Decision 2015: Bend Park Board chairman loses seat

A low-key off-year special election came to a close in noteworthy fashion in Central Oregon Tuesday night as the ballots were counted and a few incumbents were losing their seats, a sign that some voters wanted change.

It wasn’t a very strong message, however, as fewer than a third of ballots were returned, despite more than a dozen contested school, park and other board races around the region, and a money measure. A lack of statewide races or measures no doubt played a part in the lower turnout.

Jefferson County had the highest mail-ballot return rate, at about 28 percent, followed by Crook County at 23 percent and Deschutes County at nearly 18 percent.

In Bend’s closely-watched three-way Bend Park and Rec board race, civil engineer Brady Fuller handily defeated incumbent Board Chairman Daniel Fishkin, taking 48 percent of the early vote results to Fishkin’s 27 percent, with challenger Foster Fell third with 24 percent.

Central Oregon Community College board member Charley Miller lost a tight race to challenger John Mundy, who had 52 percent of the votes to Miller’s 47 percent.

There were three contested seats on the Redmond School Board, with Position 1 incumbent Rhonda Etnire taking 79 percent of the ballots, to challenger Richard Castrow’s 12 percent and Merle Hinshaw’s 8 percent. Tim Carpenter defeated Jane Allen, 53 to 47 percent for the Position 4 seat, while Johnny Corbin easily defeated John Land, 59 to 409 percent.

On the Sisters School Board, Greg Zadow easily was defeating Lachlan Leaver 64 to 36 percent for the Position 2 seat, while Stephen King was ahead in the three-way race for Position 4, holding 40 percent of the night’s final vote tally to Steve Mathews’ 34 percent and Karen Swaner’s 26 percent.

On the La Pine Park and Rec Board, Gary Gordon won with 53 percent of the Position 4 vote, to 28 percent for Pamela Poeske and 19 percent for Kyle Williams, while challenger Tobias Wilson easily defeated incumbent Robert Ray, 70 to 30 percent.

The only money measure of the night wasn’t even close. The Black Butte Ranch Police Department handily won a five-year renewal of its local option levy, with 83 percent backing the measure to maintain 24/7 patrols in the resort community.

In the race for Crook County Parks & Rec Board Position 4, Linda Smith was defeating Kim Kambak, with nearly 59 percent of the vote.

In Jefferson County, another incumbent was being defeated, as Jefferson County School Board member Bradley Holliday had only 20 percent of the vote to challenger Courtney Snead’s 44 percent. Another challenger, Sue Matters, was in second place, with about 23 percent of the vote.

For updates, here’s a link to each county’s election results page:

Deschutes County: http://webapps.deschutes.org/Elections/home/results

Crook County: http://www.co.crook.or.us/Departments/Clerk/ElectionInformation/CurrentElectionResults/tabid/2277/Default.aspx

Jefferson County: http://www.co.jefferson.or.us/CountyClerk/Elections/CurrentElectionResults/tabid/6864/language/en-US/Default.aspx