judie Stanton
Position 4: Paul Dennis
Position 5: Tony McMigas
Commissioner District Three
Position 1: Pat Jollata
Position 2: Val Ogden
Position 3: Jim Moeller
Position 4: Temple Lentz
Position 5: Jim Mains
For more information on freeholder candidates, see The Columbian’s collection of freeholder candidate questionnaires (on that page, select your district in the drop-down menu, then hit the search button).
Ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 5, or deposited in a ballot drop box by 8 p.m. Nov. 5.
Stevie Mathieu
Stevie Mathieu is a political writer at The Columbian. Contact her at 360-735-4523 or stevie.mathieu@columbian.com or www.facebook.com/reportermathieu or www.twitter.com/col_politics.