Contested races emerge in candidate filings

At the conclusion of the candidate filing period last week, several primary races and contested races emerged around the county, as did two councils that will see nearly complete makeovers.

The primary races will all be in Garfield and Pullman. Garfield will see the mayoral race hit the ballot for the Aug. 1 primary with three candidates vying for the seat currently held by Ray McCown. McCown filed May 18 for re-election. He is contested by Terri Linderman, who also filed May 18, and former mayor Jarrod Pfaff, who filed on May 15 (see story above).

Also emerging as a primary race in Garfield was council position five, with three candidates filing for that seat. The incumbent, Daymon Marple, did not file. Filing were Rebecca Strange-Jones, Kevin Pickron and Tom Tevlin. Garfield will also have another council race, but that one will go straight to the November ballot with only two candidates having filed. David Jones filed to retain council position four, and Cande Hasenoehrl filed against him.

The Pullman City Council will also have primary races in August to get the ballot down to two candidates. The ward two position currently held by Fritz Hughes, who did not file for re-election, saw four people file for the seat. Those include Garren Shannon, Dan Records, Troy J. Smith and Austin Brown. For ward one, Al Sorensen filed to retain his seat, and Hannah Kraus and Eric Fejeran filed against him (see story on page 4A). Heading straight to the November ballot for the Pullman City Council will be the race between Jeff Hawbaker, incumbent, and Brandon Chapman for the ward three position.

In Colfax, four of the seven council seats will be on the ballot.

The lone incumbent to file was Sarah McKnight in position four, who was appointed to the seat last year after Steve Holberg stepped down.

Crystn Guenthner filed for seat two, now held by Steve Bretveld.

At the end of last week, position three was contested between Crystal Christopherson and Blaine Golden.

However, on Monday Golden withdrew his filing from position three and moved it to council position one during the extended filing period.

The period was extended for seats that failed to yield a candidate at the conclusion of the regular filing period.

With Golden moving his filing to position one, there will be no contested races on the November ballot for the Colfax council.

The Palouse City Council also looks to receive a makeover when the election comes around. The only incumbent filing was Bob Stout in position seven. Tim Sievers filed for the seat currently held by Michael Hicks, and John S. Snyder filed for the seat currently held by Senja Estes. Positions one and two, currently held by Doreen Hanson and Bill Slinkard, failed to yield candidates. Nobody had filed in the extended filing period for those seats as of press time on Wednesday morning.

CONTESTED RACES

The Albion Town Council had two filings for position three, both of whom filed during the extended filing period. Incumbent Rhonda Anderson filed for re-election on May 23, and challenger Sandra Aribini filed on May 22. A second council seat in Albion has also been filed for. Bruce Kenoyer II and Crystle Morgan both filed on May 23 in the extend period. Morgan is the incumbent.

Farmington appeared to have a mayoral race set for the November ballot between incumbent Dave Baker and Ron Dugan, but Dugan withdrew his candidacy on Monday. Farmington will, however, still have two contested races on the ballot. In position one, incumbent Lavon Erickson will go against Marcy Goossen, and in position five, incumbent Jason Brausen will be up against W. Mark Hellinger. Also filing for Farmington council seats were Jaime Lopez and Brian Oliver, both incumbents in positions two and four, respectively.

LaCrosse is the next town that will see a contest on the November ballot. Council position five will be between Donna Wigen, incumbent, and Melody Wise. Filing uncontested for re-election in LaCrosse were Mayor Randy Camp and councilpersons Roger Downing and Jacob Wigen. Bailey Weekes, currently in position two, did not file for re-election. Lana Thomas filed for that seat on May 16 and will also run uncontested.

Malden’s second council position will see a contest in November. Tamra VanDyke filed to retain her position, and she will be opposed by Colleen Cross. Mayor Christina Ferrell and councilpersons Dan Harwood, Robert Law and Lori Dickinson all filed unopposed to retain their seats. Krista Nybo, who holds position one, did not file for re-election, and the seat failed to draw a candidate as of press deadline.

A mayoral and two council races emerged from filings in Rosalia. Mayor Nanette Konishi will go up against Lee Root, and current councilmen Bob Hill and Eric Eilertson will go up against Janet Meier Strohl and Jacob Dickinson, respectively. Matthew Floyd also filed for re-election, and he will run unopposed.

Tekoa’s ballot will also have contests. Council positions three and six both yielded two candidates. Alyssa Heagy and Ted Blaszak filed for re-election, and they will run against Jason C. Fletcher and Wendy Sienknecht, respectively. Carol Sturman and Roy Schulz also filed for re-election in Tekoa.

School board races also emerged through the filing period. The Tekoa School District will have Fran Martin and Brandon VanDalsen, incumbent, on the ballot for the director district five position, and Mary Marsh, an incumbent, and Shane Monroy will be up for the district two and three positions, respectively.

All of the Pullman School District positions are contested. The district four seat yielded four candidates. Incumbent Karl M. Johanson, Liz Siler, Nathan J. Roberts and Lipi Turner-Rahman all filed for that position, while Dean Kinzer, incumbent, and Amanda Tanner filed for the district five position.

The next contested race is on the Endicott fire district where incumbent Charmaine Despain will go against Phillip L. Luft in November. The final contested race is in the Rosalia park district. Incumbent Piper Dickinson will be against Shelly Beach on the ballot. In that district, Becky Quincy and Roberta Messinger filed for the other two positions on the ballot. Incumbents did not file for those positions.

All other races will be unopposed.

