Democrats in the 1^st and 32^nd legislative districts and the Snohomish County Democrats organization have endorsed candidates for city councils, school boards and other local non-partisan Snohomish County offices. The Snohomish County Republican web site lists endorsements for several cities around Snohomish County but not Mountlake Terrace or Brier. Here are Democrats’ endorsements:

Wright gets only Democratic endorsement in Mountlake Terrace

City Council incumbent Kyoko Matsumoto-Wright got the Democrats’ only endorsement in Mountlake Terrace.

Wright’s challenger is fellow councilmember Seaun Richards, who says he hopes to bring a fresh perspective to the council by taking Wright’s position and helping appoint someone new to his seat.

Council incumbent Jerry Smith is challenged by small-business owner Margaret Loiseau.

Smith presides over the council as mayor in Mountlake Terrace’s city-manager government.

City Council incumbent Rick Ryan faces a challenge from long-time community activist Steven Barnes, who is making his third run for City Council.

A fourth Mountlake Terrace City Council incumbent, Douglas McCardle, is running unopposed for re-election.

Democrats endorse school challenger

Snohomish County Democrats have endorsed challenger Mitchell Below over incumbent Edmonds School District 15 Board Member Ann McMurray.

Snohomish County Democrats and Democrats in the 1^st and 32^nd legislative districts have announced dual endorsements for the two candidates for an open School Board position. The Democrats have endorsed candidates Cathy Baylor and Deborah Kilgore for the position that retiring Board President Susan Phillips is giving up. Democrats in the 21^st Legislative District, however, have given their sole endorsement to Baylor.

The Edmonds school District includes Edmonds, Lynwood, Mountlake Terrace, Woodway, most of Brier and unincorporated areas near those municipalities.

The 1^st Legislative District includes most of Mountlake Terrace, all of Brier and Bothell, unincorporated areas of Snohomish County north and east of Bothell, north Kirkland and unincorporated areas of King County between Bothell and Kirkland. The 21^st District includes most of Edmonds, unincorporated areas north of Edmonds and Lynnwood, Mukilteo and part of south Everett. The 32^nd District includes part of Mountlake Terrace, all of Lynnwood, south Edmonds, Woodway and nearby unincorporated areas, the city of Shoreline and part of northwest Seattle.

Three statewide advisory votes on November ballot

Voters in South Snohomish County and around Washington face three statewide advisory votes on the Nov. 7 general-election ballot.

The intent of such advisory votes is to give voters a chance to give their opinions on legislation that either creates new taxes or increases existing taxes.

It’s hard to cast an informed ballot, however, because the voters’ pamphlet and the online voters’ guide have nothing more than what is on the ballot; there’s no explanatory statement and no pro- or con- statements.

The first of this year’s advisory votes (No. 16) is on legislation that increases commercial fishing license fees to raise about $100,000 per year for the state wildlife account.

The other two of this year’s advisory votes are on tax measures that the 2017 legislature passed to raise money to pay to comply with the State Supreme Court’s order that the legislature provide full state support for basic education.

One (Advisory Vote No. 17) would eliminate some tax exemptions and extends sales taxes to on-line sales.

The last of this year’s advisory votes (No. 18) would raise the state property tax. It came about as a compromise between the Republican-controlled State Senate and the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives. Democrats had proposed paying to support public schools with a carbon tax or a capital-gains tax on high earners, but Republicans held out for an increase in the state sales tax in exchange for reduced local school levies.

–By Evan Smith
Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@frontier.com.