Up Front AM: 81-year-old write-in candidate wins mayor’s race
First take on the day’s political news from the Up Front team.
Write-in candidate wins: It’s rare enough for a write-in candidate to win an election. In the city of Pacific, it’s an even more unusual story—because the write-in winner was an 81-year-old who tells us, he spent days walking his city and knocking on every door three times. The final count of write-in ballots yesterday gave the race to Cy Sun, who ousted incumbent mayor Richard Hildreth by 70 votes. Hildreth complained of dirty campaigning and wasn’t happy with the result. “I’m really fearful for our city,” Hildreth tells KING 5. “I don’t think the citizens are going to be too happy with what they see changed.”
Reardon investigation: The Seattle Times Emily Hefter blogs that expense reports submitted by Aaron Reardon detailing his travel may not shed much light on the investigation by the Washington State Patrol. That’s because Snohomish County doesn’t actually require much detail in those expense reports. Instead of receipts, the county reimburses employees by determining set rates for travel, meals and other expenses.
Full court press: In the other Washington, President Obama is trying to extend the payroll tax cut and pay for it with an additional tax on high earners. In a report released today, the White House estimates the pay roll tax cuts put $2.7 billion dollars in the pockets of Washington state tax payers.
