All labor-backed candidates for Vancouver City Council win
VANCOUVER — Labor-endorsed
Tim Leavitt won re-election as Van-
couver mayor. He defeated challenger
Bill Turlay, a city commissioner, 52.44
percent to 47.56 percent.
Turnout for the general election was
36.82 percent of registered voters.
“I feel really good, and I hope each
of you do, about where we’re headed
for the next four years,” Leavitt said at
his election night party.
The Columbia River Crossing was
a big issue in this race, though the City
Council has no official role in the proj-
ect. Leavitt, a 42-year-old civil engi-
neer, is a staunch advocate for the In-
terstate-5 Bridge replacement project
between Portland and Vancouver. He
used it as a pillar of his campaign. In
the weeks prior to the election, Leavitt
purchased a billboard ad near the
bridge so Vancouver commuters were
reminded of his position.
Turlay, 77, opposes the CRC and
light rail to Vancouver. Throughout the
campaign, Turlay criticized Leavitt for
his support of the bridge.
Joining Leavitt on the City Council
will be newcomers Alishia Topper and
Anne McEnerny-Ogle. Both were en-
dorsed by labor. Topper defeated three-
term incumbent Jeanne Stewart, taking
52.16 percent of the vote. McEnerny-
Ogle defeated Frank Decker, capturing
56.72 percent of the vote. McEnerny-
NOVEMBER 15, 2013
Ogle and Decker had advanced in the
August primary after outpolling 17-
year commissioner Jeanne Harris.
Incumbent City Councilor Jack
Burkman — also endorsed by labor
— defeated Micheline Doan, 52 per-
cent to 48 percent.
Turlay will retain his seat on the
City Council to finish out his term.
“This year, there were two very dis-
tinct sets of philosophies,” Burkman
told the Columbian newspaper. He de-
scribed himself and the other winners
as “looking to the future, progressive,
and willing to take bold steps.”
Each of the winners support the Co-
lumbia River Crossing. All of the los-
ers campaigned against it.
“I’m extremely pleased with the re-
sults,” Leavitt said. “Given all the rhet-
oric out there, this is a nice mandate for
our community.”
Five labor-backed candidates for
freeholder were also victorious. Clark
County is electing 15 nonpartisan free-
holders to draft a new county charter.
They will have 13 months to draft a
proposal for voters. If the voters reject
the proposal, or if the freeholders can’t
agree on a draft charter, Clark County
will remain a statute code county. If a
majority of voters agree with the char-
ter proposal, it will be enacted.
The Southwest Washington Central
Labor Council and Columbia Pacific
Building and Construction Trades
Council took positions in all 15 races.
Among the endorsed winners were
union members Temple Lentz in Dis-
trict 3, Position 1; and Jim Moeller in
District 3, Position 3.
Lentz, a member of United Food
and Commercial Workers Local 555,
captured 26.3 percent of the votes in a
13-person race.
Moeller, a member of the Oregon
Federation of Nurses and Health Pro-
fessionals Local 5017, outpolled eight
opponents with 35.5 percent of the
vote.
Other labor-endorsed winners were
Paul Dennis in District 2, Position 4;
Pat Jollota in District 3, Position 1; and
Val Ogden in District 3, Position 2.
Endorsed union members Bob Car-
roll, Jamie Hurly, Rob Lutz and Tom
Lawrence all fell short in their respec-
tive races.
NW Oregon
Labor Council 1-1
on Election Day
There wasn’t much on the plate on
Election Day for the Northwest Ore-
gon Labor Council.
The council took action on only two
issues — a five-year local option levy
for schools in Lake Oswego, and a
levy to fund jail operations in Colum-
bia County.
The school levy — Measure 3-434
—won with a whopping 86 percent of
the vote. Proponents attributed the
large margin of victory to the fact that
it was a renewal levy that didn’t change
tax rates.
The jail levy — Measure 5-234 —
lost by a whopping 58 percent to 42
percent. If passed, the levy would have
added 58 cents per $1,000 of assessed
property values. Voter turnout was
nearly 43 percent.
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
In other Clark County election re-
sults, Dave Town, a retired union offi-
cer of Painters and Allied Trades Dis-
trict Council 5, was elected to the Clark
County Fire and Rescue Commission.
Genetic food labeling
initiative I-522 fails
Statewide ballot initiative I-522 was
defeated by Washington voters, 52.42
percent to 47.58 percent. (It failed in
Clark County, 56.84 percent to 43.16
percent.) The labor-backed initiative
sought to require labeling of geneti-
cally engineered foods sold in the state.
Multinational corporations like
biotechnology giant Monsanto, Dow
Chemical, and Coca-Cola contributed
millions to the No on I-522 campaign.
Overall, nearly $32 million was raised
to defeat the measure, setting a state
record for money spent against a ballot
measure.
Polling in September showed 66
percent of voters supported I-522. By
mid-October the percentage of sup-
porters had shrunk to 46 percent, with
12 percent undecided. Most of those
undecideds voted against the measure
on Election Day.
Voter turnout statewide was 38.31
percent.
SeaTac measure to boost wages
to $15 an hour clings to lead
SEATAC — A ballot measure to
raise the minimum wage for SeaTac
hospitality and transportation workers
to $15 an hour and adjust it for infla-
tion each year thereafter, was clinging
to a 43-vote lead as this issue of the La-
bor Press went to press.
Election results won’t be certified
until Nov. 26.
Proposition 1 has been watched
closely nationally. Organized labor
supported the ballot measure, while na-
tional business groups contributed to
the opposition campaign.
The measure lifts wages for an esti-
mated 6,500 workers, including jet fu-
elers, baggage handlers, hotel house-
keepers, and rental car employees. It
applies to airlines, hotels with more
than 100 guest rooms and 30 or more
workers, shuttle services and car rental
agencies with more than 25 workers,
and institutional food service opera-
tions — such as conference centers and
corporate cafeterias — which have 10
or more non-managerial employees.
It also:
• Requires employers to provide
one hour of sick leave for every 40
hours worked, up to 6.5 days a year of
paid sick leave for full-time airport em-
ployees;
• Prohibits managers or owners
from taking workers’ tips, including
gratuities charged to banquets or
catered meetings;
• Requires employers to offer addi-
tional hours to existing part-time em-
ployees before hiring from the outside;
and
• Gives employees of contractors an
opportunity to keep their jobs when the
contract changes hands.
The City of SeaTac, with a popula-
tion of 27,000, contains within it Seat-
tle-Tacoma International Airport, along
with airport hotels and conference cen-
ters, and shuttle and rental car compa-
nies. The city has 12,100 registered
voters.
Washington currently has the na-
tion’s highest state minimum wage at
$9.19 an hour. The federal minimum
wage is $7.25 per hour.
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