And, of those 19 seats in 17 of them the incumbent ended up unopposed.

No opposition in 17 school board races.  That’s incredible!   In a society that questions everything the government does, we couldn’t find a few people to challenge incumbent school board members?   This is the part of our local government which takes in and spends more money than almost every other facet of government  – - and we couldn’t find anyone to be involved.

Why is it that no one runs for local school board positions?

The usual answer is that people are satisfied with the way their school runs.

But, I think it goes deeper than that.

Most parents don’t really understands how the state’s educational system works.  They don’t know where the money comes from and they don’t know how the money’s spent.   They don’t even really know who runs the school districts.   Hint:  It’s not the school board  or the superintendent.

School board positions are not glamorous.  People seeking higher elective office usually don’t start at the school board level – - with some exceptions.  Former congressman and current insurance commissioner Mike Kreidler is the exception.

School board members have to be policy wonks.  They have to delve into the details and they have to love to do homework.

And, school board meetings are boring – - really boring.

There’s not a lot of glamor and there’s a great deal of work involved.

No wonder people don’t want to run for their local school board.  It’s hard work.

Lacey incumbent city council member Ron Lawson has drawn two opponents in his effort to retain his seat and out in Tumwater three candidates are running for an all but open seat on the city council.

Lawson has drawn two candidates for his seat – - Lacey planning commission member Michael Steadman and newcomer Jacob Vaughan.

In Tumwater, Kyle Taylor Lucas who was appointed a few weeks ago to the seat left vacant by the resignation of Betsy Spath has drawn two opponents David Reeder and Debbie Sullivan.

Those are the only two races which will be on the primary ballot.

But, the filing period was not without some interesting twists.

For the first time ever in his history, Lacey Mayor Virgil Clarkson has drawn opposition.   His opponent is Walker Morton.   Clarkson in more than a decade and a half on the council, has never had any opposition to his election.

Lawson, and fellow councilmembers  Andy Ryder and Cynthia Pratt, were swept into office nearly three years ago in a campaign financed by Lacey firefighters who were upset with the council’s position on starting its own fire department.   This time around Pratt has drawn an opponent Raymond Payne while Ryder escaped without an opponent.

It’s not expected that fire fighters have much interest in the contests this time around since they’ve already accomplished their goal of stopping a city fire department.

In that vein, incumbent fire commissioner Judy Wilson has drawn an opponent – - Gary Hartloff.    The position left open by John Christiansen, who chose not to seek re-election, had drawn two candidates – - Dan Cathers and Dennis Jones.  It’s anticipated that fire fighters will concentrate their efforts in those races.

And, the two incumbent members of the North Thurston school board – - Chuck Namit and Aaron Owada drew no opponents and will continue in office.

That measure stopped the growing struggle and conflicts between competing private companies that was causing economic chaos to the state’s economy.

Making the water front public property and creating public port districts allowed for some public control over the water front.

In creating public port districts, the legislature also authorized them to levy taxes.

The Port of Olympia was one of the first public port districts.  But, instead of confining itself to the Olympia water front, the Port of Olympia was set as a county wide port district.

In that capacity, it not only runs the Olympia port but also operates the Tumwater airport.  The port also owns land and property throughout the entire county.

But, for decades, very few people knew or understood the port’s operations; and even fewer people knew that the port of Olympia is actually a county wide entity.

Although we see on our annual property tax statement a fee for the Port of Olympia, we often don’t understand what that money goes for.

Ask a port commissioner and he will tell you that the property tax we pay each year goes to pay for environmental clean up of polluted port property.

Almost all ports in Washington state depend on some form of public tax support although many of the ports are financially sound.  The Port of Olympia just signed an agreement with Weyerhaeuser to continue log exports, but it still depends on taxpayer support.

The port also, just recently, gave $10,000 to each of the cities of Rainier, Tenino, Yelm and Bucoda to help them with local civic projects.

It’s the port’s way of letting them know that it’s a county wide port district.  Giving away $40,000 of taxpayer money is just their way of letting the smaller cities know that the port cares about them.

But, what about the taxpayers?  Why should taxpayers support the give away of their property tax dollars to something that has nothing to do with economic development?

Has the port changed its goals?

The next time you see one of your port commissioners  – - Bill McGregor, Jeff Davis or George Barner – - ask him that question.

Erskine has accused Thurston County Auditor Republican Gary Alexander, who is the county’s chief elections officer,  with trying to squelch voter turnout in the county.  Erskines has tried to tie Alexander to a 25-year old comment by a right-wing Republican saying that he didn’t want everyone to vote.

In the meantime, Thurston County’s chief elections officer has been a Republican for the last 30 years and voter turnout in the county has reached 80 percent – - one of the top voter participation rates in the entire United States.

For those last 30 years Republicans have been the chief election’s officer in Thurston County – - two of them – - Sam Reed and Kim Wyman – - have gone on to become Secretary of State and the state’s chief election’s officer.   When Wyman ran for Secretary of State last year she carried Thurston County by more than 22,000 votes.  An over-whelming endorsement of a Republican in a Democratic county.

Democratic chair Erskine said that Republicans hate the fact that “we have 80 percent voter turnout .  They hate the resounding success of our voter turnout in Thurston County.”

All of which have come under Republican auditors who have been at the forefront in encouraging voter turnout.

