A letter to the editor in this morning’s Everett Herald attacks Snohomish County Councilman (and current Council President) Dave Somers - essentially accusing him of derailing the efforts of the cities of Lake Stevens and Snohomish to bring a UW branch campus to their area. The LTE states in part:
”During the discussion of the Lake Stevens site for the UW campus, Snohomish County Councilman Dave Somers asserted that county-owned lands should be excluded from the site plan because work is going forward on making it into a park.”
The land in question is a 40 acre parcel that is owned by the county and is included in the county’s Comprehensive Plan. The letter writer goes on to say,
” In 2007, when the land was added to the UW site proposal and reached the final site consideration stage -- only then did Councilman Somers speaks up to say, "Oh, wait -- it's supposed to be a park!"”
What the writer fails to mention is that the land was “added to the UW site proposal” by the County Executive with no notice provided to the council; in particular, Councilman Somers, in whose district this site would be located. Finally, after suggesting that Somers is ”…falling all over yourself to support the Everett Station UW site…” the writer ends with this lovely parting shot,
”I assume County Council members get very nice offices high up in the shiny County Administrative building. Somers' office must look to the west, because it seems like he's turning his back on his constituents in Lake Stevens.”
Now it might be easy to assume that this is simply a republican smear campaign launched in an effort to reclaim this swing seat for that party. However it takes no time at all to determine that the letter writer, Don Speirs is an active PCO in the 44th LD Democrats organization! But wait! There’s more. Apparently this letter is simply a continuation of an attack that was begun by yet another Democratic PCO from the 44th LD.
Just last week in the Lake Steven Journal, ”former” Managing Editor and current columnist, Kevin Hulten had this to say about his county councilman,
”…That being said, I just about lost it when our County Councilman Dave Somers opened his mouth to testify.
Somers claimed that he “stayed on the sidelines” until a site in his district (the Cavelero site supported by the cities of Lake Stevens and Snohomish, among others) “failed”. Of course, he was referring to the Lake Stevens site. If he read the NBBJ report, he would realize that the report opened by stating that the study had found that ALL FOUR sites were completely viable for the housing of a UW campus. Second, he hardly stayed on the sidelines, instead deciding to chip away from behind the scenes, taking multiple meetings with his no-growth puppet masters (Emphasis TLS) (who support Everett) and firing off angry quotes to the media questioning the land involved in the Lake Stevens proposal – quotes that just happened to end up on the front page of the Herald.”
Again, as to the “stayed on the sidelines” aspect, Somers says that he had no indication that the 40 acre parcel in question was even being considered for this purpose until he was contacted by the Everett Herald for comment. His “angry quotes to the media”?
”“County Councilman Dave Somers said he was surprised to learn that important county park land in his district was offered for the new UW campus. Residents have been calling him and complaining ever since.
The County Council has control over county-owned land and Reardon didn't consult council members, Somers said.
"I made the governor's office aware of my general concerns about it, not trying to throw a wrench in the works at this point," Somers said. "Hopefully that will be taken into consideration."”
Wow, 83 words out an article that ran some 705 words with one fully attributed quote. As to the tenor of his remarks, if this is how anger is being expressed in the media these days, there is no wonder we are where we are in our political discourse. ”… Dave Somers said he was surprised…” “I made the governor's office aware of my general concerns about it, not trying to throw a wrench in the works at this point," Somers said…” Yep, pretty vicious stuff there, huh?
Hulten rants a bit more; including this little ditty, ”…The activist raised hell with Somers about the inclusion of this “park” land in the proposal, and Somers responded to the jerking of his stings (Emphasis TLC) by airing his concerns to the press.” and then concludes with this not so veiled threat:
”…I certainly will remember the work Somers did to undermine the work of his constituents the next time I vote, and I’m sure others will as well. If this is his idea of “staying on the sidelines”, then I hope his council district constituents will work to show him what it really looks like from the sidelines after his next election cycle.”
Did I mention these guys are Democrats? I guess I might have also mentioned that Hulten’s new “day job” since he “stepped down” as the Managing Editor of the Lake Stevens Journal is as Legislative Aide for 44th LD State Senator Steve Hobbs. That would be the same Steve Hobbs who lost a very bitter and controversial primary race against Councilman Somers in 2005 and who, last year, sponsored his own legislation (SB 6490) to establish a UW branch campus in – you guessed it – Lake Stevens/Snohomish. Now I can’t imagine that Sen. Hobbs would be condoning these attacks on his fellow elected Democrat. However, if this is indeed the opening salvo in a primary challenge against Somers, it probably wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that will be one endorsement Dave shouldn’t be counting on.
