King County Elections Update: Bellevue School Board's Betsy Johnson Draws Challenger; Former Bellevue Councilwoman Bonincontri Challenges Hague

Bellevue parent Steve McConnell has filed to run against Bellevue School Board member Betsy Johnson, in director district number 1.

Johnson, a Medina resident, was appointed to the school board May 2010 to fill the position vacated by Judy Bushnell, according to the Bellevue School District website.

McConnell, according to his website at http://steve4schools.org/, is a software engineer and chief executive officer of Construx Software.

Former Bellevue City Councilwoman Patsy Bonincontri also filed to run against Metropolitan King County Councilwoman Jane Hague. She joins a field that already includes Richard E. Mitchell of Mercer Island and John Creighton of Kirkland.

The deadline to file for election in King County is 4:30 p.m. Friday (June 10). Those who have filed so far are:

Bellevue City Council

Position 1

• no candidate yet

Position 3

• John Chelminiak

Position 5

• Claudia Balducci

Position 7

• Jennifer Robertson

Bellevue School District

Director District 1

• Betsy Johnson
• Steve McConnell

Director District 2

• Christine Chew

Director District 4

• Michael F. Murphy

Metropolitan King County Council

District 6

• Patsy Bonincontri
• John Creighton
• Jane Hague
• Richard E. Mitchell

Bellevue positions that are up for election this year are:

Bellevue City Council positions 1, 3, 5 and 7; Bellevue School Board director districts 1, 2 and 4; Metropolitan King, County Council District No. 6

Several candidates already have formally launched their campaigns, including , , and . Balducci and the other Bellevue City Council incumbent, Grant Degginger, have also started raising money, according to the Public Disclosure Commission.

Bellevue residents Aaron Laing and Patricia Mann also have launched campaigns for city council, though they have not declared which seats they will challenge.