Lent to seek CK commissioner post

Patty Lent of Bremerton announced her candidacy for the county commissioner seat currently occupied by Tim Botkin on Tuesday, Feb. 26.

Lent, a travel consultant at Carlson Wagonlit Travel in Silverdale, will seek the Republican nomination for the District 3 commissioner position.

Lent said she was first asked to run during a meeting of local Republicans in the summer of 2001.

“I am an unbiased candidate,” Lent said Thursday, Feb. 28. “As a citizen living in the community since 1988, I can work with the law and put all the information together to make a decision that doesn’t have bias for anyone involved in that decision.”

She said she first became involved in politics when she advocated for incorporation of the King County city of SeaTac in the mid-1980s. She also served on a rezoning board for two years and volunteered to work on several school levies.

If elected, she promised to listen to people and “find ways to spend their tax dollars in the entire county that benefits all the citizens.

“I don’t want to do things that will increase taxes,” Lent said. “If we can spend wisely, then we don’t have to increase tax dollars.”

Lent is a member of the Bremerton Central Lions Club, the Zumwalt Guild of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the Navy League. She has helped organize the Armed Forces Day Parade, worked on a membership drive for the Bremerton Area Chamber of Commerce and serves as a board advisor for the West Sound Technical Skills Center’s travel and tourism department.

She said she currently is studying the issues facing the county in preparation for the campaign. The primary election is scheduled for Sept. 17.

She said she announced her candidacy early to get her name out to the community.

“If you want to be a leader, you have to be first,” said Lent, who has five children and eight grandchildren. She is married to Doug Lent.

She said she has a number of goals, including to provide incentives for businesses to move into currently unoccupied buildings along Wheaton Way. She also hopes to save money by cutting back on environmental and growth management studies — the county should use previously funded studies, Lent said.

Botkin said he currently is pondering a re-election bid, but has not yet made an official announcement.

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