Sammamish Election Watch 2011 (Updated): Councilwoman Whitten Gives up Position No. 4, runs for Position No. 2

Running for elected office might be a bit like musical chairs - candidates can move around before the filing period closes.

That is turning out to be the case with Sammamish City Council races as Jesse Bornfreund, an executive and entrepreneur who originally filed to run for Council Position No. 2, switched to run for Council Position No. 6 on Friday, King County Elections reported.

As a result, all three City Council races this year will be contested, meaning that there are at least two candidates. Bornfreund will face Tom Vance for Council Position No. 6. 

"I moved to make sure the community had choice," Bornfreund said Friday afternoon.

Earlier on Friday, Peter Scontrino, a candidate for the City Council withdrew from the race for Council Position No. 6.

Bornfreund's decision on Friday means the Position No. 2 race will be between Councilwoman Nancy Whitten and Kathy Richardson, vice chair of the Sammamish Planning Commission.

Whitten is abandoning her seat on the seven-member body. But she filed papers to campaign for the seat that Councilwoman Michele Petitti is vacating.

All of these moves add a bit of a twist to the Sammamish election cycle, which will see the primary on Aug. 16. On Thursday, Ramiro Valderrama, former spokesman for Citizens for Sammamish, had filed his papers to run for the City Council.

Candidates are allowed to switch in Sammamish because members of the City Council are at large, City Clerk Melonie Anderson said Thursday. "There is no district," she said. "You just have to live in the city."

Scontrino removed his name from the race, largely because he felt the requirements from the Washington state Public Disclosure Commission invaded his privacy, he said Friday.

He was concerned about listing bank accounts, retirement plans and the stock shares that he owns. "I was excited about running," he said.

John Galvin, a psychologist, declared his City Council candidacy for Council Position No. 4, which Whitten holds. When he announced his decision, he said he wanted to have a spirited debate about policy issues with her.

Now, there is the possibility that they could both serve on the City Council, should Sammamish voters decide that they are the candidates they want.

But Galvin and Jim Wasnick, the other candidate in the Council Position No. 4 race, have a third person campaigning for the seat - Valderrama.

As of Friday, there were seven candidates for the Sammamish City Council. This includes Bornfreund and Scontrino's decision.

The period to file as a candidate with King County Elections ended Friday.

Here is a quick glance at the races:

City Council Position No. 2

 is giving up this seat. Whitten, an incumbent, is a candidate for Council Position No. 2 - though she now holds Position No. 4.

Richardson also has filed to run for that position. Her campaign website is www.richardson4council.com.

But it was under construction as of Monday. Residents can contact her by sending an email to kathy@richardson4council.com.

In an email on Saturday, Richardson said she was surprised by Whitten's decision.

"She is a challenging opponent and I think this will be  a very interesting race," she said. "I am glad that the final outcome of the filings is that no position will run unopposed and our voters will have a choice in who represents them on Council next year."

Whitten, an attorney, did not list a campaign website address with King County Elections. But her campaign email is nancy4sammamish@hotmail.com.

Sammamish Patch also contacted her for a comment about her decision.

City Council Position No. 4

 and Wasnick are running for the seat held by Whitten. Valderrama also is a candidate in this race.

Galvin also writes a blog on Sammamish Patch. His campaign website is www.voteforgalvin.com. On Monday, it looked like it was still being built. His email address is: voteforgalvin@comcast.net.

Wasnick listed his campaign website as www.wasnickforsammamish.org, which went live on Tuesday. He can be reached at jim@wasnickforsammamish.org.

Valderrama's campaign email is valderrama4council@hotmail.com. His campaign website, www.valderrama4council.com, had not gone live as of early Thursday evening.

City Council Position No. 6

is campaigning for this seat, which is being vacated by Councilman . Cross, who has praised Vance, is stepping down from office to spend more time at his job with the city of Bellevue.

Vance is a former chair of the Sammamish Planning Commission. His campaign website is www.tomvanceforcouncil.com. He can be reached at tevance@gmail.com.

Bornfreund has a live campaign website, as of Friday morning. It is www.jessebo4sammamish.com. His campaign email address is jessebo@jessebo4sammamish.com.

Scontrino, who had filed to run by had withdrawn his application on Friday, is an organizational psychologist.

These are the only three City Council seats that are open for election this year.

Issaquah School Director District No. 3

Sammamish resident Brian Deagle is running for director in District No. 3. Deagle, a senior attorney at Microsoft, is the incumbent. He can be reached at briand38@msn.com.

As of Friday evening, there was another candidate in the race - Patrick Sansing, a Sammamish resident. Sansing can be reached at patsansing@hotmail.com.

Issaquah School Director District No. 5

Issaquah resident Brian Neville is running against Suzanne Weaver, a Sammamish resident and the incumbent. Maple Valley resident Joseph Arnaud also has filed to run against her.

Arnaud did not leave a campaign website address with King County Elections. He can be reached at nvgopguy@yahoo.com. Weaver has been active in district and state education issues since 1999. Her email is sgweav@comcast.net.

In his campaign filing, Neville listed his email address as brian.n.neville@gmail.com. He did not list a campaign website as of Thursday afternoon.

Five people serve on the Issaquah School Board.

In the Lake Washington School District, there are no board seats open for Sammamish residents this year, a spokeswoman has said.

Editor's note: This story was last revised on Saturday, June 11 shortly before 10:30 a.m.