Washblog

Sonya Kraski has spent her entire 22 year career in the Snohomish County Clerk's office. She began in 1985 as a records clerk and has moved up to Manager of the Clerk's Office at Denney Juvenile Justice Center in Everett. Her roots in the north Snohomish County town of Arlington go back five generations. Due to term limits, the current County Clerk, Pam Daniels is being forced to move on. The combination of the vacancy in the position and recent labor troubles involving the Clerk's staff prompted Sonya to make her first entry into the world of elective politics. The County Clerk, as well as all other county-wide offices except Executive and Council is a non-partisan position.

Sonya's current opponents in this race (official filing comes in June) are Snohomish County Deputy Clerk Ron Ledford and Snohomish County Treasurer Bob Dantini - also being moved out of his current job by term limits. Ledford has been deputy to Pam Daniels for the past seven years with an additional twenty years experience in the same field in a different state. Dantini is a fixture in Snohomish County Democratic circles. In addition to his twelve years as County Treasurer, he has also served on the Executive Board of the Snohomish County Democrats and was recently appointed as a PCO in the 44th LD.

Taking a lesson from past history, the 38th decided to go with an endorsement committee and tighten up some of their notification processes this year. Questionnaires were mailed to candidates who had filed with the Public Disclosure Commission (PDC), were eligible for endorsement by the 38th, and actually sought our endorsement. Those that returned their questionnaires were invited to participate in a public forum on Sunday, April 29th where they would be presented with a set of questions determined by the committee. The committee would then convene after the forum to prepare a set of recommendations to present to the LD body on Tuesday night.

At the final meeting of the endorsement committee, it was evident to almost everyone at the table that Kraski's experience and her personal history of advancement through the ranks at the Clerk's office placed her head and shoulders above the other two candidates. Ledford came close on the experience scale but the fact that Kraski had been "one of the troops" gave her a boost when it came to the perception of being better able to deal with personnel issues. In fact, she listed the labor issue as one of her primary concerns during the forum. Ledford seem to cast the issue aside as one that the County Executive would deal with. For the majority of the endorsement committee, Dantini's lack of experience with the Clerk's office all but eliminated him from consideration. During the forum, when asked why he was seeking the Clerk's office, he basically replied that if he were not term limited from his current office, we might not have even seen him at the forum at all.

The one dissenting voice on the committee was concerned about the fact that we were not taking into consideration the political factor. Dantini was, after all, a loyal and dedicated Democrat and had been for many years. We did not have much on which to base a political opinion of Sonya Kraski EXCEPT for one name on her extensive list of endorsers. There amongst a two page list of attorneys (including one Todd Nichols - Chair of the 2nd CD Democrats and member of the E-Board of the WSDCC), retired judges (active judges are prohibited by code of ethics from endorsing), personal endorsements (including former Democratic Snohomish County Executive Bob Drewell), and elected officials including a dual endorsement from her current boss Pam Daniels (the other half of the "dual" was for Ledford), Everett City Councilman Mark Olson, and Arlington (her hometown) Mayor Margaret Larson, appeared the name of Snohomish County Councilman, Republican John Koster. This was a very disturbing factor for our fellow committeeman. He insisted that we should not let this pass. The fact that Koster was also one of Kraski's hometown elected officials should have no bearing on this decision. When it was suggested that experience might actually over-ride a political perception, it was pointed out that this was, in fact an election to replace an executive with another executive and Dantini did not need to have any real knowledge of the responsibilities of the new staff he would be inheriting. We simply could not be seen endorsing a Republican sympathizer over our own home-grown Democrat. Despite the misgivings of our fellow committee member, the vote of the committee was overwhelming to recommend a sole endorsement for Sonya Kraski on Tuesday night.

