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closeVoters keep status quo in two important races for Puyallup council
Neil Pierson/of The Herald
The majority of Puyallup voters who spoke out in last week’s city council elections said they weren’t interested in big changes.
As results of the Nov. 3 general election began to be released last week, District 1 voters appear to have re-elected incumbent Councilmember George Dill and District 2 voters appear to have given Councilmember Rick Hansen a full four-year term. The Pierce County Auditor’s Office won’t certify the results until Nov. 24, but the leads of Dill, Hansen and District 3 candidate Kent Boyle seem to be safely intact.
Boyle, a radio personality in Olympia, provided the most drama in the general election by overcoming a 22-point deficit from the Aug. 18 primary election. As of Nov. 9, Boyle held a 393-vote lead over business consultant John Alexander, who won the primary election with 53 percent of the votes compared to 31 percent for Boyle.
“I’m just sitting back and observing,” Boyle said of his plans between now and 2010. “There’s a lot of questions I want to ask and get answers on. I just want to be as prepared as possible come January.”
Alexander didn’t return phone calls to The Herald seeking comment.
Dill, a retired Army officer and Pierce College instructor, widened his lead over challenger Tony Aho, an administrator at Pacific Lutheran University. Dill held a three-point edge during primary results but gained seven percentage points in the general election and led by 188 votes on Nov. 9.
Dill, who didn’t accept outside donations to fund his campaign, thanked voters last week and credited his personal approach with constituents as the deciding factor. Dill said he spent less than $1,000 of his own money for campaign signs and flyers, a sharp contrast to the $9,377 that Aho’s campaign raised.
“You can’t buy an election, not in the local level,” Dill said. “People want to see you and talk to you person-to-person at their door.”
Aho expressed disappointment with the results but said his campaign was a largely positive experience in which he listened to many different viewpoints and learned many things.
“You win some and you lose some,” Aho said. “(My volunteers and I) don’t have any regrets. We gave 110 percent.”
Aho, who chairs the city’s parks board and is involved with several other groups, wouldn’t commit at this point to running again in 2011 when John Knutsen’s District 1 council seat is up for grabs. He said his immediate plans are to spend more time with his wife and two children.
Hansen, a local business owner who was appointed to the council in 2008, will be serving his third full term in Puyallup after two terms in the 1980s. He held a 332-vote lead on Nov. 9, widening his lead over retired Tacoma police officer Chris Taylor over the past two months.
“I feel fortunate the public supported me to be there for my own four-year term,” Hansen said. “I think times are tough and my business background can help us weather tough times.”
Hansen and Taylor both raised between $4,000 and $5,000 in their campaigns, though Taylor said some type of glitch with the state’s Public Disclosure Commission has caused his contributions to go unreported on the PDC Web site. Taylor said he took in roughly $4,800 and spent about $4,500.
Taylor’s first foray into politics was also a positive one, he said, though, like Aho, he refused to say whether he would try again in two years. Councilmember Tami Brouillet’s District 2 seat is up for re-election in 2011.
“I’m going to continue to be active. I’m going to continue to go to the council meetings,” Taylor said. “I want to learn more about the city of Puyallup.”