Voters in Valley Medical Center’s Public Hospital District 1 decided to go a new direction by picking challenger Aaron Heide over incumbent Mike Miller for Commissioner Position No. 4.
As of Friday, Heide had 26,628 votes (53.14 percent) and Miller had 23,291 votes (46.48 percent) in the Nov. 3 election. The race had been too close to call in the early returns. King County election officials will continue to release results at 4:30 p.m. each weekday until final results are posted Nov. 24.
“I think it is a good thing for the people of Public Hospital District 1,” Heide said in an e-mail Nov. 11. “I feel that many people who have felt they may have not had a voice have spoken.”
Located in Renton, Valley Medical Center’s service area includes the cities of Kent, Renton, two-thirds of Tukwila, and portions of Auburn, Black Diamond, Covington, Federal Way, Maple Valley, Newcastle and South Seattle.
Heide is a neurologist at Washington’s Center for Health & Wellness in Renton and former head of Valley Medical Center’s Stroke Center. This is his first run for an elected office.
“I believe that the success of my campaign despite enormous odds should send a message to existing board members that the people of Public Hospital District 1 want a change of attitude and to have a better stewardship of their money,” Heide wrote. “And if they don’t, at the next election cycle, they likely will be replaced.”
Miller, a senior vice president of Valley Bank in Kent, served on the hospital board since 1996.
“It’s over,” Miller said in a phone interview Thursday. “We’ll be watching Dr. Heide’s agenda closely.”
Miller raised $67,000 for the race, according to the latest Public Disclosure Commission reports. Heide, also a Kent resident, raised $11,000.
“I find it ironic that the voters voted in a physician who was not supported by medical groups and who has not attended one board meeting,” said Miller, who then added he did not want to make any further comment about the election.
Associated Emergency Physicians of Kent, Valley Radiologists of Federal Way and Valley Anesthesia Associates of Bellevue were among the groups that donated as much as $10,000 to $12,000 to Miller’s campaign.
“I was pleased to see that voters could see through blind endorsements and outrageous sums of money spent on a non-paid position to support a candidate who truly has the patient’s interests as the main focus,” Heide wrote.
During the campaign, Heide criticized Miller for sitting on the board when Rich Roodman, chief executive officer of Valley Medical Center, had to pay a fine of $120,000 in 2007 to the Public Disclosure Commission. The PDC penalized Roodman for campaign violations of using public money to pay for political consultants for Valley Medical Center during a 2006 annexation election and a 2005 property tax increase election.
“I believe that I won from a combination of dedicated believers in what I could bring to the table by having a physician representative on the board along with voter disgust for the disdain that long-standing board members seem to have had regarding the misuse of public money,” Heide wrote.
Starting in January, Heide will serve a six-year term on the five-member board that governs Public Hospital District No. 1.
“Even though I was successful in my individual campaign, I believe that the views of having an open and accountable board are still in the minority,” Heide wrote. “My initial goals will be to extend an open invitation to the existing board members that I am willing to work with them to represent the people of our hospital district.”
Public Hospital District 1 results
Commissioner Position No. 4
Mike Miller 23,291 votes (46.48 percent)
Aaron Heide 26,628 votes (53.14 percent)
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