2003 Candidate Questionnaire

 

SECTION I               

 

BASIC CANDIDATE INFORMATION

 

1.      Name as it will appear on the ballot

 

First Name

Middle Initial or Nick Name

Last Name

Dow

     

Constantine

 

2.   Office sought (include office, jurisdiction, position/district number):

 

King County Council, District Eight

 

3.   Are you the incumbent?                  Yes              

 

 

4.   How long have you resided in this district/city?

 

41 years

 

5.   How long have you resided in King County?

 

41 years

 

6.   Is the office sought partisan or nonpartisan?         Partisan               

                                                                                                                       

7.   If partisan, please indicate party:  Democratic

 

CAMPAIGN CONTACTS

 

Campaign Name:

Friends of Dow Constantine

 

Address:

 

Post Office Box 16285

 

City/State/Zip:

 

Seattle, WA  98116

 

Campaign Phone:

 

(206) 937-3694

 

 

Campaign Fax:

 

     

 

 

Campaign E-mail:

 

dowconstantine@comcast.net

 

 

Campaign Website:

 

www.dowconstantine.org

 

 

POLITICAL BACKGROUND

 

1.   Beginning with the most recent position, please list public offices which you have held.  Include positions on appointive Boards or Commissions.

 

Public Office

Elective or Appointive?

Dates Held

Leadership Role (if any)

Washington State Senator

 

Elective

 

12/2000 - 1/2002

 

Vice-Chair, Budget Committee

Vice-Chair, Judiciary Committee

 

Washington State Representative

 

Elective

 

1/1997 - 12/2000

 

Chair, Judiciary Committee

 

Lesgislative Ethics Board

 

Appointive

 

1998 - 2000

 

     

 

 

2.   If you ran for public office but were not elected, please list those races below:

 

Office Title

Year of Run

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 


 


SECTION III

 

In this section, we are seeking responses that reflect the four ratings criteria: involvement, effectiveness, character, and knowledge.  These are defined as follows:

 

  • Involvement: What has the candidate done previously in family, neighborhood, community, volunteer work, employment or public life to suggest readiness to accomplish challenging objectives? How do these activities demonstrate readiness for the challenges unique to the office sought?

 

  • Effectiveness: Has the candidate demonstrated promise of being productive in the office sought?  Has the candidate shown the ability to work with other people?

 

  • Character: Do the candidate's personal traits show the ability to take on the responsibilities of campaigning for and holding the public office she or he is seeking? Is the candidate a leader, participant or observer?  Is the candidate trustworthy, reliable and candid?

 

  • Knowledge: Has the candidate demonstrated the willingness and ability to learn and adapt?  Does the candidate understand the duties and challenges of the office sought?  Does the candidate have a firm grasp of the issues important to his or her constituency and their potential effects?

 

 

1.      In a page or less, why are you running for this office?  (Note: the interview committee will be given a copy of this statement before your interview; at the beginning of your interview you will have the opportunity to expand on this statement in any way you wish.)

 

I am running because I believe that the future will turn out better with my contribution than without. Am I the most qualified of the 135,000 people in my district? I can not imagine that there are not many others better qualified in one way or another. But by education, experience and temperament, I believe I am well-suited to public service, and to this office.

 

I want to make the government well-run so that it - we, collectively - can do good and solve our shared problems. To this end I have, for example, authored legislation to extend performance based governance to all departments of King County. I believe that by constant attention to goals, objectives, and measurable outcomes, we can continually - year after year -  improve performance and efficiency and get the most value for each tax dollar. I believe that in doing so we can restore the faith of citizens in the competence of government to handle their tax dollars and solve our collective problems.

 

One such problem is the degradation of the natural environment. The county plays a key role in water quality, including wastewater treatment, surface water management, and salmon recovery. In fact, I have just taken on a new role as a member of the Green/Duwamish Water Resource Inventory Area Steering Committee working on salmon recovery. The county is also a leader in solid waste, transportation choices, land use and other critical environmental issues.

 

Another issue is the need for human services. We now spend 3/4 of the county's general fund budget on the criminal & justice system alone, and that percentage is increasing.  With the application of a bit of prevention early in life, we know for a fact that we can can help many people who would otherwise have fallen into lives of crime to instead become productive adults. To do so is not just a matter of altruism or morality - though those, too, are worthy motivations. It is a matter of utility, of massive future costs prevented.

