MUNICIPAL LEAGUE QUESTIONNAIRE
2003
SECTION I
Basic Candidate Information
Campaign Contacts
Campaign name: Friends of Margaret Pageler
Address: 5426 55th Avenue South
City/State/Zip: Seattle, WA 98118
Campaign Fax: (206) 721-1924
Campaign e-mail: votepageler@aol.com
Campaign Website: www.margaretpageler.com
Political Background
1. List public offices held, including appointive Boards or Commissions
Seattle City Council (Elected) 1992-present Council President 2000-01
State Board of Health (Appt’d) 1995-2001
Association of Washington Cities (Appt’d) 1997-present Executive Board
SeaKing Co. Bd of Health (Appt’d) 1993 – present
Seattle Water System Operating Board (Appt’d) 2002-present Chair
Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (Appt’d) 1997-2000 Board Chair
Regional Water Quality Committee (Appt’d) 1995-present
Puget Sound Regional Council (Appt’d) 1992-95, 2001-present
WRIA 8 Salmon Recovery (Appt’d) 1998-present Co-Chair
Seattle Planning Commission (Appt’d) 1989-91 Vice-Chair
Schaumburg School Board, IL (Elected) 1973-79
Northwest Special Education Cooperative (Appt’d) 1973-76 Chair
2. List offices run for, but not elected:
Seattle City Council – 1989
Seattle City Council – 1987
Schaumburg, IL School District 54 – 1972
SECTION III
1. Why are you running for this office?
This city that we love so much is in a slump – economically and politically. I want to help us pull out of the slump. Seattle has fantastic assets, but it will take mature, balanced leadership to move forward.
Leadership in these tough times requires fiscal vigilance, strategic focus and clear vision.
Fiscal vigilance. I believe city spending can be better managed. I have a proven track record in reducing utility costs in CIP and O&M through strategic mergers, process simplifications and the like. I’m willing to take hard votes when advocates for worthy causes propose programs that are not cost-justified – most recently, blowing the whistle on I-80, the creeks initiative. I have the backbone to resist the demands of special interests and am experienced in fighting off raids on the city utilities. I want to see a leaner, more focused city government emerge from these hard times.
Strategic Focus. Rebuilding the economy can’t be a scatter-shot effort. We must start with our assets – Boeing, the University, vital neighborhoods, beautiful environment – and develop flexible strategies for growth. I was a key player in the public responses that reversed the decline of our downtown a few years ago. We’ve recently put in play similar strategies for the Ave. There are opportunities at Northgate, South Lake Union, Terminal 91/Interbay, and Pioneer Square/Terminal 46.
Clear Vision. My vision for rebuilding our city’s economy is this:
Ask me about this!
2. Important Personal Characteristics
Passion. I’m passionate about the public interest vs. special interest. I love working for broad public goals – reducing gun violence, restoring salmon runs, protecting public health – and get impatient when groups with narrow agendas hijack such issues. I work to find solutions – not sound bites.
Perspective. I have a broad perspective. I cherish the rich fabric of Seattle’s individual neighborhoods, but I also understand that Seattle’s vitality is linked to the region, the state and the world. That’s why I was the one Councilmember who did not support the Snake River Dams resolution.
Intelligence. My approach to public policy is analytical. I study issues thoroughly, weigh options, and inform myself through research, conferences, field trips.
Backbone. Public outcry doesn’t frighten me. I started my Council work with the ruckus over the “Weed and Seed” program and the civility ordinances. I listened to all sides of those debates and sought to act in the broad public interest. I don’t knuckle under to pressure groups, but vote my best judgment and my conscience.
3. Accomplishments
(1) Defeating energy deregulation in Washington State
In the mid-1990’s as Chair of the Utility Committee, I studied hard and made myself knowledgeable about the complex world of public power and the energy industry. I was a very early and often lone voice that understood the dangers of California-style deregulation. While the business community pushed hard for measures to impose similar deregulation in Washington State, I organized and successfully blocked deregulation here.
My independent analysis, foresight, fearlessness in standing up to political trendiness, and persistence, paid off for all the State’s ratepayers.
(2) Watershed Salmon Strategy
When Puget Sound chinook salmon were listed under the Endangered Species Act, ongoing disputes and rivalries between cities and counties, Seattle and suburbs, made the prospects for cooperative work on salmon recovery pretty bleak. Worse, neither of the two State formulas for interjurisdictional watershed collaboration would work in Central Puget Sound.
