In all, Sammamish City Council candidates have raised more than $50,000 for this campaign season, according to the Public Disclosure Commission.
As of Monday, Councilmember Ramiro Valderrama-Aramayo, Position 4, has raised the most, just more than $13,500. He’s spent almost half of that, about $6,800, to date, and has about $180 logged as debt, according to the commission.
Christie Malchow, Position 2, closely follows Valderrama-Aramayo, raising nearly $12,900. She’s spent about 70 percent, or $9,000, thus far and reported about $300 in loans.
Position 6 candidate Tom Hornish comes in with the third most funds raised. Of the $12,300 reported, Hornish has spent about 87 percent, or $10,700, of his contributions.
He’s also logged more than $4,500 in debt.
Incumbent and Mayor Tom Vance, Position 6, has raised nearly $8,000 and spent more than $4,500, almost 60 percent of total funds raised. He’s reported about $400 in loans.
Vance is running against Hornish.
Mark Cross, a former council member and former mayor now running for Position 2 against Malchow, has raised $7,400 and spent half, about $3,700.
According to the PDC, any remaining funds after the election must first be used against any outstanding debt. If there is more left over, the candidate can transfer the money to a future campaign.
The break down
Valderrama-Aramayo is essentially running unopposed for Position 4. Although opponent Hank Klein dropped out of the race in July, Klein’s name will still appear next to Valderrama-Aramayo’s on the ballot.
Klein hasn’t reported any contributions to the PDC.
Valderrama-Aramayo said he continues to campaign and raise funds because he must.
“(Klein) is still on the ballot,” Valderrama-Aramayo said. “I’ve had to maintain my campaign.”
Additionally, he said he doesn’t want citizens to think he’s taking them for granted.
In his 2011 campaign, he raised about $900 less than he did this year, however most of his 2011 funds were in-kind contributions he paid for himself.
Donations given in kind are contributions other than money, like providing food at a meet-and-greet.
That more of his campaign money this year is coming from the citizens speaks to his reputation in the community, he said.
With more than 90 logged cash contributions, the Eastside Fire Fighters union 2878 gave the most in a single donation, $950, which is the most any individual or entity, like a union, can give in a city council election year, according state law.
The union also gave to Malchow’s and Hornish’s campaign.
Jon Wiseman, president of the Eastside Fire Local 2878, said the union supports the three candidates simply because they promised to be open minded and more communicative, regarding fire services.
“It all boils down to transparency,” Wiseman said.
He said firefighters are still sore over the way the Eastside Fire & Rescue funding model was handled when a couple years ago the city looked into alternative fire services before the city eventually renegotiated for a different fee structure within EF&R.
Other than their ear, Wiseman said the union, along with the other local firefighter unions around the Eastside that have also endorsed these candidates, “haven’t asked them for anything.”
The three candidates echo these remarks.
“I will not be just a ‘yes’ man,” Hornish said.
Wiseman also said there’s “not a lot of faith” the current council will work well with regional projects.
One example Wiseman gave of a regional program the city of Sammamish participates in is the King County emergency public service organization, Medic One. There are six Medic One programs in King County.
Redmond and Bellevue are the closest Medic One bases of operations to Sammamish.
Local organizations, including the Bellevue Firefighters PAC, East Pierce Firefighters Local 3520, Kent Firefighters Local 1747 and King County Paramedics Local 2595, backed Valderrama-Aramayo, Malchow and Hornish.
A few other people backing Valderrama-Aramayo are Sammamish resident and kokanee activist Wally Pereyra, who is known for the restoration work he’s done on Ebright Creek, 45th District state Sen. Andrew Hill and Councilmember Nancy Whitten.
Hill and Whitten also gave to Hornish’s campaign.
“Conflicted” on who to support for her own seat in Position 2, Whitten endorsed Cross.
Whitten has worked with Cross, a former council member, before and spoke highly of him.
She said he has “outstanding experience” and “a lot of knowledge” with the environment, the law and working within the city.
She also said she respects Cross’ competitor, Malchow. If Cross were to lose, she still expects Malchow would do a fine job, she said.