On Monday evening and email was circulated to a large group of people in the 38th LD and the county Democratic community from a long-time county Democrat and virtual phantom 38th LD PCO. In the email, he says,

"I have been told that the only candidate for Clerk that that is being recommended for endorsement is Sonya Kraski. She is a supporter [of] Val Stevens, as shown in the attached PDC report. At the same time, I haven't found support for Democratic candidates from the 39th from her. Something isn't right here.

I hope what I heard is wrong.

You may have found a way to actually get me to a meeting of the 38th LD."

During the course of the day Tuesday, a few emails were exchanged on the matter between members of the endorsement committee and the author of the email (there was even some concern expressed over who "leaked" the committee report) but the writing was now on the wall. There would some "serious discussion" at the evening's endorsement meeting.

The recommendation of a sole endorsement for Sonya Kraski was moved and seconded as a matter of procedure (coming "as reported from committee."). The author of the previously mentioned email rose to offer an amendment to the motion that would strike "sole" and replace it with "dual endorsement to include Sonya Kraski and Bob Dantini." The motion to amend was seconded and discussion began. It was at this point that the Karl Rove-ing of Sonya Kraski began. Rather than begin by extolling the many virtues of Bob Dantini, it was pounded home that Kraski had indeed contributed to the 2004 campaign of 39th LD (and Arlington resident) Republican State Senator Val Stevens (also known as Darth Vader's first cousin) thus branding her a staunch Republican. As if that weren't bad enough, when the speaker had asked Kraski about the contribution, she had no real recollection of the circumstance. This fact prompted the speaker to remark that, "This might make her more suited for Attorney General than County Clerk." When the next speaker rose to speak against the amendment, it was pointed out that, in fact, Kraski had contributed $50 to Stevens but had contributed almost $500 to Democratic candidates including Gov. Gregoire, Snohomish County Assessor Cindy Portmann, and her boss County Clerk Pam Daniels. In other words, she had contributed 10 to 1 to Democrats over Republicans and the one Republican she contributed to was from her own home town. The speaker reminded everyone of Kraski's experience and spoke of her direct dealing with the Clerk's office and how much she felt experience should count. The next speaker in agreement to the amendment was our dissenting member of the endorsement committee who rose to comment on the insignificance of experience for this position. He listed an experience he had working for the State Party gathering court documents from various Clerk's offices around the state. He felt that the Snohomish County Clerk's office was lacking and apparently, through some line of reasoning, that Kraski should bear some responsibility for that. He then brought Sonya Kraski back down to Earth where she belongs when he said that this job was for an executive, that Bob Dantini has been an executive and Bob Dantini was certainly "not simply a stenographer." So much for 22 years of dedicated service to the county.

The vote on the amendment failed. I felt at the time that I was joined in voting against a dual endorsement by good folks who had been swayed by the argument of experience and the lack of conclusive proof that Sonya Kraski was a Republican. That feeling quickly passed. The vote on the original motion (sole endorsement for Kraski) failed after much of the same discussion. A new motion to sole endorse Bob Dantini was introduced, seconded and passed without much discussion except by our County Executive Aaron Reardon (a PCO in the 38th LD) who, while claiming that "All of the candidates are good people." declared that we should reward our own and that Bob Dantini was certainly one of our own.

At the risk of leaving that taste of sour grapes with you, I must say that I left the LD meeting on Tuesday night needing a shower. I do not know Sonya Kraski. What I know of her I have read in her questionnaire answers and in the responses she gave at the forum on Sunday. Since Tuesday night a phrase continues to repeat in my mind: "You're doing a heck of job Brownie."

I don't know that Bob Dantini won't do a great job if he is elected County Clerk. What I do know is that he would not even be running for that job if he weren't losing his current one. I don't know that "taking care of our own" is the wrong approach for the 38th LD Democrats but I am left to wonder what our strategy is for bringing new blood into the system. What I do believe is this: If Sonya Kraski was NOT a Republican before she came to the 38th LD - and she should know that she will face many of these same people at the county endorsement interviews in two weeks - the odds of her ever becoming a Democrat have been greatly diminished.

Peace,
Chad (The Left) Shue