PORT ANGELES — Dan Bateham’s on-again, off-again City Council candidacy is on again, he said Tuesday — just two weeks before ballots are due in the Nov. 3 general election.
“I’m in it for the people, and I’m in it to win,” he said in an interview with the Peninsula Daily News.
Bateham, a veterans advocate and retired Army staff sergeant, had refused to comment on his reasons behind dropping out of the race Sept. 9 against Position 7 incumbent Cherie Kidd.
“Good luck and best wishes to all of my fellow candidates,” Bateham said in his email to city officials and media outlets.
Withdrew
He withdrew from the race nearly four months after the May 18 deadline for withdrawal.
That kept his name on the ballot and in Clallam County and state voter guides — although not in the PDN’s North Olympic Peninsula Voter Guide.
In the past month, Kidd, a Port Angeles High School graduate and owner of AAA Affordable Storage and U-Haul, has kept campaigning as though she has an active opponent, contending any vote for him is still valid.
“Even if no one was running against me, I would be campaigning for this position,” Kidd, who will be 69 as of Election Day, said Tuesday.
“You can’t quit and then unquit,” said Kidd, a former mayor. “What is that?”
Bateham, who will be 58 as of Election Day, said Tuesday he had dropped out of the race because of health and family issues.
“The family issues have been resolved,” he said.
“I don’t want to go into detail on the health issues,” he said, adding that he is fit to serve on the council.
Bateham, a frequent fluoridation critic at council meetings, gave two reasons for restarting his campaign.
“I cannot just stand on the sidelines and watch what is going on and let the people of the city down,” he said.
His second reason had to do with Kidd, he said.
Bateham said he talked to her after he dropped out and that he wished her good luck.
“She continues to attack me at every opportunity,” he said.
“She’s out there running against me even though I dropped out.
“I might as well get back in the race.”
Kidd said Bateham cannot legally drop out once he is on the ballot.
“I am letting people know I am campaigning for their votes because the only winner is the one who gets the most votes,” she said.
“He can do whatever he wants to do.
“I’m just doing as I should.”
As of Tuesday, the county Elections Office had received 2,720 ballots for all races in the Nov. 3 election, or just 5.7 percent of the 47,481 mailed out countywide.
________
Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
