The Municipal League of King County

810 Third Avenue, Suite 224

Seattle, WA 98104

 

2005 Board of Trustees

 

Rita Brogan, Chair

Mark Troxel, Vice Chair

Beth M. Arman, Secretary

Harold Taniguchi, Treasurer

 

Putnam Barber, Executive Alliance

Vaughnetta J. Barton, community volunteer

Jill D. Bowman, Stoel Rives

Patricia Bowman, human resources manager (ret.)

Bruce Carter, judge pro tem, Seattle Municipal Court

Kevin Carter, Safeco

Stephanie Cirkovich, Pike Place Market PDA

Peter Coates, Building and Construction Trades Council

Chris Cooper, CHHIP

Paul Demitriades, Medina City Council (ret.)

Sandra Driscoll, City Attorney (ret)

Deborah Eddy, Consultant

Keven Franklin, King County

Mary Gates, Consultant

Norma Jean Hanson, Norma Jean Hanson Paralegal Services

Robert Klein, McNaul, Ebel, Nawrot, and Helgren

Eric Laschever, Stoel Rives

Steve Marshall, Snohomish PUD

Rob Neate, Puget Sound Energy

Jennifer Piccolo, citizen activist

Charles Redell, Reporter

Tami Ritoch, Fireside Homes Real Estate Associate

R. Todd Slind, CH2MHill

Lucy Steers, public participation consultant

Harold Taniguchi, King County Department of Transportation

Rashelle Tanner, CRISTA Ministries

David Tarshes, Davis Wright Tremaine

Kate Tate, Weyerhauser

Philip Thompson, Perkins Coie

Mark Troxel, City of Seattle

Wes Uhlman, Wes Uhlman & Associates

Rich White, Boeing

2005 CANDIDATE BACKGROUND QUESTIONNAIRE
FOR NON-JUDICIAL CANDIDATES

 

The Municipal League of King County requests every candidate who participates in the candidate evaluation process to submit background information prior to his/her interview with a candidate evaluation committee.  The questionnaire is the basis of the League’s research and interview process.  The League’s ratings are non-partisan; they are based on standards of Involvement, Effectiveness, Character, and Knowledge, all of which have been developed and refined over the past 90 years.

 

A printed version of the questionnaire is available for candidates who prefer to use the traditional format.  To obtain a hard copy, please contact the League office.  A copy of this questionnaire will be provided to Candidate Evaluation Committee members to help them prepare for your interview.  Candidate responses, except the confidential section, will be available to the general public at the League website. 

 

The Municipal League requests the following materials from candidates.  Please check to make certain you have sent in your:

 

      Candidate Questionnaire

          Sent by:         Email             US Mail          Fax            Not Sending

      Resume (education, employment, and professional activities)

          Sent by:         Email             US Mail          Fax            Not Sending

               Check here if you DO NOT want your resume posted on the Municipal

                   League website

      Campaign Materials

          Sent by:         Email             US Mail          Fax            Not Sending

      Constituent Newsletters and other publications

          Sent by:         Email             US Mail          Fax            Not Sending

      Photograph

          Sent by:         Email             US Mail          Fax            Not Sending

 

Note: Electronically submitted questionnaires are strongly preferred. All materials can be emailed to rebecca@munileague.org.  They can be processed and made available on-line far more rapidly than handwritten or typed submissions.

 

For non-electronic submissions, please print clearly and legibly and return the application as soon as possible in order to allow the committee the greatest amount of time to prepare a complete report on your skills and experience.

 

If you have not yet been contacted to schedule an interview, or if you have questions about the candidate evaluation program, please contact the League office at 206-264-1070.

 

If you have a disability and require accommodation to participate in the candidate evaluation process, please contact Rebecca Cooper at the League office.

2005 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

James

L

Lauinger

 

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

 

Kirkland City Council

 

3.   Are you the incumbent?                  Yes              No

 

 

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

 

14 years

 

5.   How long have you resided in King County?

 

21 years

 

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

                                                                                                                       

7.   If partisan, please indicate party:       

 

CAMPAIGN CONTACTS

 

 

Campaign Name:

 

Friends of Jim Lauinger

 

Address:

 

609 18th Ave West

 

City/State/Zip:

 

Kirkland, WA 98033

 

Campaign Phone:

 

425 822-7741

 

 

Campaign Fax:

 

     

 

 

Campaign E-mail:

 

jim@electjim.org

 

 

Campaign Website:

 

electjim.org

 

 

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)

Kirkland City Council

 

Elected

 

01/02-Present

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

 

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:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.)

 

First and on the light side…because it is a totally enjoyable and positive endeavor…surprisingly! Having the ability to freely vision and then beging to set policy parameters, top seek out public input, hold hearings, adjust, enact and see the results is a thrill beyond what I experienced in a far faster private sector arena.

 

More seriously, my prior election was decisive due to the community investing time, money, and hope in my candidacy. They have continued to "invest" their time and support in my council activities over the past four years. This "investment" demands a return back to them for a second 4 year term.

 

The process of local government is slow. Most of what I will be writing of below is the effort of four years of steady work. I would imagine that perhaps only half of what has been worked on has been brought to a conclusion. The balance remains as work in process. There are also significant issues in line yet to be initially discussed.

