I have been the emcee for the 4th of July Parade for the past several years. I have never seen a political candidate set up his own booth on the parade route. Not only that, directly across from the grandstand. Hodgson clearly has his own agenda; he was disruptive with all his orange balloons, which were still stuck in the trees in downtown Kirkland on Sunday morning. A lot of work goes into making the 4th a pleasant experience for everyone, regardless of their political motives. Rather than contributing to the atmosphere of the day, he chose to be a distraction. Not to mention blocking the doorways/signage of two of our downtown businesses. I feel his actions were totally inappropriate and my vote is for Doreen Marchione. I was already planning on voting for Doreen, but this action by Hodgson pushed me to volunteer to help on her campaign.

Terri Fletcher, Celebrate Kirkland volunteer