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Hansen holding his Vancouver City Council seat

By Andrea Damewood
Published: November 3, 2010, 12:00am

It looks as if Vancouver City Councilor Bart Hansen will keep his seat for at least one more year: Incomplete returns Tuesday showed Hansen leading his challenger, John Jenkins, for Position 4 on the city council.

Results showed Hansen leading by 52.87 percent to 46.53 percent. The next results will be available today after 5 p.m.

Hansen, celebrating with his wife and supporters at Clark College, said he was “very excited” by the results, but wasn’t ready to claim victory until the final votes are tallied.

Hansen was appointed to the city council in February to fill Mayor Tim Leavitt’s vacated seat. He will have to run again next November, when Leavitt’s original city council term was to have expired.

Both Jenkins and Hansen have said they plan to run again.

Hansen, 35, is the father of two young children and office services manager at Clark Public Utilities. He ran a campaign based on fighting any cuts to the city’s public safety services.

The city council passed a budget Monday that included $9.1 million in cuts, including the closure of Fire Station 6 on Northeast 112th Avenue, with Hansen as the dissenting vote.

“I’m going to continue fighting for public safety and the core essential services that I mentioned in my campaign,” he said. “I think that resounded with the voters.”

Jenkins, 56, ran on a platform largely against tolling on the Columbia River Crossing, over which, as a single vote among seven on a city council that has no official authority over tolling, he would have only a passing influence.

He also said he would be a staunch voice for those who elected him, and also said the city’s cuts to public safety were wrong. He received campaign funds from David Madore and his political action committee, NoTolls.com, as well as support from the Building Industry Association of Clark County.

Hansen took large donations from the Vancouver Firefighters Union, Ed and the late Dollie Lynch and the Southwest Washington Electricians political action committee.

Jenkins and Hansen have a history as opponents; both lost in the 2009 primary to Jack Burkman and Bill Turlay for a general election bid for retired Councilor Pat Jollota’s seat. Burkman won that race.

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