Thirty-two seeking election to government review panel
The 41-year-old Bellevue resident assembled a campaign brochure on her home computer, pirating the family's Christmas-card photo for a graphic. She's operating on a $500 budget out of her own pocket. And she's nursing two big toes battered by stumping door-to-door in her south Bellevue neighborhood.
"This," she said, "is bare-bones campaigning."
Orrico is one of 32 Bellevue residents, many of them campaign neophytes, now competing to become "freeholders" — the term state law uses for one of the least-known political jobs around.
If Bellevue voters on May 20 authorize a commission to draft a city constitution or "charter," 15 freeholders will sit on that commission. Its members wouldn't be paid. The commission would have a six-month deadline and likely would work under the scrutiny of every interest group in the city.
If voters don't endorse the commission, all of the freeholders' campaigning will be for nothing and the government will stay as is.
Many of the candidates are funding the races out of their own pockets, trying to figure out how to get their names known on a shoe-string budget in a city of 117,000, how to fill out the forms required by the state's campaign-finance watchdog, and how to reach voters who have questions such as: What would freeholders do?
"There's a lot of confusion," said Bob Steed, a Boeing project manager running for Position 8 against three other candidates.
Like many other candidates, Steed said he's found the campaign takes a bit of explaining. Seasoned candidates try to keep a fast pace while going door to door. But many freeholders often wind up delivering 10-minute civics lessons instead. The commission would have broad powers to rewrite city government, defining how council members and the mayor are elected, what powers they have and how city departments are run.
The group that got the charter proposal on the ballot, Bellevue Charter Now, has touted having council members elected by geographic district to ensure representation of neighborhoods throughout the city. The group also supported having the mayor elected directly by voters. Now, council members are elected citywide, and they choose a mayor from among themselves.
Freeholder campaign tactics run the gamut, from fliers mailed out to thousands of voters to a few appearances at debates.
Gwen D. Warren, Orrico's competition for Position 14, isn't doing a lot. She attended a debate and brought 10 copies of a page describing her candidacy. The 76-year-old, a veteran citizen activist from the Northtowne neighborhood, isn't too concerned that Orrico might out-campaign her.
"If she gets it, she gets it," said Warren, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1956. "I don't think she knows a lot about the city."
Warren has emphasized her support for having City Council members elected from different geographic districts.
Orrico, a business attorney who has served on a federal tax-reform commission, said she hasn't decided whether she thinks a charter commission is necessary. While she thinks the district idea may be a valid idea, she said the city already is well run.
With so many candidates running relatively low-profile campaigns, various campaign groups are trying to sway voters.
Bellevue Charter Now issued an endorsement list for the 12 contested positions: Don MacKenzie, Joshua Schaer, Stacie LeBlanc Anderson, Jim Radcliffe, David W. Marks, Jeannie M. Vahlsing, Joseph H. Rosmann, Jan Benson, John Van Duzor, John Meredith, Harvey Z. Kriloff and Gwen D. Warren. It also endorsed Manuel Yglesias, who is running unopposed.
The Institute for Community Involvement, which also supports having a charter commission, has endorsed Kim B. Richards, Lael Braymer, Paula Fraser, Sheldon Arakaki, Sarah Chandler and Kriloff.
People can vote for freeholders even if they vote against the charter commission. But the main charter opposition group, Save Our City — Bellevue Charter No!, isn't issuing an endorsement list because it's opposed to any charter commission, said Viet Nguyen, the group's campaign manager.
Warren Cornwall: 206-464-2311 or wcornwall@seattletimes.com