UNCONTESTED RACES

& UNFILED POSITIONS

Kristine Meyer filed to retain the Port of Whitman County seat she was appointed to last month after the death of longtime Commissioner Dan Boone. Meyer was the only candidate to file for the position. She was appointed to fill the remainder of Boone’s term, which concludes at the end of this year.

The Colton Town Council has two positions up for election, and councilman Kyle White filed to retain his seat. James Dahman did not file for re-election for position five, but Laci Hubbard-Mattix filed for the seat on May 23 in the extended filing period.

The lone Endicott council position saw the incumbent file, with BJ Johnson filing for re-election on May 15.

In Lamont, all positions will go uncontested. Several also failed to yield candidates. Mayor Steve Ulrich filed for re-election, as did Councilwoman Cathy Ulrich. Council position one did not have an incumbent, and nobody filed for the seat. Vicki Falkenstein, Bob Falkenstein and Leslie Jaqua all did not file for re-election, and as of press time on Wednesday morning, no one had filed for those seats.

All Oakesdale positions will go uncontested. Mayor Dennis Palmer and councilmen Randy Robinson and Thomas D. Johnson all filed for re-election. Those three candidates were the only ones set for the ballot, so all positions were filed for in Oakesdale.

The ballot in St. John will see two incumbents, Jeff Smick and Frank C. Watson, and one newcomer, Bryan Bezdicek. Bezdicek filed for position five currently held by Carol Harrison. All positions were filed for in St. John.

Uniontown’s council ballot filled out with only incumbents. Mayor David Jacobs and councilpersons Dan Warner, Daniel P. Baker and Steve Kelly all filed, and all positions will be accounted for on the November ballot in Uniontown.

The LaCrosse School District ballot also filled out with just incumbents. Kara Harder, Tami Schwartz and Harmon D. Smith all filed for re-election.

The Lamont School District had one incumbent, Elizabeth Melville, file, while position one, currently held by Michelle Howes, went unfiled. As of press time, there was no candidate for the position.

The lone Colfax School District race saw incumbent Jennifer Hauser file to retain her position. Initially, Guenthner had filed for the seat, but she changed her filing to the Colfax City Council seat on May 18.

The Palouse School District ballot saw Chris Cook file for position one, Joe Merrill for position two, Rachel Handley-Chartrand for position three and Ed Griner for position five. All are incumbents, though Cook is currently in position five and Griner is currently in position one, according to the election department records.

The Garfield School District ballot will have two newcomers. Crystal Putnam Lawson filed for the seat vacated by the death of Paul Hendrickson, and Paula Adams filed for the seat currently held by Russell Jamison. Andy Olson filed for re-election to position one.

The Steptoe School District ballot produced three candidates. Julie Stilson and Jessi Hall, both incumbents, filed for position one and position four, respectively, and Geraldine Steiger Scholz filed for position two, which is currently vacant, according to election department records.

Incumbents all filed for re-election to the Colton School District seats. Jana Schultheis, Shannon Miller and Niki Wolf all filed to retain their seats, though Gary J. Riedner did not file for re-election. No candidate had filed for the position as of press time.

Incumbents Jamie Misner and Debbie Schlomer both filed to retain their seats with the Endicott School District. All positions were filed for in the Endicott district.

The Rosalia School District produced one candidate, Raymond Anderson, for position three, currently held by Frank G. Lazcano, Sr. Heather Smith did not file for re-election for position five, and no candidate had filed for the position as of press time.

The St. John School District ballot produced an incumbent and newcomer. Shantyl McGuire filed for re-election in position one, and Kelli Melhus filed for position five at large.

Brian Crow, Kristina Cooper and Cap Perry all filed for re-election in the Oakesdale School District.

Fire districts one, two, four, five, eight, 13 and 14 did not yield candidates during the filing period. Filing for district three was Chuck Petras, an incumbent, district seven was Larry G. Trull; district 10 were Ron Johnson, incumbent, and Tom Hodges, also an incumbent; district 11 were Clark Miller and Mike Whitman, both incumbents, and district 12 was Lee Druffel, incumbent. District nine was not up for election this year. District three still had two vacant positions on the ballot as of press time.

The Oakesdale, Garfield, Endicott, Winona and Farmington cemetery districts did not produce candidates. The St. John cemetery district positions were filed for by incumbents Becky Dickerson and Karen Mills. Incumbent Greg Jordan did not file to retain his seat. Shirley Meserve filed for re-election in the Thornton Cemetery District, and Judith Maley did not file to retain her seat.

Five of the eight hospital district positions on the ballot around the county yielded candidates. Margaret Werre and C. Michael Murphy filed to retain their positions with district one, and Jim Gordon filed for the district two position currently held by Tanya Thygeson. Ryan Kile filed for re-election in district three, and Robert B. Vuletich filed for the district three seat currently held by Steve Moore. Three district four seats went unfiled for, and as of press time, those positions still had not produced candidates.

Rounding out the ballot are the park positions around the county. Jenny Bishop-Hanson and Brandi Cloniger filed for re-election in the Garfield park district, while no candidate filed for position three. The Tekoa Park District had three file, including Jon Hall in position two, Fred Wagner in position four and Debra Groom, an incumbent, in position five. Positions one and three went unfiled. The Endicott park district had five filings in five positions. Four incumbents, David Wingo, Tony Anderson, Leslie Starrett and Jenny Meyer, filed for re-election, and Amy Williams filed for the seat currently held by Linda Greenhalgh.

The LaCrosse, St. John and Oakesdale park districts did not have any candidates file during the filing period.

The full list of candidates is available on http://www.whitmancounty.org.