Orin Wells, a Republican from Kent, announced last week he will oppose King County Councilwoman Julia Patterson, D-SeaTac, in the November general election.
Wells and Patterson are running in the new King County Council District 5, which was created earlier this year after voters approved a ballot measure to reduce the number of council members from 13 to nine.
District 5 includes part of the Highline community.
Wells, a small business owner and independent consultant in Kent for the past 13 years, said as a King County councilman he will "make sure the Elections Department runs properly so that every eligible vote counts.
"A first step would be to require the Elections Department to stop forwarding ballots."
One solution to traffic problems would be to "use transportation dollars efficiently to relieve bottlenecks and improve roads rather than spending billions on a rail system that a small fraction of the people in our district will use," Wells continued.
He also wants to reduce county administrative costs by revising regulations for permits to eliminate "costly processes," and pledged to give open access to his office and phone "to everyone who wants to get their two cents worth in."
Attorney General and former King County Councilman Rob McKenna observed, "Orin Wells is solid and dependable. His common sense should replace the "All for Seattle" mentality of a majority of the current county council."
Beyond his business experience, Wells served as a Scoutmaster for 12 years, and as a young man also earned the rank of Eagle Scout.
In addition, he is a veteran and is "proud to have served" his country.
Wells pledged "to work to keep county expenditures and taxes under control and to work with the administration to make the county work more efficiently and to the benefit of the citizens."
Adding that he offers change "to bring practical solutions to our county government," he said "change is probably not going to happen if we send the same representatives back to the council hoping for something different."
