Election filing passes the mid-way point

Peninsula News Network

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Lots of interest in that new position of Clallam County Superior Court judge, but not many developments in other races as they filing period for this fall’s elections passes the half-way mark.

Four candidates have now filed for the new Superior Court judge, hoping to run the third courtroom that was approved by Clallam County commissioners last month. All four had previously announced they would be running.

The four are:

Former Clallam County Prosecutor Brooke Taylor, who has been in private practice since leaving the prosecutor’s job in the mid-seventies, becoming well known in Washington legal circles. He recently served as president of the State Bar Association and has the longest time in practice of any of the candidates.

Port Angeles attorney Curt Johnson, who has been in private practice since the late 1970s, and has tried a wide variety of civil and criminal cases, including several years or work as a Superior Court arbitrator. His father was a Superior Court commissioner for many years and Johnson took over the family practice.

Craig Miller, who served as a deputy prosecutor in the late 1970s and spent several years as Port Angeles city attorney, and has continued to work representing Olympic Medical Center and other local government agencies in addition to his work in the courtroom.

The fourth candidate is attorney Brent Basden, who is also a Port Angeles native that’s been in practice since the mid-90s and is a former president of the Clallam County Bar Association.

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A three-way race has now developed for one of the Port Angeles school board positions, with incumbent Jeff Hinds drawing challenges from Susan Hillgren, who filed Tuesday, and Steve Baxter, who filed his paperwork Wednesday. Others filing include incumbent Patti Happe and businessman Lonnie Linn.

All the incumbents have now filed for re-election to the Sequim school board, with Board President Sarah Bedinger, June Robinson, Walt Johnson and Virginia O’Neil all filing for full terms, or second terms.

No new action in the city council races Wednesday. Cherie Kidd and Peter Ripley all the only ones who’ve filed, with incumbents Grant Munro and Edna Peterson still on the sidelines, although both have said they intend to file.

The Sequim city council races also remain unchanged, with incumbents Ron Farquhar and Bob Anundson running again, with challengers Susan Lorenzen and Erik Erichsen also entering the field.

And with two days left to go, incumbent County Commissioner Steve Tharinger remains unopposed in his bid for a third term representing the East End as a Democrat.