1. Name as it will appear on the ballot
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First Name |
Middle Initial or Nick Name |
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2. Office sought (include office, jurisdiction, position/district number):
3. Are you the incumbent? No
4. How long have you resided in this district/city?
5. How long have you resided in King County?
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23 years |
6. Is the office sought partisan or nonpartisan? Nonpartisan
CAMPAIGN CONTACTS
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1. Beginning with the most recent position, please list public offices which you have held. Include positions on appointive Boards or Commissions.
2. If you ran for public office but were not elected, please list those races below:
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Office Title |
Year of Run |
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City of Shoreline Freeholder Commission
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In this section, we are seeking responses that reflect the four ratings criteria: involvement, effectiveness, character, and knowledge. These are defined as follows:
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.)
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I am concerned about recent, ongoing attempts by interest groups to control our City Council and impose their will on the rest of us. Specifically, this relates to the city's Aurora Corridor project. The incumbent, prior to his last election in 1999, voted in favor of this project. During that election, he received about 45% of his campaign funds from the business group opposing the project. Since that election, he voted against the project (last January). He made a motion in their favor this past month that would have further delayed the project, and after it failed he voted the other way. I am running to see that all citizens/interests are represented in this process and have a clearer understanding of where their councilmember stands on any issue and why. As a component of the above, Shoreline needs to
actively seek new business to be able to build infrastructure. The incumbent
speaks of our city only being able to attract the gambling industry, and
they've been amongst his greatest supporters. He claims that others are
turned off when they go to the Chamber of Commerce to find some opposition to
the city's In addition, I would like to see improvements in
pedestrian safety, not only on Fourth, I'd like to see enhancements in our parks amenities and offerings. The incumbent speaks of expanding the parks as if he did it singlehandedly, when in fact his was one of the majority-I believe unanimous-voting that way, and my vote on this issue would have been identical. However, merely "having" parks isn't enough. They need to have amenities that people will use. Further, citizens need to be able to find them. Last, I'd like to see improvements in communications with citizens. Presently, we have a newsletter and a website, and we survey citizens periodically. Still, we hear from a relatively small group of citizens and business owners via public testimony at City Council meetings. We need to actively engage additional citizens via outreach to neighborhood associations, commissions, and committees, while establishing partnerships to provide neutral, informational programming on our government television channels. |
2. Describe your most important personal characteristics or traits as they relate to the office you seek.
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Willingness to serve, but I also contribute! Besides
what I've mentioned, I have been involved with the community since well
before it was a city. As a new resident in what now is Shoreline, I got
involved in the Lifelong learner: Besides my array of formal education, I've been a citizen advocate, policy advisor, policy advisor facilitator, and staff member, so I understand and appreciate the viewpoints and approaches of all sides of a policy issue. Character: I am known as a leader, someone with integrity and forthrightness. I am analytical and therefore deeply involved in an issue. As a Planning Commissioner, I am known as one who reads their packet in advance of the meeting, studies all angles of a topic, and asks many questions before coming to a conclusion, without needlessly dragging out the process. As a former corporate trainer, I am interested in citizens and commission members-the latter including myself-improving their understanding of issues and processes. |
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.
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.
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Vision Shoreline member (1994-95): being involved in the formation of the city showed me how many people were interested in getting the process started. Echo Lake Neighborhood (1996-present): being involved with the neighborhood association (Chair 1996-97, member 1996-present) has helped me to understand the neighborhood's concerns about issues such as traffic speeding through neighborhoods, traffic around the Shoreline Pool area, etc. For the last 3 years, I've kept them and others up to date on what's been happening at the City Council and at the Planning Commission. As a member of the Council of Neighborhoods (1997-8), the issues are more of a city-wide nature, such as the Aurora Corridor or North City projects. Many of these individuals do not appear at City Council meetings. As a member of the Metro Transit committee (1996-7), I saw how people attempted to protect their transit service whether it made sense for the community or not, while also noticing that some were oblivious to the needs of the disabled due to it not being an issue for them. As a youth sports coach (1996-8), I saw how competitive people can be, yet also how considerate and appreciative they were towards the coach for the time and commitment that they demonstrated. As a facilitator for Americans Discuss Social Security (1998), I observed how people generally favored solutions that impacted them the least, while it was also important that people be given the complete information in order to give a fair answer to the questions being asked. As a member on the Citizen's Advisory Task Force (1998-99), I learned the volumes of detail that goes into making a transportation decision and how citizens and businesses respond to it, which I followed up by serving as a Planning Commissioner (2000-present) and ultimately its Chair (2002-present). The latter I've seen where some feel that I should or do influence the commission's decisions, whereas I feel that I am very impartial and should be that way as Chair, which some interpret as "going with the flow." As an employee in the private sector from 1974-92, I held the stereotypes about public employees; as an employee in mostly the public sector from 1992-present, I've seen those stereotypes to not always be true. Going for my Master's degree while so employed has helped me greatly understand public policy and an appreciation for the mechanisms for funding services and making policy that I didn't have before.
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Attend Council meetings: contribute to the discussion and come prepared. Read the weekly packet well in advance and get questions asked in advance of the council meetings. At council meetings, ask pertinent questions, get constituent's questions answered "on the record," and be respectful of citizens, fellow councilmembers, and staff. Communication with constituents: receive and read communications from constituents. Ask questions to clarify their comments and concerns. Respond to them as appropriate. Be accessible. Attend notable community events/meetings. Represent the citizens at regional meetings where appropriate. The first two items on this list (Council meetings + communications with constituents) are the ones that I feel are the most important. |
EDUCATION BACKGROUND SUMMARY
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.
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M.A., Public Administration, UW, 1999; B.S., Financial Admin., CWU, 1985; A.A.S., Accounting, Shoreline CC, 2003. |
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.
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• Shoreline Planning Commission: Chair (2nd term): 2000 – present • Shorewood Site Council, 2000-3 • Citizens Advisory Task Force, Aurora Corridor Re-Design, 1998-9 • Shoreline YMCA coach: 1997 • St. Mark’s/St. Matthew’s coach: 1996-8 • Council of Neighborhoods, 1996-8 • Metro Transit Committee, 1996-7 • Chair, Echo Lake Neighborhood, 1996-7 • Vision Shoreline, 1994-5 • Shoreline Focus publisher, 1994-5 • Toastmasters: from President of Richmond Beach club to District Governor for 100 clubs, 1983-present |
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.
Candidate Evaluation Coordinator: Rebecca Cooper
Seattle, WA 98104-1614 Fax: 425-671-0506 Website: www.munileague.org