As Chair of Seattle’s Water and Health Committee, I envisioned interlocal agreements where all the cities in a river basin would fund and participate in salmon recovery efforts. We would share staff, develop an agreed set of priority restoration projects, and mutually support, instead of compete for, project funds. My success in creating these agreements for the Cedar/Sammamish, Green/Duwamish, and Snohomish river basins won me the Municipal League’s 2001 James R. Ellis Regional Leadership Award.
I believe my ability to identify common values, my respect for elected officials as equals regardless of political party or size of jurisdiction, and the time spent building trust have paid off for the citizens of our region – and perhaps also for the salmon runs we so admire.
(3) Youth Violence Reduction
As Chair of Seattle City Council’s Public Safety Committee in the early ‘90’s, I was faced with an epidemic of youth gun violence. I worked hard – and successfully – to get guns out of the hands of kids. I organized Seattle’s first gun buyback and trigger-lock campaigns. We sponsored public art, billboards, school hotlines with clear anti-gun messages. I developed creative partnerships with health officials, criminal justice, social services, schools and community groups. We sent “Cops and Docs” into Seattle schools to give kids the straight facts about the deadly danger of firearms.
My ability to analyze a social crisis from multiple perspectives and to design a complex but focused strategy for change paid off in lives saved.
4. Current and Past Community Activities
Where to start?!! I’m 60+ years young with abundant personal energy and interest, have been actively involved in significant contributory efforts to my community for at least 45 years, married 40 years, have four fabulous adult children all pulling their weight in areas of interest to them, and a list of personal community contributions of my own as long as your arm.
Seattle City Council (Elected) 1992-present Council President 2000-01
State Board of Health (Appt’d) 1995-2001
Association of Washington Cities (Appt’d) 1997-present Executive Board
SeaKing Co. Bd of Health (Appt’d) 1993 – present
Seattle Water System Operating Board (Appt’d) 2002-present Chair
Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (Appt’d) 1997-2000 Board Chair
Regional Water Quality Committee (Appt’d) 1995-present
Puget Sound Regional Council (Appt’d) 1992-95, 2001-present
WRIA 8 Salmon Recovery (Appt’d) 1998-present Co-Chair
37th District Democrats – long-time member
West Seattle Neighborhood Plan steward – 1996-98
King County Growth Management Policy Council 1992-95
Founding board member Vision Seattle (1982), 1000 Friends of Washington (1992), MAVIA Mothers Against Violence in America (1994), and
Northwest Climate Change Council (1998)
Allied Arts – president 1986
Seattle-Chongqing Sister City, Seattle-Kaohsiung Sister City, Seattle Chinese Garden Society – current
Historic Seattle, Committee to Save Franklin High Shool – 1980’s
Washington Ceasefire, Municipal League, League of Women Voters
Chicken Soup Brigade – Chore service volunteer 1990
Seattle Planning Commission (Appt’d) 1989-91 Vice-Chair
Schaumburg School Board, IL (Elected) 1973-79
Governor’s Commission on Gender Equity in Education 1978
Northwest (IL) Special Education Cooperative (Appt’d) 1973-76 Chair
5. Duties of the Office
The duties of a Seattle councilmember include:
All of these roles are important, and a nine-member Council will have members that excel in different areas. No one has the full range of skills or the time to perform all of these duties.
I believe it’s important to recognize and work to one’s strengths. I am best skilled at policy, budget and rates, and regional collaboration. I make sure I have legislative aides that are skilled in constituent service and communications. I work with my colleagues, including the Mayor, on resolutions and proclamations that set the tone for leadership.
EDUCATION BACKGROUND SUMMARY
J.D., Univ. Chicago Law School
M.A., School Ad’m, No. Illinois U.
B.A., Wheaton College, IL
As Seattle Council member, I’ve chaired Public Safety, Utilities, Water and Health and served as Council President. Chairing the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, serving on State and County Boards of Health, and organizing our metropolitan salmon-recovery alliances, I work to protect our health and environment. For this I won the 2001 Muni League Regional Leadership Award. Born and raised in China and Taiwan, I’m active in sister city relations and in positioning Seattle for Pacific Rim prosperity.