Montgomery Jumps into the Council Race as a Write-In Candidate Opposing Incumbent Aspen

Nancy Montgomery, current vice chair of the city’s Emergency Preparedness Public Safety Commission, has announced her bid for City Council as a write-in candidate opposing Liz Aspen, who is running for re-election in November.

Montgomery said it was her objection to a letter that Aspen sent out that is the reason for her jumping into the race.

“That letter is what prompted me to run. It was vicious and it was not correct,” Montgomery said in a phone interview Tuesday. “I don’t want her or anyone like her representing me or the community.”

The letter in question was sent to residents in the city by Liz Aspen’s campaign and references a photo that circulated on the Internet showing two men holding their finger in an “L” to their foreheads. Aspen, who has a developmentally disabled son, wrote in the letter that she found the photo to be defamatory to her son (see letter attached to story). In the letter, she claims candidate Al Taylor, who is opposing Scott Hageman in this year’s race, put the photo on his website four years ago when he ran against Aspen.

Taylor denied having put the photo on his website, saying it was on a now-defunct Woodinville blog and that he had nothing to do with the photo ().

Montgomery said she also wants to unseat Aspen because of what she perceives as Aspen’s allegiance to single individuals in the community instead of representing the entire city.

She added that she did consider putting her name forward as a candidate to fill the seat left vacant when , but after seeing the list of people interested in that seat, she was satisfied with the field of candidates. She said she did not launch her campaign before the deadline to file because she thought others would run against Aspen.

“By the time I realized they were not, it was too late,” she said. “It was really that letter that put me over the edge.”

She added that she has been unhappy with Aspen’s performance as a councilmember . “Only 15 percent of Woodinville kids use that facility and now the city is responsible for it.”

Montgomery has lived in Woodinville since 1985 with her husband and two sons. She holds a bachelor’s degree in education from San Jose State University and a master's degree in special education for the deaf and hard of hearing from San Francisco State University. She worked in the Highline Public Schools district and is now office manager for a chiropractic practice in Woodinville.

For more information see her Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/nancymontgomery2011