PORT TOWNSEND — Two more county positions developed contested races as the candidate filing period closed Friday, with additional candidates filing for both the prosecuting attorney and district court judge positions.
The filings bring the number of contested county races to three: prosecuting attorney/coroner, Jefferson County commissioner District 3, and District Court judge.
Only one race has more than two candidates: the partisan county commissioner race for the seat now held by John Austin, a Port Ludlow Democrat.
Candidates in that race will vie in a top two primary race that will narrow the field to two candidates for the Nov. 2 election.
The top-two vote-getters will run in November, regardless of party affiliation.
Prosecuting attorney
In the race to succeed retiring Prosecuting Attorney Juelie Dalzell, Paul Richmond, 49, will seek the office, running in opposition to Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Scott Rosekrans, who filed Tuesday.
Rosekrans, 58, announced his candidacy after Dalzell announced her retirement in May. He filed as a Democrat.
He has worked in Jefferson County for two years after working as a policeman, county prosecutor and defense attorney in Texas.
Richmond has lived in Port Townsend for three years and on the Olympic Peninsula for 20 years.
He has been an attorney since 2001, working mostly as a defense lawyer.
He ran unsuccessfully, as a Democrat, against Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, in the 2006 primary.
Dicks represents the 6th Congressional District, which includes the North Olympic Peninsula.
In the current race, Richmond has listed no party preference for the partisan position.
“I don’t believe the prosecutor should be a partisan position,” he said.
Both Rosekrans and Richmond said they expected to make joint appearances at candidate forums.
“We will have a chance to address the public allowing them to compare our resumes and experience.” Rosekrans said.
“I think my 35 years of experience shows that I am qualified for this job.”
Richmond acknowledges that he does not have prosecutorial experience but said “much of what the county prosecutor does is civil litigation.”
He said the office could be more efficient, and takes issue with the cases it has chosen to prosecute and not prosecute.
Rosekrans said he did not recall ever facing Richmond in court, and that he would not recuse himself if that situation occurs.
District Court, county commissioner
Another last-minute filing Friday was by Port Townsend attorney John Wood against District Court Judge Jill Landes, for the nonpartisan position.
In the county commissioner District 3 seat, Port Ludlow builder Jim Boyer, a Republican, and Tarboo Bay psychotherapist Diane Johnson, a Democrat, are challenging Austin, a retired psychologist.
Most incumbents are unopposed, including those now serving as sheriff, clerk, auditor, assessor and treasurer.
Jefferson County incumbents who filed Monday were county Auditor Donna Eldridge, a Republican who has held the seat since 1995; Democratic county Assessor Jack Westerman III, who is the longest-standing assessor in the state at 31 years; Sheriff Tony Hernandez, who is finishing an appointed seat to run for his first full four-year term; Superior Court Clerk Ruth Gordon, who seeks a second four-year term; and nonpartisan District Court Judge Jill Landes, who seeks a second four-year term.
County Treasurer Judi Morris filed Tuesday as a Republican for another four-year term. She has held the courthouse office since 1997.
Public utility district
Former newspaper reporter Barney Burke of Port Townsend has filed for election to a six-year term.
Burke was appointed by fellow commissioners Ken McMillen and Wayne King to fill the seat vacated in November by the death of Commissioner Dana Roberts.
The position, which is for district 1, is nonpartisan.
U.S. Senate
In the U.S. senator race, the field of candidates challenging incumbent Patty Murray, D-Freeland, grew to 15 for the primary at the close of the filing period.
Republican Clint Didier, who filed on Thursday, tweeted that he was drawing support from former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, Anne Martens of Washington State Democrats said in an e-mail on Friday.
Other Republicans in the primary are Dino Rossi of Bellevue, Republican Mike Latimer of Des Moines, Norma D. Gruber of Walla Walla, William Edward Chovil of Tacoma and Paul Akers of Bellingham.
Also filing were Reform Party candidate Will Baker of Tacoma and Centrist Party candidate Mohammad H. Said of Ephrata.
Other Democrats are Goodspaceguy of Seattle, Mike the Mover of Mill Creek, Charles Allen of Seattle and Bob Burr of Bellingham.
Two candidates who expressed “no party preference” when they filed are Schalk Leonard of Poulsbo and James “Skip” Mercer of Bellevue.
Bryan Chushcoff of Tacoma filed for state Supreme Court Position 6, joining challenger Charlie Wiggins of Bainbridge Island in opposing incumbent state Justice Richard B. Sanders, turning that race into a three-way match-up for the primary.
Other races remained unchanged after Friday.
24th Legislative District
For Position No. 1, two-term incumbent Democrat Kevin Van De Wege of Sequim, a firefighter and paramedic, will be challenged in the primary by Port Ludlow Republican Craig Dorgan, a business owner who supports the tea party movement, and Port Angeles Republican Dan Gase, a real estate broker.
The Position No. 2 seat is a two-year position being vacated by retiring Democratic state Rep. Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam.
Steve Tharinger, Jack Dwyer, Jim McEntire and Larry Carter will face off in the primary.
Tharinger, a Democratic Clallam County Commissioner from Sequim, has said he will keep his county commissioner seat if elected.
Dwyer, a Montesano Democrat, is a chiropractor who serves on the Montesano School Board and has said he will resign his position on the School Board if elected.
McEntire, a Sequim Republican, is a retired Coast Guard captain and first-term Port of Port Angeles commissioner who has said he will resign his port commissioner position if elected.
Carter, a Port Ludlow Republican who supports the tea party movement, is a retired Navy command master chief petty officer.
The 24th District covers Clallam and Jefferson counties and part of Grays Harbor County.
State Supreme Court
Position No. 1 incumbent State Supreme Court Justice Jim Johnson of Olympia will be challenged by Sam Rumbaugh of Tacoma.
Position No. 5 Chief Justice Barbara Madsen of Seattle faces no opposition in the general election.
Congress
Dicks will be challenged by lawyer Doug Cloud, a Tacoma Republican, and software engineer Jesse Young, also a Tacoma Republican, in the primary.
Candidate filings are posted online through the state Secretary of State’s Office at http://wei.secstate.wa.gov/.
All candidates who filed last week can still face additional opponents — write-in candidates can file positions as late as the day before the primary and the day before the general election.
Ballots in the all-mail primary election will be mailed to voters on July 28.
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Jefferson County reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