 

One cannot ever leave office with all the work completed, of course. However, there are  issues that I have equity in that I hope to guide to resolution over the next four years. 

 


 

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

 

I believe that five attributes are key to a successful public career: Integrity, Leadership,Listening/communicating, Persuasion, and Participation. Integrity cuts to the heart of politics and community service and begins with representing the City and self in a manner that is unquestionable. I take pride in that the decisions that I have made, while not always  popular, are never questioned regarding motives.

Being a community leader prior and certainly during your elected term is critical. The community wants to see their electeds not only engaged in the process of the office but also involved in the general affairs of the community…being visible and importantly, being accessible.

Along with accessability, the public servant must be an excellent communicator, and in particular the "listening" portion of the communication process. Often, a citizen concern can beTh well handled simply by calling, showing up, and listening. Too often today I hear that "politicians" are not interested in listening!

Persuasion may not be on other's lists but it is a favorite of mine. A council member needs to exercise leadership within the council body and may often need to move towards an approach to persuade their fellow members towards their view or towards a subject with which they have expertise.

Participation is connected to persuasion in that a council member must be willing to be an active participant…study the issues, seek to understand, connect with fellow council members and help craft decisions that are representative of the community's widely held values.

 

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. 

 

Kirkland historically has had a sidewalk construction policy tied to new construction and home remodels. With it came a policy of concomitant agreements whereby the builder/homeowner could sign a promise to put in and pay for a sidewalk some day in the future, or perhaps when the City might "call them in." In many cases the homeowner called may well not be the current homeowner. The City carried nearly 2.0 million on the books in collectable concomitants, which were quite unpopular, and had questionable legality. Early in my term the Council became confronted with the issue full force as the city began to make the calls. Getting involved, visited homes of those involved who in many cases did not even want sidewalks, walked streets, and worked with staff to find alternative ways to proceed. An early Council vote on a policy change was defeated 6-1 with me being the "1." Not stopping, I began working and sharing information with another council member and before the next council meeting had him convinced that the vote was incorrect. With his advice, I asked if

Council would look at the issue once more and by the next meeting we were ready to cast a new 2-5 vote supporting my study and reasoning. I subsequentally continued to volunteer to work on three consecutive sidewalk committees, am now working on a sidewalk bond committee, and have shepherded a totally new sidewalk policy forward over the three years.

I am also proud of the work I have done using the same attributes from #2 above that have resulted in Kirkland's status as a "Tree City USA" municipality and will soon see the outcome of three years of work for Kirkland's first tree ordinance. As with sidewalks, I achieved early  expertise by reviewing nearly 200 ordinances throughout the country making note of items of success and of failure. I introduced the terminology to Council and slowly with staff's advice began to help craft policy that was then reviewed by stakeholders, corrected and mitigated for hopefulloy approval late this year. As with sidewalks, trees can be a heated topic and needed the visits, the listening and exposure to the opponents concerns.  In both cases I believe with out the attributes of the second question I would have failed on two important topics.

 

 

 

   


 

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.

 

As a small, community based business owner, I began to invest in to the community early in the 90's. It just seemed to make sense to begin returning profits back to the community and in time, to begin to invest my time as well. I became a board member of Hopelink in 1996 (known then as Multi-Service Centers of North and East King County) eventually serving as a two year Board Chair leading the board in a capital campaign resulting in three new facilities serving the Eastside as well as the change of name. Simutaneously I served on the board (1994) and eventually as a two year (1998-1999) Board Chair of the Kirkland Chamber of Commerce, and attended a year's study and work with the Eastside located Leadership Institute. Additionally, I volunteered and served at this time as a Planning Commissioner for Kirkland (1997-2001) and also as Chair. I was also a Kirkland Rotary member from 1988 to 2000, and served as President in 1993.

 

With all of the above, I found that my ability to communicate and to lead essential to my  development as a future public official.

 

Currently I am semi-retired, and spend most of my time on council and city issues. The time needed for this allows for little else in outside public and volunteer work

 

The community has recognized my efforts with numeroud awards and citation. They are on my short biography being sent by mail.

 

 

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

 

1. Protect the spirit and meaning of the Comprehensive Plan; know and be familiar with most of the general concepts the plan articulates and how the zoning potentially applies.

 

2. Protect and nurture the fiscal integrityof the City. Know and understand the budget and the past and future revenue and expenditure trends. Understand the sources of revenue and the service aspects of operating the City. (I have been on the Finance Committee the past 4 years)

 

3. Actively listen and respond to the concerns of the community. Be involved and proactive but fair in the attention your give to various parties to avoid partiality.

 

4. Provide leadership in visioning the future, a key and often overlooked responsibility as we concentrate on the hot issues of the day. However, we must always keep aware of the future relative to the policy decisions we make today. Time must also be set aside for collective visioning and dialoging Kirkland's future.

 

5. Represent the City and it's needs on regional policy committees. Our future is closely tied to regional outcomes and we must be at the table to shape policy for both the region's prosperity and for that of Kirkland.


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.

 

BS Business Administration, Portland State College, 1963; MS Retail Marketing, New York University, 1964.

 

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: 206-264-1070                Email: rebecca@munileague.org

Seattle, WA 98104-1614                        Fax: 425-671-0506                        Website: www.munileague.org