Saturday, June 20, 2015 • The South Whidbey Record
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Langley mayoral candidates hit the streets for campaigns By BEN WATANABE South Whidbey Record Door-to-door visits, handshakes, public forums and a few signs are the campaign pursuits of the three Langley mayoral candidates: Tim Callison, Sharon Emerson and Thomas Gill. Combined, their campaign budgets likely won’t reach the individual threshold for the Washington Public Disclosure Commission’s reporting minimum of $5,000. No need for big money on billboards or skywriting, they said. Instead, they’re relying on face-to-face introductions and word of mouth to let the less than 1,000 registered voters of Langley know who they are as candidates and what they want to accomplish if elected as the city’s top administrator. Signs will be the largest public presence of an election in town, other than word of mouth. Emerson ordered the most with 75 signs, and Callison and Gill each ordering 50. All three candidates registered on the first day of Island County’s elections filing week, and have been busy with their campaign strategies since mid-May. Callison, a relative newcomer to Langley, was the first to make his announcement as a mayoral candidate. The former business executive registered alongside his wife, Langley City Councilwoman Robin Black. “I had to get out early because my name wasn’t as well known,” he said in his Second Street home Thursday morning. At the entry points to town, some of the first political signs people see are the red and black letters of “Tim Callison the Sound Choice for Mayor.” Arching over the text is a whale fluke up high like one of the visiting gray whales as it dives. Callison has only a handful of signs he has yet to place after hosting a campaign kickoff party Tuesday afternoon at his home. He originally planned for it to be at Callahan’s Firehouse on Second Street but relocated after concerns were raised about the negotiation process involving the sale of the cityowned building and property. In all, Callison said he expects to spend no more than $2,500 on the campaign, which he said includes any expenses if he were to advance from the Aug. 4 primary election. While Callison was first to have his signs up, Emerson was first to hit the pavement. The Sixth Street resident
Thomas Gill and business owner has been busy walking door-todoor around Langley, to date knocking on a quarter of Langley’s doors and speaking with anyone who has questions about who she is and why she is running for mayor. “I want people to know what I stand for,” she said. “People want to look the candidate eye to eye,” she added. Most of her signs already pepper the town at any home willing to have one, she said. Having not run for an elected office before, Emerson said she did not have any strategy as to where she was placing or hoping to place the signs. She was not expecting to come anywhere close to the $5,000 public disclosure finance limit, but she said most of what she’s spent has been self-financed. Her blue signs with white lettering include the slogan “Looking out for Langley,” complete with a rabbit’s silhouette standing stout and alert. That motto has already proven true to some, as Emerson went door to door to inform residents of the city’s public workshop on its marina access improvement projects. Some in town were livid over pamphlets she had printed and distributed that said it was a chance for residents to vote on the funicular/elevator, which was not
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Sharon Emerson, a candidate for Langley mayor, holds one of her campaign signs. City Hall’s intent for the meeting. Others were upset that the seemingly informative handbill referred to some of the projects as an “expensive circus attraction.” All the same, she gained valuable experience in knocking on her neighbors’ and fellow Langley residents’ doors. “Doing it showed me this really is a small town,” she said. Gill, who has served on the city council for two years, has yet to put up his signs after only recently ordering them. The delay, he said, is because it took him a while to find a company to make them for the price he wanted. Relying on a campaign finance budget of $1,000 at most, Gill said his contributions are coming from family, business supporters, friends and his own pocketbook. “It took me a long time to find a place I could afford,” Gill said. Gill’s message and logo
are already published on his website. Featuring a red, white and blue star, it says, “Thomas E. Gill for Langley Mayor” with the slogan “The Experience We Need” underscoring it with his web address, thomas4mayor.com also printed. Aided by a team of six, including both of his parents, his campaigning will begin in earnest soon enough. Gill said he plans to go door to door to speak with residents, and he’s been happy to chat with anyone who has questions at the grocery store, getting coffee or having a meal downtown. “If you have questions, ask me,” Gill said. “I have no agenda. I don’t own property in Langley to develop, I don’t have a vested interest in some other entity getting their way. I’m here to work for the people and ensure the city of Langley is the city I grew up with and will be viable for the future.”
Ben Watanabe / The Record
Tim Callison shows off his campaign sign outside his Second Street home. To date, all three candidates made their first public appearance together at the June 10 forum hosted by the Langley Chamber of Commerce. Upon invitation, Gill and Callison spoke to some residents during different days at the Edgecliff neighborhood coffee meeting, and Emerson is scheduled to attend June 25. All three candidates created web pages for their campaigns. Emerson and Callison
have been diligent posters of city news and happenings, and both are regular attendees of city council meetings. Gill, as a councilman, is also present for council meetings but does not post about government goings-on to his site. One of the last opportunities residents have to hear from all three candidates is a July 9 forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of Whidbey Island.
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