 

One hallmark of a well run government is the ability to make the investments that build communities, such as infrastructure, law enforcement, youth services, small business assistance, and the like. By providing struggling neighbohoods with the technical aid and physical improvements they need, we can turn them from centers of contant dependence on government assistance to successful incubators for contributing citizens.

 


 

2.      Describe your most important personal characteristics or traits as they relate to the office you seek.

 

I am determined and steadfast, which is critical in a business where meaningful change often requires sustained attention over years.

 

Though impatient, I am willing to do the hard work of tilling the soil, of laying the foundation, to make long-term success possible and sustainable.

 

I am conciliatory and able to see the viewpoints of others. While this is not a particularly useful characteristic in contemporary electoral politics, it is critical to the ability to govern.

 

I have a very strong sense of fairness.

 

Perhaps most significantly, I was raised to feel tremendous responsibility for the welfare of my contituents, my community, my world, and future generations.

 

Oddly, the older I get, the more I find myself reflecting on the points of the Scout Law, which I memorized at a very young age, long before I was old enough to become a scout. I find that laundry list of desirable traits a useful yardstick against which to measure my own actions. I must admit that I do better on "trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous" and "kind" than I often do on some of the others such as "obedient", "cheerful", or "reverent". But I'm trying.

 

3.      Please describe in sufficient detail, one to three accomplishments or contributions of which you are most proud.  These examples should illustrate effective skills and capabilities you think apply to the office you are seeking.  These accomplishments may have occurred at any time in your personal, professional, or public life. 

 

1.  As co-chair of the House Judiciary Committee in 1999 and 2000 I had the opportunity to wrestle with some of the most vexing problems and difficult personalities in Olympia. In 1999 several bills were introduced in response to a State Supreme Court ruling regarding the relocation of children by one parent after a divorce. Many groups with long standing animosities were lined up against one another on this issue. I brought together these disparate groups, along with family law professionals, throughout the 1999 interim and 2000 session. With much effort we were able to produce a compromise acceptable to everyone, to protect the interests of children and parents. I then shepherded the legislation through both houses and the governor's office.

 

For my efforts the Family Law Section of the Washington State Bar Association named me their 2000 Professional of the Year. I subsequently was honored with the 2001 "Champion of Justice" award from the Bar's Equal Justice Coalition for my work defending legal services for the poor.

 

My tenure as co-chair of the House Judiciary Committee was successful despite considerable obstacles posed by an even partisan split the House, the temperament of the committee members, and the difficulty of the issues with which we were faced. I was able to keep us on track and productive even while other less volatile committees were breaking down.

 

 

2.  In the West Seattle neighborhood where I was raised and where I still live, a wooded ravine was threatened with development. This was in the late 1980s, as I was completing law school and working on an advanced degree in urban design and planning at the University of Washington. I joined with an eclectic collection of neighbors, eventually helping to organize them to fight for the preservation of this little sanctuary in the middle of the community. I didn't know what I was doing, but I did know that I and the folks in our neighborhood cared very deeply about saving the "College Street Ravine".

 

This led to my first, shaky testimony before the city council, and then the county council, then to volunteering on campaigns to preserve open space county-wide, and eventually to appointment as West Seattle's representative on the Seattle Open Space Oversight Committee. It had a great deal to do with my eventual determination to seek public office, but the important lesson was to reinforce a notion that I had long held - that even in the face of long odds and well-financed opposition, people can band together and, with sufficient determination, change the direction of their shared future.

 

 


 

 

4.      Please list or describe your current and past activities in the community in which you have acquired skills that relate to the office you seek.  Include your role in the activity and the year(s) in which you were involved.  Involvement consists of many areas such as family, neighborhood, community, employment, or public life.