[UPDATE - 1:37PM 01/31/2008] In a response to members of the 44th LD, Dave Somers has provided a rebutal to Kevin Hulten's article in the LSJ. I provide an excerpt of that email here:
"...I respect everyone’s right to express their opinion, as long as it is supported by facts and reason. Kevin’s column, published in the Lake Stevens Journal, is based on his reason supported not by facts but fabrications. Beyond being full of easily checked errors, it also attributes to me a quote that is not true.
I have submitted a response to the Lake Stevens Journal and I hope it will be printed. It is unfortunate however that I am now put in a position of having to defend myself against false statements of somebody who is supposedly a democrat and who is in a hired position with a Democratic official. I guess my 2009 reelection campaign is starting early.
First, my testimony before the Senate can be found on TVW . The hearing was 1/24/08 before the Senate Higher Education Committee. My testimony starts at time 38:14. If you can find the word “failed” in my testimony, as quoted by Kevin in his article, I will eat my Husky Band hat – and it was a big hat.
Second, the County property (40 acres), is indeed owned by the Parks Department and money to develop the park is in our Capital Improvement Plan ( page 44 of the 2006-2011 CIP), despite Kevin’s claims to the contrary. A simple Google search or phone call would have cleared this up for Kevin. The park is also necessary to meet our Comprehensive Plan level of service for parks. My contact with the Governors office and the consultant were to advise them that if the land was sold to the University, we would have to replace it in the near vicinity in order to be in compliance with our Comprehensive Plan. This was an important factor that the consultant needed to be aware of.
Third, I did not contact the press with angry quotes. The Everett Herald contacted me – this is how I learned the County Executive had submitted a letter offering the park property for the University site. I nor the County Council had no prior knowledge of this letter until I received inquiries from the media, despite the fact that the park is in my Council district.
Finally, my door is open to all. I meet with the Master Builders Association as well as Futurewise. I am committed to the long term health and quality of life in Snohomish County that takes all perspectives into account.
I understand Kevin is disappointed that Lake Stevens was ranked 4th of the sites, and that the County Council voted 4/1 to support the findings of the $ 1 million study and public process. I am equally disappointed that Kevin decided to attack me in a printed article and that his column was so filled with easily checked errors. I am also disappointed that a fellow Democrat would call for my election defeat based on this misinformation.
I only hope that I can welcome the UW to Snohomish County and that I can be there for the opening of the Cavelero Hill Community Park."
Dave Somers
Chair
Snohomish County Council
Peace,
Chad (The Left) Shue
1 comments:
Thanks Chad for putting this out now and so well. Yes, there appears to be an attempt to discredit Dave Somers, and I'm sure the attacks will continue. However, there are many of us out there who really know the facts, not the mis-truths and half-truths that these two "fellow Democrats?" are putting out there. There will be rebuttals to both of these reports and letters, telling the public the truth, if the The Herald and Lake Stevens Journal choose to print them.
Now why do you think Democrats in the Lake Stevens area are attacking Dave Somers on this issue? Well so far, that is the only issue they can come up with, and it is lame just the same, since they are lying to the public on the facts.
Obviously as you pointed out there seems to be some momentum by some Democrats to try to discredit Dave Somers. But why? Dave is in a great position now to do some really good things for his district and for the county in terms of land use because for once in a very, very long time, there are 4 Democrats on the council. My guess is that it has something to do with Lake Stevens and their vision for growth in the future, given that both Spiers and Hulten zoned in on the UW campus site location in Lake Stevens.
This attempt by these two D's should concern everyone whether or not you live in this area. The City of Lake Stevens, for as long as I have been involved in land use issues....let's just say 10 years...has been trying to change from a very little city to a very big city. Their urban growth area is the largest in the county if not the state; and there are major issues with such a large growth area especially since the edge of it where the UW Branch Campus site was proposed is just above the Highway 2 trestle bridge, a huge transportation nightmare.
