An update…

…on our local cliffhangers. Both City Council candidate Jesse Salomon and Ronald Wastewater Commissioner Arne Lind have closed their deficits slightly in the latest report from King County Elections, but the lack of remaining votes makes them increasingly improbable victors.

In both cases I think my description of the local outcomes as a status quo election holds. Though Salomon was running for an open seat, his opponent, Robin McClelland, was positioned as the 'establishment' candidate, the representative of the current controlling faction (not party - as I've noted elsewhere, what we have is closer to uni-partisan than non-partisan government) at City Hall. That's not awful, really - as I've said, our local races are, for the most part, between well intentioned and generally liberally minded folks - but I was hoping this election might stir the pot just a bit, and it appears it won't.

Bob Ransom, Arne Lind's opponent in the sewer commission race, was pretty transparently the agent of that controlling faction. His campaign was based on putting himself out of office by transferring the responsibilities of the Commission to the city government. The notion isn't without merit, but I agree with Lind that it should be the result of an open debate and public vote, not the administrative shift that Ransom advocates.

There'll be another count tomorrow, and it will probably be pretty definitive in favor of McClelland and Ransom, which isn't the way I voted, but isn't enough to make me contact Canadian immigration, either.