1. Name as it will appear on the ballot
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First Name |
Middle Initial or Nick Name |
Last Name |
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?
5. How long have you resided in King County?
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22 Years |
6. Is the office sought partisan or nonpartisan? Partisan Nonpartisan
CAMPAIGN CONTACTS
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Campaign Name: |
John Creighton for Port Commissioner |
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Campaign Website: |
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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.
Public Office |
Elective or Appointive? |
Dates Held |
Leadership Role (if any) |
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2. If you ran for public office but were not elected, please list those races below:
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SECTION II
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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For 94 years, the Port of Seattle has been a major economic driver and creator of family wage jobs for our region. However, during a decade of steady decline, several shipping companies and one of the Port of Seattle's largest importers have left for other west coast ports, resulting in the loss of hundreds of good-paying jobs. Despite raising our taxes, the current Commission has failed to solve critical transportation problems or adequately protect our environment. And while the Port is making costly improvements to SeaTac Airport, airlines are threatening to move because it’s too expensive to do business there.
In the face of a dire need for positive action to address these issues, we have a divided and dysfunctional Port Commission, which is unable to work collaboratively to solve problems for our community and which is not providing the proper oversight over the actions of Port of Seattle staff.
I believe that I have the skills and the energy necessary to bring new leadership and progressive, independent thinker to reinvigorate Port operations that for too long have been captive of special interests on the Commission. |
2. Describe your most important personal characteristics or traits as they relate to the office you seek.
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The Port Commission as currently constituted is divided and unable to work together to solve problems and get things done for our community. In addition, the Port's relationship with both King County and the City of Seattle is strained at a time when we need to work collaboratively as a region to solve critical infrastructure and freight mobility problems.
One of the most important traits that a Commissioner can bring to the position is an ability to listen to constituents of all walks of life, viewpoints and political persuasions, and work collaboratively with others to come up with non-ideological solutions to our region's problems that benefit everyone in the community. I have the support of Democrats, Republicans and Independents in my campaign for Port Commissioner because I genuinely care about the continued economic health and quality of life of the region where I grew up. In addition, I am an independent, progressive thinker who has a proven ability to work collaboratively with people of many different political persuasions for the common good. |
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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Both my education and work experience have been centered on international finance and trade work, and I am passionate about trade as an economic development tool for our community. In addition, I believe that volunteer activity is critical to helping make our community a better place to live and I try to devote a significant portion of my time to such activity. I describe below some of the nonprofits and community organizations that I have been actively involved in during my time in King County.
I have been a board member of the Seattle World Trade Club since 2002 and have served as Co-Vice President (May 2002-May 2003) and Co-President (May 2003- May 2004). The mission of the World Trade Club, an all-volunteer organization, is to sponsor seminars and events to educate the public on various aspects of international trade and to promote discussion and foster debate on international trade issues.
I have been on the board of the Chief Seattle Council of the Boy Scouts of America since 2000 and among the various volunteer activities I have done, I have chaired a number of programs aimed at honoring children’s achievements and have also participated in fundraising efforts for inner city youth programs.
Since 2002 I have been a board member of the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, the largest nonprofit research institute in the country focused on infectious disease such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. I am proud of the active role I have played in both their capital campaign and efforts to obtain federal funding.
I have provided pro bono legal services to Washington Public Campaigns, a nonprofit organization advocating for a state-funded public campaign finance system, helping incorporate and gain nonprofit status and advising them on various legal issues as they arise.
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The Seattle Port Commission sets the policy direction and priorities for Port operations. The Port of Seattle consists of several billions of dollars in publicly owned assets and the Port Commission has a fiduciary duty to ensure that those assets are managed in a way that most benefits the public interest through sustainable jobs creation for our region.
One of the most important duties of the 5-member Commission is hiring the Port's Chief Executive Officer. In addition, while the Commission does not participate in day-to-day operations of the Port, it has a duty to be fully informed about Port operations and actively involved in setting the policy direction and priorities of Port activities. The Commission should be leading the staff, not vice versa, as I believe is the current situation at the Port with sitting Commissioners seemingly uninformed on major contracts entered into and legislative policies being pursued by, the Port staff.
Also important to the role of a Commissioner is the ability to reach out and listen to the broadest range of constituent viewpoints as possible and using that knowledge to make informed but principles decisions. In addition, Commissioners need to be able to work collaboratively with other members of the Commission to make decisions that have broad support and benefit all county residents. |
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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Interlake High School, Bellevue
BA, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
MA, Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Washington, DC
JD, Columbia University, New York
Certificate of Administration, University of Washington Business School |
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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Both my education and work experience have been centered on international finance and trade work, and I am passionate about trade as an economic development tool for our community. In addition, I believe that volunteer activity is critical to helping make our community a better place to live and I try to devote a significant portion of my time to such activity.
I have been a board member of the Seattle World Trade Club since 2002 and have served as Co-Vice President (May 2002-May 2003) and Co-President (May 2003- May 2004), where I fostered debate and promoted discussion on trade issues critical to the economic success of our region.
I have been on the board of the Chief Seattle Council of the Boy Scouts of America since 2000 and among the various volunteer activities I have done, I have chaired a number of programs aimed at honoring children’s achievements and have also participated in fundraising efforts for inner city youth programs. Since 2002 I have been a board member of the Seattle Biomedical Research Institute, the largest nonprofit research institute in the country focused on infectious disease such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. I am proud of the active role I have played in both theircapital campaign and efforts to obtain federal funding. Since 2002, I have also provided pro bono legal services to Washington Public Campaigns, a nonprofit organization advocating for a state-funded public campaign finance system, helping incorporate and gain nonprofit status and advising them on various legal issues as they arise. |
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