Erskine is pushing Alexander’s opponent, Mary Hall.

Endorsing Hall, and in essence endorsing Erskine’s rhetoric are Lacey councilmembers Jeff Gadman, Cynthia Pratt and Andy Ryder.

Other local elected officials endorsing Erskine’s remarks are Sandra Romero, Steven Drew, Shawn Myers, Sam Hunt, Pete Kmet, Nicole Hill, Tom Oliva and Jim Cooper.   They all signed an endorsement ad for Mary Hall

All serious candidates have announced and are in the process of gathering support and that usually starts with getting the endorsement of other elected officials.

Most of the local races are non-partisan but you can usually tell who’s a Republican or who’s a Democrat.  All you have to do is look at the list of those who endorse them.  You can also tell by whom they’ve received campaign funds from.    You can do that by going on line to the Public Disclosure Commission’s web page.

It appears to be a lonely campaign this year. There are few declared candidates and many of the incumbents have yet to receive an opponent.

As of now, I can almost predict the outcome of the races this fall, but I’m going to refrain from doing so right yet.

All I can say is that other candidates will come out of the woodwork as we get closer to filing week next week – - May 13-17.  But, for the most part, those are candidates with little hope of getting elected.

Campaigning for public office, while not a full time job, does take considerable time.  When the candidate is not out shaking hands and door belling houses, she has to be meeting people whose opinion counts.

And, she has to be out raising money.  Even a city council race can cost $10,000 or more.

In a few weeks it will be all worked out.  We’ll know which incumbents will get re-elected and which opponents stand a chance to win.

Until then, I’ll see you at one of the kick-off activities.   I’ve already attended one and have three more in the pipeline.

And, I don’t have to contribute a dime for breakfast, if I don’t want to.

But,  just because something is new, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have older sections that need review.

That’s the case with the Lacey Woodland District.  It’s been under review for nearly a year trying to determine if and how this section of the city should re-develop.

For many people, the Woodland District is the city’s downtown.  It encompasses South Sound Center, Fred Meyer and Huntamer Park.  It’s bounded College Street and the west city limits and Pacific Avenue and I-5.

It contains nearly 2.5 million square feet of commercial space, around 350 businesses and about 4800 people  who work in the district.

But, it also has some problems.  Since 2008 and the cutback in state government, it has 240,000 square feet of vacant office space and two of its major buildings are sitting empty.

That’s the situation facing the steering committee which is looking at the future of Lacey’s downtown core.

But, while it has problems, it also has some things going for it that makes it perfect for an Urban Village.

That’s something that planners love – - Urban Villages.  That’s the kind of place that make a planner’s heart sing.  The kind of place they can point to and say – - see – - you too can have an alternative lifestyle – - free from the confines of an automobile.

That’s an Urban Village  and planners love them, so local planners have fallen in love with Lacey’s Woodland District.

It has parks, businesses, jobs, two colleges and an Intercity Transit hub.  It’s perfect for a 21st Century Urban Village.

But, it has some problems.  It doesn’t have many people living in the area and it has too much concrete and asphalt.

So, urban planners have been working for a year to develop a plan which will make the Woodland District something to be proud of and maybe bring a song to your heart as well.

Wednesday night May 8 at 5:30 p.m. at Lacey City Hall, these planners, their consultants and the steering committee will  release their concept of what the Woodland District can become.

Is it destined to be an Urban Village or is it just a concept with no relationship to reality?

Think about it for a minute.  Your taxes, my taxes, should be used to benefit the most people possible, but more significantly, our taxes should only go to do those important things that need to be done.

If you’ve been out of town lately – - here’s the run down.

The City of Olympia wants a million dollars from the state legislature to purchase the old Health Department building and an adjacent building, for the purposes of tearing them down.

The city mothers and fathers think that the buildings distract from the waterfront view and thus need to be demolished in order to create a view corridor from the Capitol to Budd Inlet.

OK – maybe.  But why should taxpayers put up any money for the project when there are other significant needs.

A million dollars will hire a dozen school teachers.  A million dollars will keep eight or ten state troopers on the road.   A million dollars would help keep a state park open full time.

There’s a lot of need that a million dollars could buy.  Giving that money to the City of Olympia to tear down two old buildings so that someone can get a better view of Budd Inlet just doesn’t make any sense.

While this attempt at getting money from government is just the most recent and the most visible, it’s been going on for years.

Both the Hands on Children’s Museum and the Regional Athletic Complex in Lacey were all built with state money.  And, the City of Lacey is looking at getting state funds to build its new Train Depot Museum.  This is echoed throughout the state and isn’t just confined to Olympia and Lacey.

Maybe – - when times are flush and state government has more money than it needs – - then maybe they could use state funds for local projects – - maybe.

But, in this time of austerity, when we’re trying to come up with more money for education and we’re trying to find ways to keep our state parks open – - why are we even considering spending a million dollars to buy and tear down two old buildings?

It just doesn’t make any sense.

Cathers will run for the seat currently held by John Christiansen.  Christiansen has said he wouldn’t seek re-election, but he hasn’t made it final.

In making his announcement Cathers said he has always had an interest in fire protection and emergency management.

Christiansen has been on the fire commission since 2007.

Also up for election this year is the seat currently held by Judy Wilson.  She has not yet indicated whether she will seek re-election.