A new candidate for Vashon’s unofficial mayor has recently stepped forward: Lintzilla the sheep will run to benefit Partners in Education (PIE), which supports educational projects in the public schools.

Having a sheep as a mayoral candidate makes perfect sense, says Islander Maggi McClure, organizer of the Vashon Sheepdog Classic, which draws border collies and their handlers from around the region and benefits PIE.

Lintzilla’s owner, Island veterinarian Dana Ness, noted that Lintzilla is the educational candidate this year and is well suited to the task. Back when she was a young lamb in diapers, she visited Chautauqua.

“She has been to school,” Ness said, “and she has made the children laugh and play.”

Lintzilla is a fourth-generation Islander, McClure added, and if last year’s sheepdog trials are any indication of how the election might go, she thinks the prospects are good.

“The dogs were lovely, but it was the sheep that won,” she said.

Like the other mayoral candidates, Tim Johnson, Hilary Emmer and cat and dog Arti and Flag, Lintzilla will participate in the Strawberry Festival parade and make other campaign stops.

“She’s practicing for ap-pearances right now,” Ness noted.

Ness said that her husband Andy James, a music teacher at Chautauqua, has benefitted from PIE grants over the years. “Lintzilla very much believes in what PIE does, and she has seen the results,” Ness added.

Genevieve Ameling, a member of the PIE board, said the group hopes to bring in $1,000 from the campaign, which will fund requests in next year’s grant cycle beginning this fall. Previously funded requests have included the robotics program, field trips, art supplies and musical instruments.

“PIE is for innovative education, and Lintzilla is an innovative candidate,” Ameling said.