Puyallup needs new leader as sun sets on COVID. Here’s our pick for open City Council seat
With the worst of COVID-19 behind us, Pierce County’s third-largest city is in the midst of a reawakening. Live music recently returned to the Puyallup Farmers Market. Excitement is building for thousands of visitors to “Do the Puyallup,” a big relief after last summer’s historic shutdown of the Washington State Fairgrounds.
And don’t underestimate the value of an election to bring fresh energy to local government.
Three Puyallup City Council seats are on the ballot this year. One is uncontested; another features two candidates who will advance to a November runoff. But voters must choose from three people vying for an open council position in the Aug. 3 primary.
For District 2, Position 2, the News Tribune Editorial Board endorses Joe Colombo to replace council member Cyndi Jacobsen. After winning election to the state House last year, Jacobsen wisely opted to forgo a bid for a second council term.
Colombo is running against Davida Haygood and Dennis King; all three met with us for a joint interview.
Colombo stands out with an impressive attention to detail. While his draft proposal for a city Equity and Ethics Commission may be driven by the heart, he’s obviously spent a lot of time thinking it through.
Among other issues, Colombo, 49, has delved into the affordable housing crisis and laid out ideas on how to achieve “functional zero homelessness.” The city’s experiment with a hotel-based shelter is laudable but unsustainable in the long term, he told us.
An insurance company information technology manager, Colombo has also volunteered as a consumer credit counselor. That could give him insight on city budget/debt issues, including plans for a new $82.7 million public safety building on South Hill.
King, 40, is easily the most conservative pick for District 2. He enjoys name recognition thanks to his Kiwanis ties and ownership of Skate Tiffany’s, a 50-year family business.
We respect King’s resilience after a fire last year closed much of his funplex. But his veiled answers and stock references to “Seattle style politics” gave us pause.
Haygood, 43, has priorities and a record of civic service similar to Colombo. Both have served on the city’s Design Review & Historic Preservation Board. Both launched progressive activist groups focused on diversity and giving voice to marginalized people. (His is Indivisible Puyallup; hers is the Two-Way Racial Healing Project.) And both have pressed the city to create an Equity and Ethics Commission.
What Haygood alone offers is something that would greatly benefit the City Council: her lived experience as a Black woman. Having no people of color in elected city office is a pervasive problem not just in Puyallup but across much of East Pierce County.
Haygood is a Pierce College administrator with an admirable record of developing future teachers. Her tenacity for confronting social injustice and hatred is unmatched, such as bringing light this year to a racist statue on a local resident’s property.
But there’s one fatal flaw in her candidacy: She hasn’t lived in District 2 for the minimum one year required by state law.
Some might think this is a technicality, considering she came to Puyallup in 2008 and temporarily lived less than a mile outside District 2 before moving inside the boundary in April.
But the law is the law, and voters shouldn’t risk a Haygood victory being challenged in court — nor should anyone want to cut corners at a time when election fraud allegations have poisoned American politics.
Frankly, it’s outrageous that Haygood made it this far when she was clearly identified as ineligible. State leaders should give county election officials more authority to root out such lapses. They owe it to voters not to sow confusion or leave the integrity of votes to chance.
We believe Puyallup would be well served by Joe Colombo, and that a ballot cast for him would uphold election law.
News Tribune election endorsements reflect the views of our Editorial Board and are written by opinion editor Matt Misterek. Other board members are: Stephanie Pedersen, News Tribune president and editor; Matt Driscoll, local columnist; Jim Walton, community representative; and Pamela Transue, a community representative who serves during election season. The Editorial Board operates independently from the newsroom and does not influence the work of news reporting and editing staffs. We do not endorse any candidates who do not interview with us. For questions, email matt.misterek@thenewstribune.com
This story was originally published July 9, 2021 at 5:00 AM.