Niles disputes Stuebe’s ‘smear campaign’ accusation

Terri Niles, the Democratic candidate who ran against Republican candidate and Washougal Mayor David Stuebe for the 17th Legislative District Position 2 seat during the Nov. 5 general election, is setting the record straight on a comment Stuebe made to The Post-Record earlier this month.

“My campaign did not run a smear campaign against him,” Niles told The Post-Record Monday. “My entire campaign was about the issues that matter most in this district.”

Niles said she felt like she needed to respond to accusations Stuebe made earlier this month, when he told a Post-Record reporter that he believed his “opponent’s side is (looking) for anything to run a smear campaign.”

Stuebe was responding to a comment by a Camas resident questioning the Stuebe’s position as a nonpartisan mayor after learning that Stuebe had directed local voters to deposit their ballots at “a conservative-leaning” homeschool resource center in Vancouver instead of depositing them in an official ballot drop box, taking them to the county’s elections office or mailing them using the United States Postal Service (USPS).

“People are getting desperate and ugly and divisive, and this is a plot,” Stuebe told The Post-Record earlier this month. “Any time they can find a little something on me, they blow it out of proportion and lie about it, just trying to cause an issue.”

Niles, a longtime intensive care unit (ICU) nurse from Vancouver, said she was dismayed to find out her opponent had accused her of running a “smear campaign” and said she remained focused on the issues that would most impact constituents in the 17th Legislative District, which includes the cities of Camas and Washougal.

“I ran a really ethical, honest campaign, talking about issues that matter to people,” Niles said. “I”m sorry that my opponent feels that that was a smear campaign.”

The Post-Record asked Stuebe for specific examples of what Niles’ campaign had done that might be considered a “smear” against the mayor, but Stuebe said he would prefer to “move forward and bring Americans together.”

“I want to solve problems instead of creating problems,” Stuebe added.

Ballot box attack in 17th District damaged hundreds of ballots

Niles, who is currently trailing Stuebe by about 820 votes, said she was disheartened by the burning of ballots at the Fisher’s Landing ballot box in Vancouver — a box Niles said was located in “one of the most Democratic neighborhoods in the 17th Legislative District.”

“I’ve spent the last week sick over the whole thing,” Niles said of the attack on the Vancouver ballot box, which resulted in hundreds of burned and damaged ballots and an unknown number of ballots that were completely destroyed. “If I were to go to the Legislature, I would want to do something to secure the ballot boxes.”

Niles said, as a healthcare professional, she has always been “very mindful of protecting people and righting injustices.”

The ballot box attack prompted that same instinct in Niles.

“We know the extreme right wants to get rid of mail-in voting. I want us to maintain the most inclusive form of mail-in voting we can,” Niles said. “Moving forward, if I were in the Legislature, I would say, ‘We have to do something about this.’”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the person responsible for setting incendiary fires at ballot drop boxes in Vancouver and Portland.

A surveillance camera captured images of the suspect at the Fisher’s Landing ballot box during the early morning hours of Oct. 28.

According to the FBI, the suspect was driving an early 2003 to 2004 Volvo S-60 dark-colored sedan with dark wheels and a light-color interior. The suspect is described as a White male between 30 and 40 years old with thinning hair, who may have experience with metalwork and welding.

People who have information about the ballot box fires are asked to call their nearest FBI office, submit information online at tips.fbi.gov or call 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324).

Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey told The Post-Record this week that elections officials were able to identify the remnants of 494 ballots in the burned Fisher’s Landing ballot drop box and could identify 488 voters connected to those ballots.

“Of the 488 voters we could identify, every one had a ballot included in this year’s general election,” Kimsey said. “We (also) heard from others whose ballots were destroyed.”

Kimsey said it is still unclear how many ballots may have burned completely in the ballot box.

“Because they were destroyed, it is difficult to make any estimate of that at all,” he said, adding that he is hopeful the actions Clark County elections officials took after the ballot box fire — including an increased police presence at certain ballot drop boxes and removing ballots earlier in the evening “caused people to have confidence that their ballots would be delivered to the elections office.”

Kimsey said he views the ballot box fires as a “direct attack on democracy.”

He encouraged voters to track the status of their ballots by checking with their county elections office or visiting votewa.gov.

Clark County is scheduled to certify the Nov. 5 general election results on Tuesday, Nov. 26.