Incumbent Partch falters in primary

Kinzer tops O’Neill

Voters in District 1 ousted Whitman County Commissioner Greg Partch by a wide margin in initial returns from Tuesday night’s primary.

Though more ballots are set to be counted later this week, Partch placed a distant third behind Art Swannack of Lamont and Bill Tensfeld of Rosalia in the three-way preliminary round Tuesday. Swannack and Tensfeld will likely advance to the general election ballot in November.

Swannack received 614 votes for 41 percent, Tensfeld 532 for 36 percent and Partch 325 for 22 percent.

The number-three finish effectively ends Partch’s three-term stint as the District 1 commissioner.

“It’s been an honor in the last 12 years to serve the people of Whitman County,” said Partch after hearing the results in the county’s elections office.

Incumbent Pat O’Neill was also topped in the Tuesday primary count.

Republican challenger Dean Kinzer tallied 555 votes in the District 2 county commissioner race for 59 percent of the vote, while O’Neill, a Democrat, received 376 for 40 percent. Both will advance to the general.

“This is just an exhibition game, you know that,” O’Neill said after learning the results.

Tuesday’s count included 1,485 votes from District 1 and 934 from District 2. Only votes from each district count in the primary race. Ballots were mailed to 5,822 voters in District 1 and 4,384 voters in District 2.

Commissioner seats go countywide in the November election.

Elections Supervisor Debbie Hooper said the count will be updated Thursday. Ballots Tuesday will be added to the totals.

Much of the summer campaign centered around the decision by Partch and O’Neill to have the county build $15 million worth of infrastructure for Boise-based Hawkins Companies’ long-proposed shopping center in the Pullman-Moscow corridor just west of the Idaho state line.

“I think it’s most of it,” said Kinzer, an outspoken critic of the county’s commitment. “I think anybody that would vote for my opponent doesn’t understand that issue and the liability and the risk it puts the county in.”

O’Neill said the state Public Works Trust Fund will announce next week whether it will approve a loan to the county for the infrastructure. That, he said, could swing some votes.

O’Neill and Partch believe eventual tax income from the Hawkins development could pay off a long-term, low interest loan from the trust fund.

Partch’s challengers, though, attributed their victories to years of dissatisfaction from voters.

“I think a lot of it is people being upset that they just weren’t being listened to,” said Swannack in a post-election phone interview.

Tensfeld said controversy over the permitting of Palouse Wind’s wind farm on Naff Ridge also angered a lot of voters.

“It’s just an accumulation of lots of different items, different subjects,” he said after elections workers announced the results.

Partch declined to speculate on reasons for his loss when pressed by reporters.

“I’m not going to blame anybody for anything,” he said.

Tuesday night’s count included 4,572 ballots from the 19,376 mailed out by the auditor’s office July 20, good for a 23.5 percent turnout.

Whitman County voters threw their weight behind Republican candidate and current Attorney General Rob McKenna, at 53 percent, for the governor seat being vacated by the retiring Chris Gregoire. Former congressman Jay Inslee, a Democrat, was number two in the county at 36 percent.

Statewide, Inslee held a 47 to 43 edge over McKenna.

Democrat Sen. Maria Cantwell got 46 percent of the local vote, followed by GOP challenger Michael Baumgartner’s 42 percent.

Statewide, Cantwell pulled 56 percent of the primary vote to Baumgartner’s second place 30 percent.

U.S. Rep Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a member of the GOP, took 56 percent of the county vote, with Democrat challenger Rich Cowan second in the four-person field at 34 percent.

Across the 5th congressional district voters swung to McMorris with a 54 percent edge over number two finisher Cowan’s 35 percent.

Superior Court Judge David Frazier was re-elected in his unopposed race.

Ninth District Representatives Susan Fagan of Pullman and Joe Schmick of Colfax and Sen. Mark Schoesler of Ritzville also ran unopposed.

In other local returns, voters approved every funding measure on the ballot, including two Farmington levy proposals that were back on the ballot after being rejected last November.