Write-In Candidates Win Sagle Fire District Posts

Two write-in candidates won seats on the Sagle Fire District Commission in an unusually large election turnout Tuesday.

Skip Pucci and Esther Gilchrist waged a last-minute write-in campaign against Edgar Steele and Lorri Allen.

Pucci, a longtime Sagle resident, beat out Steele with 478 votes to Steele’s 362 votes, according to unofficial results.

Gilchrist squeaked by commission incumbent Allen with 408 votes to Allen’s 385. More than 870 ballots were cast, with some discarded as spoiled ballots, according to election judge Jackie Buck.

The Sagle fire commissioner elections usually only draw 50 or so voters, but this election featured Steele - an outspoken critic of local government entities.

Gilchrist said Steele galvanized the electorate, but it didn’t work in his favor.

Gilchrist and Pucci sent voters stickers with their names printed on them to use on the ballot. Buck said about half the voters who cast votes for Gilchrist and Pucci used the stickers.

Gilchrist said she heard that one voter wrote in “Sen. Shawn Keough’s Mom - I don’t know her name.”

“They disallowed it. I don’t know why,” laughed Gilchrist, Keough’s mother. “She only has one mother.”

Steele and Allen campaigned as watchdogs of district tax dollars. In a flier distributed last weekend, Steele accused firefighters of using district tax dollars to campaign against him.

Firefighters deny it and Gilchrist said the accusation was ridiculous - partly because the commissioners had to approve any expenditures of district monies.

“I got individual contributions from firefighters,” Gilchrist said. “It’s just Edgar’s usual style.”

Steele, a Sagle attorney, gained notoriety for publishing a tabloid last election accusing county officials of wrongdoing. More recently, he made the news by taking on Aryan Nations leader Richard Butler as a client.

Steele was not available for comment Wednesday.

Gilchrist also said she heard that some voters were concerned that she and Pucci would raise taxes.

“Our agenda is we’re going to get the most bang for our buck,” she said. “I’m also a taxpayer. I’m on social security. Don’t you think I’m concerned about expenses?”