Mason Democrats nominate Roslynne Reed over Tim Sheldon

• Published May 22, 2008

Mason County Democrats snubbed party maverick Tim Sheldon again, voting last night in a special nominating convention of precinct committee officers to endorse party chairwoman Roslynne Reed for Sheldon’s county commissioner seat in district 2.

The Democrats’ PCOs also voted in a special meeting in Belfair to nominate county commissioner Lynda Ring-Erickson over Democratic challenger Richard Ryan for the district 1 position.

Neither endorsement affects who gets onto the Aug. 19 primary ballot. But Democrats statewide have opted to hold nominating conventions in the hope of preserving legal rights for a future challenge against the state’s new top-two runoff primary that debuts on Aug. 19.

That primary, approved by voters in 2004 but barred from use until this year by federal court challenges, lets the top two vote getters move to the November ballot, even if they are from the same party. The ballot will identify the candidate's party preference but not which candidate is the party nominee.

County Democrats released this statement from Reed in a news release sent late last evening: “I think it shows the Democratic Party is behind my candidacy and I appreciate that. I will work hard for all Mason County residents.”

Sheldon, who serves in the state Senate as a Democrat, won election to the commission in 2004 as an Independent and is running for re-election as a Democrat. He had predicted he would not win, saying earlier this week that many PCOs in the district were contributors to Reed’s campaign and that it could boomerang in his favor with voters.

“People understand it’s party politics,” he said, noting to his years-long differences with Mason County Democrats. He said his voting record on the commission has been similar to Ring-Erickson’s.

The vote was 10 to 1 for Reed over Sheldon, who is a PCO and planned to vote for himself. Using a weighted formula to reflect Democratic turnout in the February presidential caucuses, the vote was 59-1 for Reed.

In the other race, the vote was 5 to 0 for Ring-Erickson over Ryan, or 33-0 using the formula.

In-person filing for office is June 2-6.