I’ve been irked of late by the claims of Stephanie O’Day that she is protecting islanders and is more local and knowledgeable about our island challenges. Having known of her through my career as an environmental engineer and scientist in San Juan County, the Stephanie O’Day I’ve known in the community and in the papers is an attorney that routinely fought against state and local land use laws meant to protect our delicate island ecosystems. How is that protecting our communities and quality of life?

Often campaign donations are used as a surrogate for a candidate’s electability and to understand who wants them in office. Are they supported by local residents, middle class families or outside wealthy investors looking to ride a prosperity wave or gain favor with local officials? Fortunately, we live in a world where election donation statistics are still freely available. Here are a few you may want to think about.

As of September 26th Kari McVeigh had 140 campaign contributors for a total election fund of $27,607. County registered voters accounted for 88% of those contributing to McVeigh’s election and for 83% of her campaign fund.

In contrast O’Day had 81 campaign contributors and had raised well over double McVeigh totaling $62,747. Of this, County registered voters had contributed only 46% of O’Day’s campaign fund. Not even half.

It is also telling that 37 contributors, which is 46% of O’Days contributors, gave $1000 or more. McVeigh had only eight such contributors. Moreover, the average contribution to McVeigh was only $197 versus $784 for O’Day. Do we really want wealthy contributors that are not registered to vote in our county deciding the results of our election?

You may ask yourself who’s really protecting the “Island Way of Life”. Who is representing islanders in this election and who should islanders trust?

All statistics are sourced from the Public Disclosure Commission web site (https://www.pdc.wa.gov) and San Juan County’s Official Voter Registry (https://www.sanjuancountywa.gov/1221/Elections-Office).

Amanda Azous,

San Juan Island