Councilwoman Whitten Issues Statement on Decision to Give up Position No. 4 and run for Position No. 2

During last week's candidate filing period with King County Elections, Sammamish City Councilwoman Nancy Whitten opted not to run for the seat she holds - Position No. 4.

Instead, she joined the race for Position No. 2, from which Councilwoman Michele Petitti is stepping down. Petitti has served on the Council for nearly 10 years.

Whitten will now face Kathy Richardson, vice chair of the Sammamish Planning Commission.

At the time, Sammamish Patch asked Whitten for a comment as to why she switched. Here is the note that she sent by email on Thursday:

"As an incumbent, I regard a primary as an opportunity, typically a positive event in our nonpartisan city races by giving the incumbent extra time to get her name and positions on issues before the voters.

The two others who had filed against my Position 4 -- apparently assuming I would be doing so -- I didn’t look upon as serious challengers. So I would have preferred to have stayed in my current Position 4 opposed by them if other factors had been equal.

However, I was concerned about long-term balance on the Council and the potential slate of other candidates and who might win on the other positions. Because of this, I filed for Position 2 against a candidate for whom I have a lot of respect but with whom I have a concern on some of the important issues for which I believe we need to find a very careful balance of competing interests."

Richardson issued a statement last week about running against Whitten. That statement is included in the original candidate filing story that Sammamish Patch posted.

As some have observed, given the candidate filings, the City Council will go from a seven-member body with five men and two women this year to one with six men and one woman in 2012.

In other election news, Maple Valley resident Joseph Arnaud has withdrawn from the race for Issaquah School Director District No. 5, King County Elections reported.

That race now involves Suzanne Weaver, a Sammamish resident and the incumbent, and Brian Neville, an Issaquah resident.