Edler out, but others may get in Dist. 14 race

YAKIMA -- Yakima Mayor Dave Edler has decided not to run for Rep. Mary Skinner's state House seat, but three Republicans and a Democrat said Tuesday they're considering campaigns of their own.

Edler, a Republican, said he was considering running for the 14th District seat after Skinner announced her retirement plans last week. But he's since decided he has too much going on with the City Council, his family and Yakima Foursquare Church, where he is a senior pastor.

"I just don't feel like being gone a lot is the right thing for me to do in this season of my life," Edler said Tuesday.

His exit from considera-tion coincided with the appearance of four other possible candi-dates. Vickie Ybarra, president of the Yakima school board and director of planning and development for the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic, said she is consid-ering run-ning as a Democrat.

And three Republicans -- former Yakima Council-woman Susan Whitman, former Union Gap School District Superintendent Bob McLaughlin, and former KIMA television news anchor Chris Severy, who now works in local radio news -- announced themselves as prospective candidates Tuesday evening at a county party meeting.

They join Yakima attor-ney Rod Nelson, who last week said he was "very, very interested" in launching a campaign as a Democrat.

Bill Lover, who also attended Tuesday's county Republican Party meeting, said he has not ruled out running but will only do so if he determines that none of the other potential candidates match his conservative values.

Skinner surprised both parties with her retirement announcement last week, only a month after publicly saying she would seek an eighth term in the House. The candidate registration deadline is June 6, which left party officials without much time to recruit candidates. The prospect of an open seat in the 14th District, however, is at least beginning to draw feelers.

* Pat Muir can be reached at 577-7693 or at pmuir@yakimaherald.com.