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

     

Larry

Phillips

 

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

 

Metropolitan King County Council, District 4

 

3.   Are you the incumbent?                  Yes              

 

 

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

 

Thirty-nine years

 

5.   How long have you resided in King County?

 

Fifty-two years

 

6.   Is the office sought partisan or nonpartisan?         Partisan               

                                                                                                                       

7.   If partisan, please indicate party:  Democrat

 

CAMPAIGN CONTACTS

 

Campaign Name:

Larry Phillips for County Council

 

Address:

 

2686 Magnolia Boulevard West

 

City/State/Zip:

 

Seattle, WA  98199

 

Campaign Phone:

 

(206) 619-1700

 

 

Campaign Fax:

 

There is no dedicated campaign FAX number at this time.  Please call me to make arrangements.

 

 

Campaign E-mail:

 

larryphillips04@msn.com

 

 

Campaign Website:

 

I have not created a campaign website at this time.  Information about my service as a councilmember may be found on the web at http://www.metrokc.gov/mkcc.

 

 

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)

King County Council

 

Elective

 

1992-present

 

Chair, Budget Committee

 

State Legislative House Member

 

Elective

 

1989-1991

 

     

 

Precinct Committee Officer

 

Elective

 

1982-present

 

     

 

 

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

 

Office Title

Year of Run

I have not run for an office to which I was not elected.

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 


 


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 seeking re-election to the Metropolitan King County Council because I am committed to providing effective regional and local government services at reasonable costs.  Specifically, I believe King County has a vital role to play in maintaining economic vitality for the region while preserving our great natural resources through conservation.

 

As an incumbent, I have worked very hard to provide policy direction, executive agency oversight, and budgetary decision-making in each of these areas, but there is much more to do.  King County government is once again in transition as we move from a local service provider in urban areas to a true regional government serving the cross-jurisdictional needs of 1.7 million people.  Building on our successful implementation of the Growth Management Act (1997 – present), and the successful merger with METRO (1994-present), we must continue to build transportation and recreation infrastructure, provide law, safety and justice services through our County’s Superior Court, District Court, Prosecutor, Sheriff, and Detention programs, and preserve and protect clean air, water quality and critical habitat.  And given our general fund crisis, we must do so through new fiscally responsible methods.

 

As Budget and Fiscal Management Committee Chair over the last two years,  I have proven we can meet this challenge.  I am seeking re-election to the Council to ensure King County stabilizes its general fund revenues and expenditures for the long-term so that these critical infrastructure, program and service needs can be met responsibly.  Given the opportunity, I am confident budget and service stability can be achieved.     

 


 

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

 

My most important personal characteristics as a county councilmember include my ability to work hard and remain focused on substantive issues as they arise before the council; to listen, ask good questions of staff and the public, and seek the advice of colleagues and constituents as needed; and to be innovative and flexible in fashioning solutions that work and stand the test of time.  I also have the ability to carve out areas of expertise (budget; natural resource protection; arts, parks and open space; growth management; and water quality), become knowledgeable on issues therein and as a result become an office holder people and my colleagues can rely on to be knowledgeable, candid and trustworthy.

 

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. 

 

The following lists three accomplishments of which I am proud, and which illustrate my skills as an effective county councilmember:

 

As Chair of the Regional Water Quality Committee, I led a six year effort to develop and adapt the Regional Wastewater Services Plan, setting in place and in motion the policy direction covering a 30 year planning horizon for wastewater infrastructure, water quality improvements and water reclamation and re-use.  The effort also led to the decision to build a third regional wastewater facility – Brightwater – to accommodate growth in a fiscally and environmentally responsible manner.

 

As founder and Chair of the Cedar River Council (CRC) in 1993, I led an effort to quiet the “Cedar County” movement by bringing area citizens, elected officials and government representatives together to focus on the health of the Cedar River while respecting individual property rights.  As we near the 10 year anniversary, the CRC has diligently and effectively worked to permanently preserve over 1,000 acres of critical fish and wildlife habitat, significantly reduce the effects of flooding, and improve water quality for area residents and fish.  The work of the CRC has also helped show area residents they can effectively access county, state and federal government officials and influence their decisions with positive outcomes.

 

As Chair of the Council’s Budget and Fiscal Management Committee for the past two years, I have worked on a bi-partisan basis with my colleagues to address our budget crisis, cutting over $93 million in expenditures from our General Fund (current expense) Budget while prioritizing and preserving vital public services.  In doing so, I have insisted on developing an open and continuous dialogue with our citizens, engaging them in the problems and solutions, and challenging Executive agencies to dig deeper for efficiencies and new ways of doing business.  While painful, it has proven successful, as my budgets have passed with overwhelming majorities and been signed into law by Executive Sims.


 

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.

 

I have been involved in many community activities which relate to my duties as a county councilmember.  But an activity of great involvement and relevance has been that of coaching young athletes in a variety of sports.  I have coached football (3 years), basketball (11 years), baseball (2 years), soccer (1 year), and taught young people to swim and snow-ski over many seasons.  Coaching has taught me the value of effective communication and leadership; patience in working with others whose involvement is ultimately critical to success of the venture; “failure” as a greater teacher and motivator for “victory”, and competition as a great means by which to improve skills and build teamwork.  Looking back, I’m not sure who gained more in “life’s lessons”:  the kids I coached, or the coach who “taught” them.

 

 

 

 

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

 

As a member of the legislative branch of county government, the duties of a councilmember are to establish policy through the adoption of ordinances; levy taxes, appropriate funds and adopt budgets; establish executive departments and administrative offices and their powers and responsibilities; adopt comprehensive plans; and provide general oversight and scrutiny of executive agency functions and performance.  Of these, the most important are the adoption of budgets and the provision of agency oversight.  Through the exercise of these powers, the public has assurance that their elected representatives are watching how well their tax dollars are being spent, how well services are being delivered and prioritized and how agencies and personnel are being challenged to improve performance and remain accountable.


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.

 

BA UW Political Science 1973

JD Willamette School of Law 1976

LLM George Washington Nat’l Law Ctr 1981

Queen Anne H S 1969

 

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