The Olympian endorses these candidates for Lacey City Council

Lacey has four city council positions on the ballot this year. Two are incumbents who are unopposed. One is Mayor Andy Ryder, who is capable and popular, but who oddly did not submit a photo or any other information for the Voters’ Pamphlet. The other is Michael Steadman, who has been on the council since 2013.

Carolyn Cox, who also is an incumbent, is opposed by Felix Peguero-Reyes.

Cox is finishing her first term, and served on the Lacey Planning Commission before her election. She now chairs the Intercity Transit Authority board, and represents Lacey on several other regional boards and committees dealing with housing, planning, climate change and social services.

She co-founded the Regional Housing Council and helped write the county’s Climate Mitigation Plan. She also successfully pushed for transit service to northeast Lacey, and a septic-to-sewer program to protect groundwater from pollution. She is a voice of reason for responding to homelessness and public safety.

Cox has strengthened Lacey’s role in county-wide efforts to solve regional problems such as transportation, housing, growth management and planning. She is calm, practical, well-informed and a strong leader.

Felix Peguero-Reyes has led the Lacey Chamber of Commerce and local Rotary Club, but he has no experience with any city advisory body. Most first-time candidates spend time researching issues before the city; he has not. His low-energy editorial board interview leads us to conclude that he is both unqualified and unmotivated.

We endorse Carolyn Cox.

Robin Vasquez and Emma McSharry are running for an open seat.

Vasquez is a former labor negotiator and now a workforce planning and strategy chief for the state of Washington with degrees in public administration, political science and Spanish. She has served on the Lacey Planning Commission. She appreciates Lacey’s large military and veteran population, which she says contributes to it being “the most patriotic city” in the region. She also values its small-town feel and thinks its parks system is better than Olympia’s.

She wants to tackle transportation, climate, equity and housing issues. She is especially concerned about rising housing costs, and worries about people who are on the edge of homelessness. She strongly supports the Regional Housing Council, a county-wide collaboration of local governments. Her support for creation of a county-wide home fund is tempered by her concern that the tax itself is regressive.

She is smart, energetic, family-oriented, and familiar with what it takes to negotiate thoughtful policies that guide positive change.

Emma McSharry is energetic and driven. She owns a hair salon in Lacey but, like Peguero, has no city government experience. Her explanations of her positions show she has done little research to deepen her understanding of the issues or the policy-making responsibilities of city council members.

Both Peguero and McSharry are endorsed by Lenny Greenstein and Ed Kunkel, the two most conservative members of the Lacey City Council. We understand that a significant part of the Lacey electorate leans conservative, but those voters deserve to be represented by candidates who are better informed, better prepared, and more committed to practical solutions than simplistic rhetoric.

We endorse Robin Vasquez.

This story was originally published October 14, 2021 at 5:00 AM.