 

ArtsWest                                                                   Board Member          2002-Present

Stone Soup (non-profit devoted to women’s issues)     Vice-President          1999-Present

West Seattle High School Foundation                              Vice-President          2000-Present

Delridge Neighborhoods Development Association      Board Member          1998-Present

West Seattle High School Alumni Association                 President                   1996-2000

West Seattle HelpLine                                                         Board Member          1995-1999

Allied Arts of Seattle                                                            Trustee                      1992-1998

Seattle Citizens’ Open Space Oversight Committee      Member                      1994-1997

West Seattle Chamber of Commerce                                Land Use Chair         1993-1996

Friends of College Street Ravine                                      Founding member    1988-Present

West Seattle High School Site Council                             Founding member    1992-1994

Southwest Youth & Family Services                                 Volunteer attorney   1993-1996

 

 

  1. Please describe the duties of the office you seek.  Which are the most important duties and why?

 

It has become painfully clear to me in the past year-and-a-half that most people have little idea what - or how much - King County and the County Council are responsible for.

 

We are the regional government for the nearly 1.8 million residents of King County. We took over enormous responsibilities from the defunct Metro government, such as our extensive transit and wastewater operations. This is in addition to our other regional responsibilities operating, among other functions, an vast criminal justice system, public health and safety, roads and other transportation, emergency management, human services, growth management, salmon recovery, open space preservation and regional parks, solid waste, recording, elections and licensing, and assessment, collection and processing much of the taxes paid to other governments.

 

In addition, we are the local government for over 350,000 residents of unicorporated King County - effectively, the second largest "city" in the state. I am personally responsible as the sole local elected general government official for nearly 50,000 of those residents living in White Center, Boulevard Park, and on Vashon and Maury Islands.

 

Surely, to these unincorporated area residents, the local government duties of local law enforcement, local street repair, local cable T.V. coverage and the like must be the most important things we do. But just as surely the places where we are less visible - like treating sewage, guarding against epidemics or preparing for emergencies - are no less critical.


EDUCATION BACKGROUND SUMMARY

FOR PUBLICATION IN CANDIDATE EVALUATION REPORT

 

The Municipal League’s Candidate Evaluation Report is distributed to voters in print and/or on our website.  It includes a summary of the candidate’s education.  Please summarize your education in 120 characters (letters, punctuation, and space all combined).  The League will delete material that exceeds the space limit by beginning with the last entry.  Suggested order is (degree)  (subject)  (school)  (year, if desired). 

 

Note: If this question is left blank the League will not include education information in your candidate profile.

 

Master of Urban Planning, University of Washington College of Architecture & Urban Planning, 1992          

Juris Doctorate, University of Washington School of Law, 1989

Bachelor of Arts, Political Science, University of Washington, 1985

 

CIVIC INVOLVEMENT SUMMARY

FOR PUBLICATION IN CANDIDATE EVALUATION REPORT

 

The Municipal League’s Candidate Evaluation Report also includes a summary of each candidate’s civic involvement.  Please summarize your civic involvement in the space below.  We will make every attempt to include the information in the Candidate Evaluation Report as submitted.  Due to space restrictions in the Report, your response is limited to 500 characters (letters, punctuation, and spaces all combined).  It is important that you list your involvement beginning with the most important and ending with the least important.  If you exceed the length of response permitted, or if the League should find it necessary to shorten responses for publication purposes,  deletions will be made beginning with the last item listed. 

 

Note: This information will appear verbatim on the League’s Candidate Evaluation Report.  If this question is left blank, the Municipal League will not include information on your civic involvement in the Report.

 

  Check here if you would like the Municipal League to copy the first 500 characters from Question 4 to paste into this section.

 

     

 

Finished!

If at all possible, send your response to the Municipal League electronically as an attachment, or insert it into an e-mail message (rebecca@munileague.org).  Mail and fax numbers are listed below.  If the League has not contacted you to schedule an interview, please call the League office at your earliest convenience.

 

Don’t forget to send the following to the Municipal League:  a resume, a photo, campaign literature, and, if you are an incumbent, constituent newsletters and other materials.  Please use the check-off list on the cover sheet of this packet to indicate which items you have sent.

 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION AND GOOD LUCK IN YOUR CAMPAIGN!

 

THE MUNICIPAL LEAGUE OF KING COUNTY

 

Candidate Evaluation Coordinator:  Rebecca Cooper

 

810 Third Avenue, Suite 224                  Phone: 206-622-8333                Email: rebecca@munileague.org

Seattle, WA 98104-1614                        Fax: 425-671-0506                        Website: www.munileague.org