Wednesday, November 11, 2009

New councilor critical of voter turnout


By TONY EVANS
Express Staff Writer

Bellevue's newest city councilman, Dave Hattula, called the town's 14 percent voter turnout in the Nov. 3 election "pathetic."

"How the city is run affects your life every day," he said. "People need to know that their voice counts. People who worked on the recent animal ordinance know this. They came to thank the council for allowing input."

Hattula won the most votes in a four-way race for three council seats. Hattula received 100 votes, incumbent Brett Gelskey 93 votes and incumbent Gene Ramsey 90 votes.

Hattula ran on a campaign promise of getting more Bellevue residents involved in city government, including the enlistment of volunteers to address some of the city's needs.

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"I had a grassroots campaign, so you didn't see a lot of signs around Bellevue," said Hattula, who enlisted family and friends to get the word out about his candidacy. "Ketchum candidate Lee Chubb told me, 'You seem to be having a gentleman's race down there in Bellevue.'"

Hattula said his campaign was helped by participating in a question-and-answer article in the Mountain Express before the election.

"Gene Ramsey didn't answer the questions at all, and Brett Gelskey only answered some of them. I'm not sure why."

Tony Evans: tevans@mtexpress.com




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