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Chapman gets "free ride" to second term 8/7/04 Port Angeles, WA - District 2 Clallam County Commissioner Mike Chapman will serve another 4 years in office, after the opposition parties are unable to recruit a candidate to challenge the Port Angeles Republican. Chapman had announced early on that he would seek a second term on the board, serving the district that encompasses the greater Port Angeles area. This spring, it looked like he would face a Republican Primary challenge from Clallam County Undersheriff Fred Defrang, but DeFrang suddenly dropped out of the race earlier this summer. Even at that, Democrats, and the Libertarians who also have “major party” status, were never able to bring forward someone to challenge Chapman’s re-election bid. The filing period closed last week. But the two parties had an additional 5-days under state law to recruit a candidate. Time ran out on Friday afternoon and that means Chapman will be unopposed on this fall’s ballot and will advance to a second, four-year term in office. RELATED STORY: Deadline for appointing county commission candidates August 6th, 2004 (Port Angeles) – Today’s the deadline for the county’s Democratic and Libertarian parties to appoint someone to run for county commissioner. Neither party had anyone file last week for the seat currently held by Republican Mike Chapman. Chapman filed for re-election soon after the filing window opened a week ago Monday. Under statute, the parties have a week after the filing window to appoint a candidate. So far, there are no rumblings of anyone interested in taking on Chapman for the highest elected office in the county. Democratic Party chair John Miller told the Sequim Gazette this week,
no local Democrats seem willing to step up to run. Miller went on
to say he thinks Chapman is a responsible politician who can work
across party lines. Chapman is the only Republican on the county commission.
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