PATRIOT BREMERTON
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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2014 | Vol. 17, No. 38 | WWW.BREMERTONPATRIOT.COM | 50¢
Wolfe takes lead in race for county commission
BPD cop is subject of internal investigation
TOO CLOSE TO CALL
Officer is on leave pending look into his ‘truthfulness’
Streissguth trails by more than 1,000 votes in first tally on election night
BY KEVAN MOORE KMOORE@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
BY CHRIS TUCKER CTUCKER@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
The initial tally of votes for the Kitsap County Commission race for District 3 shows Republican Ed Wolfe leading his Democratic opponent, Linda Streissguth, by 1,021 votes — two percent of the votes cast so far. Wolfe had 26,827 votes, or 50.9 percent of the total. Streissguth had 25,806 votes, or 48.9 percent. About 70 Democrats gathered in Silverdale peered at their cell phones or looked at election web pages projected onto the wall as initial results came in around 8:15 p.m. Tuesday night. “If I had nails, I’d be biting them,” Streissguth joked. Katherine Woods, chair of the Kitsap County Democratic Central Committee, wasn’t willing to throw in the towel. “This is nowhere near the end,” Woods told the crowd. “All the results you saw tonight are ballots received as of yesterday,” she added. “So, this doesn’t include anyone who mailed in
Kevan Moore / staff photo
Tina Robinson, a Republican candidate for Kitsap County Prosecutor, trails incumbent Russ Hauge by just 214 votes following initial returns on election night. “It’s not over,” she told a supporter. “Don’t give up on me.”
Hauge takes slight lead in prosecutor race BY KEVAN MOORE
KMOORE@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
On a night in which Republicans rolled to victories in several races in Kitsap County, longtime prosecutor Russ Hauge, a Democrat, may have just held on. The results, though, are far from definitive. Initial returns show Hauge leading Republican challenger Tina Robinson by 214 votes — 26,460 for Hauge, 26,246 for Robinson. At an election party on the third floor of the Kitsap Conference Center in downtown Bremerton,
Robinson said she isn’t giving up. “It’s not over,” Robinson told a supporter shortly after the results were posted on the county auditor’s website. “Don’t give up on me.” Robinson acknowledged she was nervous prior to the early returns being posted, but said the closeness of the race had a calming effect. “In the beginning of this, everybody was, ‘Anybody, but Hague,’” Robinson added. “As time went on, people went away from [thinking] I was just ‘Anybody, but Hauge’ and started believing I was really the right person when they had an opportunity to actu-
ally meet me and talk to me. And I did a lot of speaking engagements and forums, which are just one-minute soundbites and you can’t really do anything with that. But, people actually took the time to let me come in and sit and talk and they were convinced I was the right person for the job.” Robinson said she felt like she could not have done anything more in her campaign to convince voters that she was the best candidate for the job. She said she will, like the rest of the county, await the next round of vote tallies. SEE HAUGE, A9
A Bremerton police officer is on administrative leave pending an internal investigation by the department. The Bremerton Patriot has learned that the officer in question is Lawrence Green. Bremerton Police Chief Steve Strachan confirmed Nov. 4 that an internal affairs investigation is underway, but would not name the officer. “An officer is on administrative leave and we’re conducting an IA as we speak,” Strachan said. “I think that’s about all I can tell you.” Strachan said he was reluctant to go any further because the investigation is not complete. “I’m hesitant to get into that,” Strachan said. “The only reason I’m hesitant to do that is I don’t want to characterize anything one way or the other because the investigation is to determine what happened and we don’t know either way.” Kitsap County Prosecutor Russ Hauge said he was informed about the investigation, but has very little information about it at this point. “We do have notice of an
SEE WOLFE, A9
SEE BPD, A9
Leaders hear pitch from Kitsap Transit for fast foot ferry service BY LESLIE KELLY LKELLY@SOUNDPUBLISHING.COM
More than 100 civic, business and political leaders from across Kitsap County ate crispy spring rolls, fiery mongolian meatballs and drank red wine while they listened to a pitch to bring back fast foot ferry service to Bremerton, Kingston and Southworth.
The Oct. 29 meeting at the Kitsap Conference Center was an invitationonly event sponsored by Kitsap Transit. Consultants from KPFF Consulting Engineers, who were hired last April at a cost of $300,000 to prepare a comprehensive business plan and long-range strategy, told the crowd that their attendance that evening was
an indication of the interest in a fast foot ferry. “That shows you’re very interested and want to make this work,” said Mike Anderson, who consulted on the plan. Anderson, the former Washington State ferries director, said his company often conducts feasibility studies around the country and sometimes recom-
mends against ferry service. “We’re not saying that here at all,” he said. “It’s something you should really go for.” The consultant team recommended that the routes from Kitsap County to Seattle be phased in. Routes include from Bremerton to Seattle, Kingston to Seattle and Southworth to Seattle. Each would run about 30 to
35 minutes and Anderson suggested at least three roundtrips from each location during the morning and afternoon commutes. Anderson also said that Kitsap Transit should own the service and contract with King County that already operates foot ferry routes to run it. According to information handed out at the meeting,
costs are expected to be $44 million to set up the Kitsap Transit service and about $8 million a year to run it. The upfront costs would be paid from mostly federal transportation grants. Operation costs would need to come from local sales or excise taxes and would require a voter-approved operating SEE FERRIES, A9