Coppola redux

With the announcement of former Port Orchard Lary Coppola’s entry into the Kitsap County Commissioner’s race in the closing minutes of filing week local politicking took a step up. A well rehearsed move, obvious to some, to gain media attention as the “last minute candidate” while claiming to be pulled into the election by request. Whether or not the former mayor turns into a perennial candidate or wins the race next November, he thinks enough of his skill set and political fortunes to run twice in the same year for two different offices  and turn the possibility of perennialism into a biannual one. Coppola’s losing one race and quickly focusing elsewhere for another office, mirrors Bremerton Mayor Patty Lent, who took the city’s head office by besting former Bremerton City Council president Will Maupin during the next available election cycle after losing her seat on the Board of County Commissioners in that year’s 3rd District primary. It’s also no surprise.The the new editor of Coppola’s local business publication took over a few months back and he promised to bring political reporting to a business-boosting journal. Coppola himself started taking shots at his now-opponents a few weeks ago. In an April 3 piece published in his business publication, Coppola called BOCC candidate Linda Simpson “clueless” in her previous candidacy for state office and said she would likely get a “sympathy vote” during this election because she lost part of her leg in an accident. There is also a foretelling of Coppola’s move to enter the race, in the same column, as he parsed the socioeconomics of South Kitsap by aligning current Dist. 2 commissioner Charlotte Garrido’s interests and actions with the Seattle liberal crowd living in Kitsap County’s 206. Unless another challenger steps in, he said, Bainbridge Democrats will keep Gorrido in office. The next few month should prove to be interesting as Coppola uses his publishing advantage to try and reclaim public office.