CHIMACUM — Jefferson County Democratic Party members have endorsed candidates in two of three county contests, voting preferences for auditor and sheriff while deferring a decision on the prosecuting attorney’s race until after the Aug. 5 primary.
About 120 people — 103 of them voting party members — gathered at the Tri-Area Community Center in Chimacum on Tuesday night.
Party Chairman George Yount said the meeting drew more people than any previous party gathering because of the absence of Republican candidates for any county offices in this year’s elections.
The party members, first by a voice vote and then with written ballots, endorsed Democrat Judy Maves-Klatt, 52, over fellow party member Rose Ann Carroll, 63, for the county auditor’s seat and Democrat Wendy Davis, 47, over fellow-Democrat David Stanko, 66, for the sheriff’s position.
They decided not to choose between incumbent Prosecuting Attorney Scott Rosekrans, 62, and challenger Michael Haas, 52, both Democrats until after the primary.
The Democratic auditor and prosecutor hopefuls are the only candidates running for those posts.
Ken Przygocki, 63, a third candidate running for Jefferson County sheriff, is an independent candidate.
The top two vote-getters in the primary will advance to the Nov. 4 general election.
After the vote was announced, Stanko said that he was uncertain about the future of his candidacy for sheriff and that suspending his campaign was a possibility.
“Some of my team wants to go through the primary and some of them wants to sit down and talk about it,” Stanko said, adding that the meeting will take place sometime this week.
During the discussion about making an endorsement in the sheriff’s race, several party members advocated delaying the endorsement until after the primary election.
“We have two excellent candidates for sheriff,” said party member John Fabian.
“If I had a ballot in front of me right now, I wouldn’t be sure how to vote. I don’t see why we need to make a choice now.”
Yount, speaking outside of his official role, said it was important to knock Przygocki out of the race and that would be better accomplished with two strong Democratic candidates.
Party member Connie Gallant disagreed, saying that Davis was an excellent candidate.
Prior to the sheriff’s vote, Rosekrans said he had mixed feelings.
“As much as I’d like to have the endorsement, the offices of sheriff and prosecutor are very important and we should have more of a chance to vet them,” he said
“I suggest we have some more meetings where the candidates can be interviewed and state their positions more clearly.”
A motion to endorse Rosekrans over Haas was defeated.
Maves-Klatt had applied for the assessor job to fill Jack Westerman III’s unexpired term. The three Jefferson County county commissioners selected Jeff Chapman for that position.
Maves-Klatt is a freelance appraiser and a former attorney who has been a party member since 2008.
Carroll is currently deputy auditor and has been endorsed for the auditor position by Westerman, Treasurer Judi Morris and Auditor Donna Eldridge.
Prior to the vote, Carroll said she was a long-standing Democrat but has kept her party affiliation to herself until this race.
________
Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
