Zellinsky switches parties for Senate bid
Gina Binole — Mar 29th, 1996
The field for candidates vying for the 23rd district
senate seat continues to grow.
By Gina Binole
Former state Rep. Paul Zellinsky said he's ready to return to politics.
But after 12 years in the House of Representatives, he's making a bid for the 23rd District Senate seat now held by Betti Sheldon. And after a longtime tenure as a Democrat, the 63-year-old Bremerton businessman formally announced Thursday he will run on the GOP ballot.
Zellinsky, who lost his House seat to Poulsbo Republican Rep. Steve Hargrove in 1994, said he felt the Democratic Party has moved to the left, while his views have remained more moderate.
"I thought, hey, this just doesn't work for Paul," he said. He began attending Kitsap Mainstream Republican meetings about a year ago.
While in the Statehouse, he sometimes sided with his GOP counterparts while a Democrat. For instance, he voted against a bill pushed by Democrats that dealt with juvenile crime in 1993. He did, however, side with his old party and voted to raise taxes in 1991.
Despite his ouster from the House, and an unsuccessful bid for Bremerton mayor, he said he thinks he's the kind of common sense candidate voters will support.
Zellinsky said he wasn't ready to lob potshots at his opponents. But he promised to distance himself from them and their views during the course of his campaign.
Before he can take on Sheldon, he first must beat fellow Republicans in the primary, including: Hargrove, who is abandoning the seat he took from Zellinsky for a senate bid; Beverly Woods, executive director of the Bremerton Area Chamber of Commerce; and perhaps Bruce Steir, a pastor who has taken out papers but not returned phone calls from The Sun.
Zellinsky said he's mainly been doing armchair politicking in the past two years.
But as the retired owner of a local car dealership and a bill collector for a local garbage company, he said he thinks he's kept in touch with his would-be constituents.
He said he hopes to beef up the state business climate by decreasing bureaucratic red tape.
"I'm in and out of a lot of businesses, usually those that can't pay their bills," he said. "I understand their frustrations."
He said he hoped to help reform the property tax and welfare systems.
He also said he would like to see growth management rules revisited but not necessarily overhauled.
"I'm not for gutting the environment," he said. "But I also think you need to be fair to the people who want homes.
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