SEQUIM — Challenger Ted Miller, a retired CIA analyst and attorney, has unseated longtime Sequim City Council member Walt Schubert.
Miller, in his first run for public office, won 1,009 votes to Schubert’s 518 after a fiercely contested campaign for council Position 2.
Although more ballots will be counted Friday, the result isn’t likely to change.
A slightly less heated race for Position 3, a seat to be vacated in January by veteran council member Paul McHugh, appeared Tuesday night to be going to Don Hall, who had 750 votes to opponent Mike East’s 607.
Miller, 63, said he “kept hammering away” on what he sees as Schubert’s alliance with the developers who built big box stores and subdivisions across Sequim.
“I had to sharply distinguish myself from Walt,” who had served six years as mayor and is Sequim’s 2008 Citizen of the Year.
“I did feel very strongly that he gave away the store” to those who took part in the building boom earlier this decade, Miller said.
Miller is for increased fees for developers, while Schubert feels fee hikes will choke off Sequim’s lifeblood of construction and growth.
‘Reform’ members
Miller believes he benefited greatly from the support of what he called the four “reform” members of the City Council elected in 2007: Mayor Laura Dubois, who contributed $100 to his campaign, and Mayor Pro Tem Ken Hays, Susan Lorenzen and Erik Erichsen.
“The pro-developer holdovers didn’t support me,” he added, referring to McHugh, Schubert and Bill Huizinga, who ran unopposed for re-election in Tuesday’s balloting.
Miller emphasized that when he takes office at the start of the new year, he’ll strive to be a conciliator and mediator on the often-divided council.
Schubert, for his part, boiled down his campaign against Miller thusly: “This was about growth versus no growth.”
Schubert has maintained that if Sequim is to be a viable city where people can find work and afford homes, it must have ongoing growth and development.
And Schubert, 69, said Tuesday night that he’s proud of the work he’s done since he was first elected 10 years ago.
“For the first eight years, I had wonderful people to work with,” he added.
But the “new four,” as they’re still known, turned the council into a “failure” that has accomplished nothing, Schubert has said.
Schubert’s plans
Schubert, who owns Action Property Management in Sequim, said that after he leaves the council he’ll renew his advocacy for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula.
He also hopes to make peace at the Sequim Food Bank, on whose board he serves. Longtime executive director Nina Fatherson resigned last Saturday, saying she could no longer work with volunteer Stephen Rosales.
“They’re all good people and they need to get along,” Schubert said.
“In some ways,” losing the council race “is a good thing. A person gets worn out from the struggle. I gave my all to it,” he added.
Meantime, Hall, the apparent winner in the other contested race, said he wasn’t too surprised Tuesday night.
“I got feedback that was very positive” while walking around Sequim, he said. Hall, 77, is a retired quality assurance manager, and believes voters chose him because he’s simply “not aggressive.”
Hall added that he spent $18 to register as a candidate, and put up no campaign signs.
East “wanted to fight,” said Hall. But “I get along with everybody.”
East, who has been vocal in his criticism of the “new four” council members and vowed to “bring common sense to the City Council,” said he’ll keep going to council meetings, to “give the advice that they desperately need.”
The retired freight company manager said he will also continue serving on the Sequim Planning Commission, and will “get involved in other organizations and try and champion for the citizens,” added East, 66.
Tuesday’s election results, however, won’t be final until later this month. Of 45,739 ballots mailed to registered voters in Clallam County, 16,609 were cast, and an estimated 4,500 ballots had been received, with another 4,000 ballots expected in the mail.
The next count will be held Friday, and the election will be certified by the Clallam Canvassing Board on Nov. 24.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
