PORT ANGELES — Architect Mary Ellen Winborn has raised more than twice as much as incumbent Sheila Roark Miller in the race for Clallam County community development director, the only elected office of its kind in the nation.
Winborn, 54, of Port Angeles has raised $20,293, spent $16,576 and garnered 95 contributions, 52 of them from Port Angeles, according to her campaign’s most recent financial statements as of Monday with the state Public Disclosure Commission.
Roark Miller, 56, of Sequim who is running for her second term, has raised $9,150, spent $8,345 and drawn 45 contributions, 20 of them from Sequim, her largest single source of donations.
Campaign contributions and expenditures are available at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-Disclose for all races in the Nov. 4 general election, ballots for which were mailed Wednesday to all registered voters.
Winborn notes that Roark Miller defeated incumbent director John Miller — no relation — in 2010 when John Miller raised $18,539 and Roark Miller raised $10,789.
But Winborn said four years of Roark Miller at the DCD helm have left voters with a bad taste about the incumbent that has generated thousands in donations to Winborn, many of whose contributors are retired or list no occupation.
“I’ve heard story after story after story of an action or inaction that has turned the course of [voters’] lives because of a goal they may have had that has been made sure not to come true,” Winborn said Thursday.
“I have said that all I have to do is wear a button that says, ‘I’m not Sheila,’ and I would get votes.”
Roark Miller’s contributions include $950 from the Olympia-based Washington Association of Realtors, $100 from Republican county commissioner candidate Bill Peach, and numerous businesses and construction-related companies.
Roark Miller does not shy away from defending her tenure, saying voters she’s met while campaigning support “my values and my moxie.”
“Voters have the right to vote based on their feelings or based on the facts or logic, and sometimes it’s a combination of all of them,” she said.
“Votes are based on experience and background and dependability,” she added, citing her 24 years in the agency she now heads.
“They’re not based on the amount of money [candidates] raise.”
Roark Miller has focused her campaign spending on newspaper advertising and campaign signs rather than radio time or mailers, and concentrated her door-to-door campaigning on Sequim and the West End, including Clallam Bay.
“I’m just a local gal who shows up on your doorstep and goes to work and works on your behalf in the courthouse with vision and tenacity,” she said.
Winborn says she won’t let up campaigning even though some voters will begin casting ballots this week immediately upon receiving them.
She’s focused her spending on newspaper and radio advertising and campaign signs.
“We’ve got to pour it on now,” said Winborn, recalling the quarter-mile event she ran in track while in high school — and the importance of those last 110 yards.
“This is the end of the race,” she said.
Roark Miller donors
Below are contributors from Clallam and Jefferson counties who have donated $100 or more to Roark Miller’s campaign:
■ $950: Sherry St. Peter, Sequim
■ $500: DelHur Industries Inc., Port Angeles; Linda Lassila, Sequim; Larry St. Peter, Sequim
■ $250: Lynn Bruch, North Olympic Building Systems Inc., Plumbing Connection, Port Angeles; Del Gott, Olypen Inc., Sequim
■ $200: Everlasting Hardwood Floors, Don Tucker, Johan Van Nimwegen, Sequim; Pili Meyer, Cherilo Stefani, Tyler & Guy Auto Body, Port Angeles
■ $150: Joanne Estes, Kevin Estes, Sequim
■ $100: Air Flo Heating Co., by Design Group Inc., Patricia Gaine, Anne McGonigel, A.A. McKeever, E.J. McKeever, Charles Parrish, Sequim; Harold Andersen, Port Townsend; Cattle Cameron, Richerts Marble & Granite Inc., Carlsborg; Brian Fairbanks, William Peach, Forks; Deborah Kelly, Donald Kelly, Steven Kernes, R. A. Pilling, Tranco Transmission, Vern Wilson, Port Angeles.
Winborn donors
Below are contributors from Clallam County who have donated $100 or more to Winborn’s campaign:
■ $950: Kathryn Grosz, Sylvia F. Hancock, William M. Jensen, Sequim; Barbara Maxwell, Michael Maxwell, Port Angeles
■ $700: Charles S. Foley, Port Angeles
■ $500: George R. Braly, Carlsborg; Candace Kalish, Port Angeles
■ $400: Alison Maxwell, Port Angeles; Kathryn McCready, Sequim
■ $300: Ira H. Coen, Nina P. Richards, Anne Murray, Constance Thorson, Port Angeles; Jean K. Failoni, Sequim
■ $250: Combined Computer Technology Inc., Maureen G. Harrah, Sequim; Joe B. Corn, Ronald A Garnero, Mark Urnes, Port Angeles
■ $225: Norma E. Turner, Port Angeles
■ $200: Aloma Blaylock, Susan M. Chadd, Paula J. Cunningham, Charles W. Faires, Kerry McCool, Nina Richards, James D. Spurr, Marjorie Upham, Roberta Mantooth, Port Angeles; A.M. Henninger, Sharon C. Miller, Sequim
■ $150: Mary K. Slack, Port Angeles
■ $100: Paula Berkes, Tim Freeman, Carrol A. Hull, Jerome Kasher, Paul R. Kuntz, Robert Lynette, Gail A. Mabbutt, John Pollock, C.W. Pratt, Barbara Vanderwerf, Sequim; Carol L. Browning, Ed Chase, David C. Christian, Bob Flood, Mary Goodin, Jacki Gordon, G.E. Grier, Ileana Haggerty, Glenn A. Harper, Paul Martin, Brian Mittelstaedt, Andy Rose, Alice Russel, Anne Shaffer, Wenonah Sharpe, David K. Shortess, M.J. Vail, Charles R. Whitney, Port Angeles; June Echternkamp, Carlsborg.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
See the North Olympic Peninsula Voter Guide here: http://issuu.com/peninsuladailynews/docs/voter_tab_1017.indd?e=1313114/9756547