This is Malchow’s first run for office.
With more than 60 reported monetary donations, Malchow received three contributions of $950.
The Eastside Fire and Rescue local union provided Malchow with $950, as did her neighbors, Katie and Mark Spiegelman.
She said the Speigelmans appreciated her efforts to appeal developer Buchan Homes when it proposed to build a 30-lot residential neighborhood down the road from Malchow’s home. The development, Chestnut Estates West, would have required constructing a bridge over the salmon-bearing Ebright Creek.
Pereya, the Sammamish resident who lives further down Ebright Creek, also donated to Malchow’s campaign.
The majority of contributions she’s collected are monetary donations, about $10,800, according to the PDC. She’s recorded about $950 in in-kind donations as well as $450 in small contributions.
She said, while she didn’t make a point to ask for money, what she’s raised speaks to what people want and need in its city government: a “fresh perspective.”
Hornish, also new to the city council race, has collected about $7,300 in monetary donations and about $4,750 in in-kind donations.
The Eastside Firefighter’s union gave Hornish $950 in a one-time donation.
He’s logged more than 50 cash donors, including Pereyra, who also gave to Hornish’s opponent, Vance.
Vance said he and Pereyra had a conversation a couple months back about public works and replacing culverts to better improve stream flow.
Pereyra, a member of the Kokanee Work Group, is currently working to restore another kokanee-bearing creek on his property, Zaccuse Creek.
In the fall, when the fish come back to spawn, most cannot get past the culvert leading from Lake Sammamish.
Vance said he’s pushing culvert replacements to the top of his to-do list.
This, however, was not enough for Pereyra, as he recently endorsed Hornish because he’s “shown more than a verbal commitment” to restoring the kokanee population. Hornish walked Pereyra’s property, to see the challenges of restoring Zaccuse Creek, along with Malchow.
Pereyra also contributed to Vance’s 2011 campaign; however he gave less this year than four years ago.
Vance has raised about as much as he did in 2011.
Like Valderrama-Aramayo, Vance reported that he covered at least 40 percent of his 2011 campaign with his own money.
This year, Vance has reported about 40 monetary contributors and collected nearly twice as much in cash contributions this year, $6,300 compared to nearly $3,400 in 2011.
This year, he said most of his monetary backing is coming from “folks living here in Sammamish.”
“That’s their investment in our democracy,” Vance said.
Vance’s top contributor at $950 is Robert McNeal, the vice chair of Europe’s largest network and global cloud services platform, Interoute.
McNeal, who also gave $950 to Cross’ campaign, wants to see the East Lake Sammamish Trail finished, Vance and Cross said.
The next two contributors to Vance and Cross’ campaigns is Peter Goldman of the Washington Forest Law Center and the Washington Conservation Voters.
Goldman, another advocate for the East Lake Sammamish Trail, gave $500 to Vance and $750 to Cross.
“I’m comfortable being supported by trail supporters,” Cross said.
Cross said he wants to see the trail completed in his lifetime and thinks the conditions the city set in its permit for the most southern section of the trail “balance neighbors and the public’s rights.”
The Washington Conservation Voters, a “statewide political voice for the environment,” according to its webpage, gave Cross $500.
The group’s political action committee reportedly gave Vance $750.
Other contributors both candidates share are resident and Washington Native Plant Society member Jan Bird, the Puget Sound Leadership public action committee, Deputy Mayor Kathy Huckabay, Councilmember Bob Keller and Councilmember Tom Odell.
Vance’s opponent, Hornish, has raised close to $6,800 more in total contributions.
Vance’s 2011 opponent, Jesse Bornfreund, also out-raised Vance, by about $2,000.
“That didn’t seem to make a difference,” Vance said.
Similarly, Cross’ opponent, Malchow, has raised more than Cross’ campaign, by nearly $5,500.
To find out more information about candidate’s funds, visit www.pdc.wa.gov.
Ballots for the Nov. 3 election must be either postmarked by Nov. 3 or turned into a drop box by 8 p.m. Nov. 3. For more information visit www.kingcounty.gov/elections/election-info/2015/201511.aspx.
