1. Name as it will appear on the ballot
|
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?
|
43 years |
6. Is the office sought partisan or nonpartisan? Partisan Nonpartisan
CAMPAIGN CONTACTS
|
Campaign Name: |
Sue Rahr for Sheriff |
|
|
Address: |
|
|
|
City/State/Zip: |
|
|
|
Campaign Phone: |
|
|
|
Campaign Fax: |
|
|
|
Campaign E-mail: |
|
|
|
Campaign Website: |
|
|
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 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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.)
|
I care deeply about the citizens of King County and the thousand plus members of the Sheriff’s Office. Without question, I am the most qualified candidate for the job. I’ve paid my dues during my 26 years of service with the Sheriff’s Office, steadily working up the ranks. I started as a Patrol Officer, and worked every precinct in the county. I’ve worked as an:
• Undercover Narcotics Detective, • Supervisor of the Sexual Assault Unit, • Commander of the Gang Unit, • Chief of Police in Shoreline, and • The Sheriff’s Field Operations Chief.
I understand law enforcement from the ground up.
Dave Reichert selected me to finish his term as Sheriff when he was elected to Congress because he knows my dedication and integrity firsthand. My appointment was confirmed by every member of the King County Council, both the Democrats and Republicans.
As the first woman Sheriff in King County I’m used to leading based on knowledge and experience – broad experience ranging from directing tactical patrol operations to managing $110 million dollar budget.
I’ve been endorsed be key members of each party including: • Attorney General - Rob McKenna, • King County Prosecutor - Norm Maleng, • King County Democratic Chair - Susan Sheary, • County Council Chair - Larry Phillips, • former Congresswoman - Jennifer Dunn, and • nearly every Sheriff in the State.
My endorsements also include a broad range of labor unions, such as the Aerospace Machinists, professional organizations including the King County Fire Chiefs, and bipartisan groups such as the Women’s Political Caucus. These endorsements represent the community I serve. I am the Sheriff for everyone in King County and I am dedicated to ensuring that everyone’s rights and safety are protected.
Combating Methamphetimine is my top priority. I’m currently working with top law enforcement agencies across the state as well as a multi-discipline team of community and treatment professionals to stop the spread of this dangerous drug and the associated crimes of auto theft, identity theft, and fraud. |
2. Describe your most important personal characteristics or traits as they relate to the office you seek.
|
My most important characteristics are my courage and integrity. During my 26 years of service my courage has evolved from having the courage to handle the physical dangers I faced as a patrol officer on the street, to having the courage of a leader, strong enough to make tough decisions and withstand criticism and, on occasion, blatant retaliation. When I make a decision, I always strive to do what I believe is right, not only for the Sheriff’s Office, but also the community.
Both my courage and integrity have been challenged recently with two unpopular employment decisions I made. The first involved two very popular deputies who crossed the line and used excessive force against an informant. I believe their actions undermined the trust of the community we serve, and were a disgrace to the profession. I recommended that they be criminally charged and fired. The criminal case ended up with a hung jury, and the Sheriff at the time decided to suspend rather than fire them. The judge ordered the Sheriff’s Office to pay all their legal fees, which exceeded $800,000 and both deputies are now suing me for a million dollars each. Because they were such strongly supported union members, this unpopular decision cost me the endorsement of their union. If I had to do it again, I would not change my recommendation because I believe it was the right thing to do.
The second unpopular decision I made is a stark contrast to the first example. When I took office in January, I inherited a discipline case from the previous Sheriff. This case has been reported for the past week in a highly sensationalized exposé in the Seattle PI that disregarded the legal issues of the case. This case involved a detective assigned to gathering intelligence information on adult entertainment. He had clearly crossed the line of ethical behavior and his actions were despicable. However, many of the allegations against him were impossible to prove as they spanned a period of nearly 20 years, and we had very little conclusive evidence. There were significant technical problems with both the criminal case and the disciplinary case. While I personally believed he committed the acts he was accused of, I knew with equal certainty that we would not be able to reach the standard of proof for either a successful criminal prosecution or a termination. (King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng agreed with my assessment.)
I was faced with the choice of standing on the moral and politically safe high ground and firing him – a decision that I am certain would have been reversed in arbitration – or, finding a way to ensure that he could never, ever carry a badge and gun. I knew the legal fees that would be incurred with a failed arbitration would be many hundreds of thousands of dollars, and worse, I would be ordered to return this unethical, disgraceful man to the position of police officer.
I made the only decision that guaranteed he could never be a police officer again and would save hundreds of thousands of tax dollars. I knew I would be starkly criticized for this decision by those who didn’t know all the facts or have an understanding of the complexities of labor law in Washington State. However, I had the courage to make the right decision for both integrity of the Sheriff’s Office and the safety of the community. My courage is now being tested as I am being portrayed in a way that does not accurately represent the true nature of the situation. If I had it to do all over again, I would make the same decision, even knowing the avalanche of criticism that would follow, because I know it was the right thing to do. The bottom line for me is, I will not sacrifice my integrity to enhance my popularity or ensure my election. |
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.
|
As a former domestic violence advocate and a Co-Convener of the King County Domestic Violence Council, I have been a staunch supporter of our non-profit, agency and corporate efforts to clean up this sad crime which continues to take strength from families for all the lives of everyone in it. I have grown up as a professional police officer alongside the energy and efforts of a dozen agencies who have tried valiantly to make a change in the previously-considered silent crime of domestic violence. I have found the women and men to invest their time, their money and their commitment to this issue; I have attended the breakfasts and the fundraisers. I have brought my colleagues, my supervisors and friends into this colossal effort to make domestic violence an issue we could eradicate in my lifetime. It is an issue that I will remember in meetings about budget priorities, staff assignments, and efforts for new program funding.
|
|
The most important duty of my job is to keep communities in King County safe and secure. To accomplish this, I need to maximize the resources we have – the Sheriffs and staff, the technology and the relationships we have with our cities and regional law enforcement agencies. In the Sheriff’s Office we are making major technology improvements – indeed, by the end of the year we will make the most significant stride in our history: computer access to our main database from police vehicles. Regional, seamless law enforcement is especially important in these times of homeland security threats. I dedicate time every day to making sure we are all on the same page when it comes to cooperation amongst the police agencies. Relations with the City of Seattle are improving daily, while region-wide cooperation is growing. We are now working amongst many police agencies and our federally-elected officials to secure funding for a helicopter to aid in protecting all our citizens. I am currently the Vice Chair of the Regional Law, Safety and Justice Committee and a member of the King County Police Chief’s Association and the Washington State Association of Sheriff’s and Police Chiefs. As your Sheriff, it is my job to lead and advocate changes that will result in a more efficient and effective criminal justice system and deliver reliable and professional law enforcement service to all the citizens of King County. |
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.
|
Bachelor of Arts (cum laude) Criminal Justice, Washington State University, June 1979 |
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.
|
As a former domestic violence advocate and a Co-Convener of the King County Domestic Violence Council, I have been a staunch supporter of our non-profit, agency and corporate efforts to clean up this sad crime which continues to take strength from families for all the lives of everyone in it. I have grown up as a professional police officer alongside the energy and efforts of a dozen agencies who have tried valiantly to make a change in the previously-considered silent crime of domestic violence. |
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