Election season is ramping up with the first of three October forums taking place on the South End on Wednesday, Sept. 30. Hosted by The Record, candidates in three contested positions will answer questions from Record editor Justin Burnett and from the audience.
The forum begins at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30 at Langley United Methodist Church on Third Street and Anthes Avenue.
The other forums are hosted by the League of Women Voters at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 8, also at the Methodist Church; and by the Langley Chamber of Commerce at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 14 at Prima Bistro on First Street.
In Langley, Tim Callison led the mayoral primary election with 210 votes versus Sharon Emerson’s 191. City Councilman Thomas Gill was eliminated from the race with only 76 votes, and he later publicly endorsed Callison with a letter to the editor.
With just over a month away from Election Day, Nov. 3, the candidates are resuming their active campaigning. They have a lot in common with regard to their campaign tactics, including door-to-door visits, attending city government meetings and maintaining websites and Facebook pages.
Emerson regularly updates and analyzes city business on her website. Of the few videos she made with her husband, Charlie Snelling, the most recent tackles the issue of improving marina access from Cascade Avenue. Criticizing the project thrust her into the public view, and her video proposes instead using the earmarked county funds to stabilize the Wharf Street/Cascade Avenue bluff and perhaps improve the pedestrian walkway railing.
Many of her other, at least weekly posts on Facebook and on the website blog were about city happenings as well. Her other videos covered the need for a disaster plan in Langley and why she is running for mayor.
Callison has relied on endorsements for his three videos posted to the Callison for Mayor page on Facebook. On his side is the entire city council. In addition to Gill, the other four council members — Rene Neff, Jim Sundberg, Bruce Allen and Robin Black (Callison’s wife) — publicly endorsed him. Sundberg and Neff, said Callison, have even gone door to door with him.
“It’s a lot better to go out with somebody the public knows to make the introduction. And it’s a lot less lonely,” he said.
At the start of his campaign in May, Callison said he would take a steady approach to door knocking and meeting residents. That continued after the primary, he said, with an estimate that he has visited 150 residences.
Emerson, who was out early and often knocking on doors to get the word out about who she was and what she stood for, hit the pavement again a couple of weeks ago after taking a short hiatus.
“I’ve actually covered a lot of ground. I’m planning on continuing to do it,” she said.
“I’m sure I’m putting some miles on myself,” she added.
Since getting back to the campaign trail of Langley’s 1,000 residents, Emerson said she has covered about one-third of the town’s doors. An order of 500 new flyers held her up this week, she said, but they should arrive by Thursday at which point she’ll resume her door rapping and meet her hopeful future constituents.
“I’m seeing a lot of nooks and crannies of Langley I didn’t know existed,” she said.
Neither candidate expected to reach the Washington Public Disclosure Commission’s $5,000 threshold for listing campaign expenses and donations. Emerson said she ordered 500 more flyers, and Callison said he ordered more signs to add to his initial round of 50 for the primary election.
The other candidates appearing at the Record forum are Rob Born and Georgia Gardner for Public Hospital District commissioner, Position 2, and Erika Carnahan and Nancy Fey for Public Hospital District commissioner, Position 4. Born and Gardner survived a primary election against Rita Drum, with Born claiming 4,759 votes to Gardner’s 3,814.