So the UW Branch Campus proposed site on Cavalero Hill is the area that Senator Steve Hobbs put forth (and which Executive Reardon first was supporting...then he supported Marysville...and now he is supporting Everett...why isn't anyone lambasting Reardon for being so wishy-washy???...hmmm a good question I believe) was paid for by our County's Conservation Futures fund (which is only earmarked for parks and open space acquisition), a transaction that happened during Dave Somer's first term in office before he lost to Jeff Sax. That acquistion happened because developer, Bill Binford of Venture Pacific Partners (Kirkland), couldn't get what he wanted, which was to build a Fred Meyer and all the other strip mall businesses that come with that on that site. Mr. Binford finally, after 5 years of citizen involvement and tons of money spent on a an appeal to stop the Fred Meyer fiasco, went to the county and offered the site to them for a park, and our county council, led by Dave Somers, agreed and the developer was paid a hefty sum.
NOTE: Developer Bill Binford went on to buy property that is now part of the Marsyville UW site, and is lobbying along with the City of Marysville that this should be the preferred site. Mr. Binford is one of those developers who buys property and then spends a lot of time and money lobbying to get the zoning changed so he can develop. He was unsuccessful on the Fred Meyer deal. [this is all public information by the way] UNNOTE
Another note: When our last county council representative, Republican Jeff Sax was voted in, it was a Republican majority county council, and he was successful in limiting the Parks Department funding for development of the park. He actually really wanted to turn it back into commercial development but he was unable to do that because just can't do that when you use county taxpayers Conservation Futures money. Now since he was replaced by Dave Somers in 2005, now there is money in the Parks Department capital budget to do the development of the land this year!!! Mr Spiers and Hulten are not telling the truth to the public on that fact. Perhaps they just don't know the facts. Either way, there is a mis-truth being spread in letters to the Herald and in a blog that is part of the Lake Stevens Journal.
So...back to the issue, why are these two supposed Democrats bashing Dave Somers over this issue? Perhaps this is why.
The City of Lake Stevens wants to annex over 1,000 acres of land just south of the Cavalero hill park area that is bordered by Hewitt Avenue, Highway 9 and Highway 2. It is no wonder since a developer has been hard at work trying to convince the city of Snohomish that they need at least 400 acres at Highway 9 and 2 to become part of their city with a huge urban center. The developer is using all of the same tactics all developers use; make people think they will make lots of money if they sign agreements to sell to the developer ONCE he gets the urban growth area expansion passed by the county, once they get the zoning, once they get it all in place. As with the Cavalero Hill park area site, that could take years and years and years and may never happen.
So the City of Lake Stevens wants the area, a lot more of it, because they see this area as their only opportunity for future expansion. The City of Lake Stevens didn't at all appreciate the fact that the City of Marysville received a UGA expansion during the 2005 County Comprehensive Plan Update (when Sax was in office of course) of 400 acres along Highway referred to as Whiskey Ridge, an area they thought should have gone to the City of Lake Stevens. Now they just don't want to lose out on more acreage in the future, and are now spending around $200,000 for consultants to come up with a master plan for this 1,000 acres south of Cavalero Hill.
It's an incredible land use mess and appears to be dividing Democrats too. Obviously there is an agenda by some Lake Stevens Democrats who want more growth no matter what, and I think it is easy to assume that they see Dave Somers as a hindrance to their hopes and dreams of more and more land for development. Mr. Spiers and Hultan are obvioulsy trying to paint Dave Somers as someone who is not working for his constituency. This is just hogwash of course, because Dave Somers is an honest man with knowledge and integrity who looks at the facts and makes wise and deliberate decisions based on the best interest of the public and not on special interests.
Politics really have gotten uglier here in Snohomish County when it comes to land use. Democrats fighting Democrats. How so very unfortunate. However, I hope most voting Democrats in the 5th County Council district, and in the 44th legislative district, will stand up for Dave Somers and the work he has done and will continue to do for all of us.
As 2008 goes forward, there are going to be some very controversial issues before us; the developers and some in political offices will work every angle they can to get what they want. That should be no surprise. But what I believe Democrats stand for, and what I believe most people in Snohomish County really want, is leadership that will protect the best interest of all of us, who will be prudent when it comes to growth and development issues, who will follow the state and county laws, who will fight for the average citizen, and who sees well into the future on what we should to to secure a good future for those who will come after us.
Kristin Kelly
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