2004 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
Savun		Neang

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

3.   Are you the incumbent?                  Yes              No

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

15 years

5.   How long have you resided in King County?

15 years

6.   Is the office sought partisan or nonpartisan?         Partisan      Nonpartisan         

7.   If partisan, please indicate party:  Republican

CAMPAIGN CONTACTS

Campaign Name:	Savun Neang for 34^th District State Representative.
Address:	P. O. BOX. 46212
City/State/Zip:	Seattle, Washington 98146
Campaign Phone:	206-696-1460
Campaign Fax:
Campaign E-mail:	gop@neangsavun.us
Campaign Website:	www.neangsavun.us

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)

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 with the right of citizenship also come the obligation of service and twenty years ago, the United States of America gave my family, and many other Cambodian-Americans an opportunity to enjoy liberty, justice and to achieve the American Dream. In order to relay this once in a lifetime opportunity, I want to have a chance to be part of building a stronger America and a stronger community.

I want the government to be well run and better serve the citizens of the state of Washington. I want to restore the faith of citizens in the competence of government

to solve our taxes problems.

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

I have a strong sense of fairness and is understandable.

I am willing to work hard by cutting the wood, pave the way and lay the concrete to make long-term success possible.

I am determined and steadfast.

I will work hard on issues and goals. If there are failures I never give up, I have hopes. I believed that every thing is possible. If other people can do it, I can do it too. I will get the job done; it is only a before and after. I might take longer than others, but I will eventually reach there.

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. 

As a founder of the Cambodian New Year Festival, which sponsored by White Center Community Development Association. The idea of celebrating the Cambodian New Year Festival on the city street came to my mind on July 1998, when I was volunteering with White Center Jubilee Day.  Since than I was lobbying with difference approach, reach out into diversity ethnic groups living in White Center, Top Hat, West Seattle and surrounding area to insure they are understand the needs of the Community and to insure the Cambodian American community can be part of promoting America and be proud to be Americans. My mission failed three times, once in September 1999, February 2000 and again September 2000. On April 2002 I was invited and appointed as board member of White Center Community Development Association. On October 2002 I had the opportunity and accomplished my long-term goal, the Cambodian New Year Festival was celebrated on April 2003 and 2004 with the successes.

I should mention from the beginning in order to understand. I am a survivor of the Khmer Rouge Communist regime known as “ The Killing Fields “. I called it “ Prison without roof ”.

My family and I settled in Boston, Massachusetts in 1984. My father, my sister, my brother, my brother-in-law and my two-year-old niece, knew very little English. I was the only one who can speak and understand English, which I learned in the refugee camp in Thailand, by practicing to speak when volunteered translating in the classroom that thought the American Culture to Cambodians whom about to settle to the United States of America.

When we arrived to Boston, Massachusetts. Our sponsor rented a two-bedroom Apartment in a town six miles outside of downtown Boston called Dorchester. On the Apartment I discovered three mattresses, six blankets, two cooking pots, six sets of spoons and plates, six chairs and a kitchen table. In the day we arrived, our sponsor brought two bags of Wonder Bread, some ham, two bottles of Pepsi, food we never served before in our life. But we did survived with these foods for three days; before we get our 50lbs rice that our sponsor gave us. When we received our first food stamp assistance, we had to live with $500 food stamp for two months before we get our very first welfare check.

While I was attending high school, for several months I, personally received welfare assistance. Then it was put in to a stop, when I went to apply for work pumping gas at a gas station as my very first job. Two years later, I quit working at the gas station due to the very cold whether condition I never experience before. The temperature reached below zero several times, when I get off work at one o’clock in the morning.  My next job was washing dishes at a restaurant so I can continue to earn some money for the living and pursue the American Dream.

When I moved to Seattle, Washington in1989, I went to College at night and worked full time at day. I did the same routine for years. After graduated from college, I bought my first house in 1993.

Here in  ' The Land of Opportunity ', I believe that opportunity does not just come to me, in order to achieve the American Dream; I have to go out and pursue it.  I opened and run a successful family computer business in White Center till this day, to fulfill my American dream that I had for many years.   

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.

White Center Community Development Association,      Board Member    2002-2003

White Center Chamber Of Commerce                               Board Member     2002-Present

Friend Of West Crest Park                                                  Vice President,    2000- present

Business Advisory Council.                                               Honorary Chair    2002-present

The Cambodian New Year Festival                                    Chairman,             2003-2004

Wages and Earning Group, the Initiative Annie E. Casey Foundation, Making Connections

                                                                                              Co-chair-Business Represented, 2002

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

It has been painfully and clear to me that our taxes dollars has been mismanaged. Our state government should be working within the budget without raising new taxes. The state’s budget has gotten us in trouble in the past and created huge deficits. I believe that our families should not have to pay for the past mistakes.

We should provide solid support for K-12 education with adequate funding to strengthen our schools, and our national and state Constitutions should be taught in school to inform our new generations.

I learned the history of the Founding Fathers and our national Constitution when I studied to become a United States citizen. I believe that every citizen should know his or her own history so they can be proud of themselves as Americans.

Traffic congestion and transportation are on going problems in our state. If we spend our transportation money on projects that are designed to relieve congestion and improve safety, the transportation issues can be resolved.

The visible crime and drug activities are problems in our community. In the White Center and Delridge neighborhoods, these activities have created an unsafe living environment throughout the 34th district. If the state support funding goes to this District, it will make the community safe and stronger in which to raise our families.

The State should create a positive atmosphere to encourage new businesses, new jobs and protect existing small businesses. The small businesses in our state provide at least 70 percent of the jobs in our state’s economy.  The State Legislature, and the Governor can fix the problems if they have the determination to work together.

In conclusion, through better management, our state’s economy can improve without raising new taxes.  We need to provide a solid education for our current and future generations.  We need to solve our traffic congestion problems so that our citizens spend less time commuting.   And finally, we need to create safer and stronger neighborhoods.  Together, we can build a stronger community, a stronger Washington and a stronger America.

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.

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