Incumbent Asher Announces for City Council; Two Drop Out of Races

Saying he has the experience to deal with the challenges of Kirkland’s much larger population and economic recovery, incumbent Dave Asher finally announced he will run for re-election to the City Council.

The announcement was a formality though, since he had filed with the King County Elections agency for his Position 6 seat last week, along with three others. One of them, however, Finn Hill resident Scott Galbraith, has since formally withdrawn, and he said Wednesday he is now endorsing Asher.

The others who filed for Position 6 are James A. Hart of Houghton and Martin Morgan of Rose Hill. Hart operates a land surveying company in Kirkland. Morgan, who ran against current Mayor Joan McBride in 2009 for her council position, has a history of legal disputes with the city. 

Patch is attempting to contact Hart and Morgan and will update this story as soon as possible.

If it remains a three-way race, all would face an Aug. 16 primary to determine the two candidates who would would run in the general election Nov. 8.

Two other city council positions will be contested this year and in both cases it appears to be a two-way race.

Incumbent Jessica Greenway announced early on she would run again for Position 4, and not long after, former state legislator Toby Nixon announced he would challenge her.

Incumbent Bob Sternoff also recently announced he would run again for Position 2, and two others filed last week to run against him, although one has apparently already dropped out. Chuck Hinson, a Norkirk resident, reportedly decided he did not have the time to devote to the job. Patch has a call in to him. That leaves Kingsgate resident Jason Gardner running against Sternoff.

Greenway, Nixon and Asher have listed campaign funds they have raised and spent with the state Public Disclosure Commission. Greenway tops the list with $13,676 raised and $926 spent. Her challenger, Nixon, has raised $4,135 and spent $270. Asher has raised $10,239 and spent $848.

In announcing his run for re-election, Asher, a councilmember since 2000, said he had tempered his views on business after reaching out to the Kirkland business community.

"It used to be sort of a view of 'we/they,'" he said. "I've realized it has to be 'us.' We have to be successful together."

A Rose Hill neighborhood activist and a retired U.S. Army officer, Asher said he would focus on integrating into the city residents of recently annexed northern neighborhoods, economic recovery, responsible budgeting and managing city operations for results.

"I want to be successful in annexation, get our economy back on track and I want to institute performance management in the city," he said. The latter priority, he explained, would "provide a way for the city to develop pathways for where it wants to be and then measure its success, or lack of success."