Yes! On County Charter kicks off campaign

Over 50 people, including at least 10 from greater La Conner, crowded into a room at Coconut Kenny’s last Wednesday and the free pizza and beer was the least of the draw. Home Rule Skagit organizers were rallying supporters for the election campaign to approve a charter for Skagit County. The 3,333 petition signatures they collected this year and submitted in August qualified the measure for the November ballot.

Steering Committee Chair Gary Wickman told the crowd, “When it passes we will have 21 people come together with different ideas. We are going to compromise, and we are going to make it work.” He said the shared effort would differ from what is happening in “the other Washington.”

Voters will decide on approving a county charter and also choose 21 freeholders, or delegates, seven from each of the three county commissioner districts. If voters approve a charter, the freeholders will meet to draft one. Once developed, that draft will be put to voters, probably in 2019.

At least four District 1 candidates from greater La Conner attended: Don McMoran, Celia Ponce Sanchez, Shani Taha and “ska je tah lo” Lona Wilbur.

McMoran, director of Skagit County Extension, Washington State University, prefers “the current system” and advocates voting no. “But if it does pass, I want to help be at the table to help shape the future government of Skagit County,” he said. He prefers a five-member county council.

McMoran lives on Beaver Marsh Road.

Ponce Sanchez lives in Bow. She stresses the need for diversity in government and cites herself as an example: She came to Skagit County with her immigrant parents in 1995, when she was seven. She says she has not known any other home. She understands the values of farmland and the artistic world, noting that La Conner has a little of everything. She said the county has grown tremendously in the last 40 years but there has been no change in government.

Bobbi Krebs McMullen, a lifelong Skagitonian and experienced political campaigner, came. Reflecting on the 2003 referendum for a charter, which received 28 percent of the vote, she named “the political climate [a]s the biggest change,” and projected that “there will be more voters this time.” She complimented Home Rule Skagit for its organizing acumen, contrasting it to the 2003 effort.

Krebs McMullen reflected that is hard to change a government’s structure. A successful election will come down to “people’s concern with what’s happening in our government and their willingness to educate themselves.”

She also noted the group’s speakers and funding. Their campaign funding stood at $7,600 before the meeting and they raised additional money that night. Tim Manns, a steering committee member, believes they will raise $20,000.

La Conner Town Council Members Marylee Chamberlain and Mary Wohleb were present. “I just came as a citizen,” Wohleb said as she was leaving. Chamberlain said steering committee member Rick Shorten had encouraged her to come.

Home Rule Skagit is planning a grassroots campaign of door knocking, canvassing and mailings through election day. They will be making presentations throughout the county. “We want to educate the electorate on why this is so important,” said Wickman.

Like Ponce Sanchez, he wants citizens to elect representatives that reflect the county’s diversity. He noted that over 30 percent of the population is Hispanic and that there are more people of color.

Wickman also believes the dynamics of this midterm election “will bring out people who will support this type of movement.

Home Rule Skagit had its first forum in Burlington Monday.

At Tuesday town council’s meeting the La Conner Weekly News asked the mayor and town council to share with it the sponsoring of a forum in La Conner in October.