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 total in King County |
6. Is the office sought partisan or nonpartisan? Partisan Nonpartisan
CAMPAIGN CONTACTS
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Campaign Name: |
Friends to Elect Greg Schmidt for King County Sheriff |
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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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Year of Run |
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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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1) I am a community servant at heart: I started my community servant work as a high school teacher and then entered law enforcement in 1986. My role as an educator has been a perfect fit for law enforcement over the years. The Sheriff's position, the Sheriff's Department, and King County citizens can benefit greatly with a new leader bringing in fresh ideas, a track record of real progress to the law enforcement profession, combined with the knowledge and skills to get the job done right.
2) Building trust in the community: One of the key leadership qualities that I bring to this position is the trust that I have built with the King County community over the past 20 years. Building trust within the community is paramount for the King County Sheriff's Department to get back on solid ground with the community and paramount for the Sheriff's Department to make the needed improvements to get back to providing the best police services available.
I have a passion for my chosen profession of law enforcement. I have been dismayed at the political issues that have come to pass from both outside and inside of law enforcement circles. I have learned first hand that it takes knowledge, skills, and true leadership within law enforcement to challenge and actually combat the efforts of those who try to sully and head law enforcement down the wrong path.
Politics are very much ingrained in the King County Sheriff's Department. Chief Gil Kerlikowske of the Seattle Police Department has written and spoke nationally on the issue of politics in law enforcement. I agree, we must curtail and put an end to the improper influence of politics in many aspects of the law enforcement profession. The community demands true leadership, not political leadership, that is where I am clearly the most qualified candidate for the Sheriff's position in King County.
3) The Sheriff's Department needs to prioritize and better define its mission: The campaign trail has been an actual education campagin to many of the citizens of King County as to what services the King County Sheriff's Department actually provides to the 1.3 million people that live in the incorporated cities of the county and the 500,000 people that live in the unincorporated areas of the county. As a leader, this shows that the King County Sheriff's Department needs to better communicate with its constituents as to the police services that it provides, whether they be regional services to the entire county, contract services to individual cities, or direct police services to the unincorporated areas of the county.
4) The Sheriff's Department must be a better provider of direct police services: The manner in which the Sheriff's Department carries out its mission must be in the most effective and efficient manner possible. This will be difficult in times of budgets decreasing while demands for services continue to increase. The next Sheriff must have a solid foundation of improving work systems and leading change as a precurser to being the actual leader. My track record of improving work systems and removing excesses in government is well documented. |
2. Describe your most important personal characteristics or traits as they relate to the office you seek.
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Integrity: The community has always demanded and I have always delivered.
Listen: Leaders and politicians frequently talk about Admiting to mistakes, Learning from mistakes and then Moving an organization forward from those mistakes. The first critical step is often overlooked in that you have to Listen to the community, friends and foe, as a critical first step in that sequence of events. My track record has clearly shown my dedication to Listening to the community as a critical first step.
Role Model the Way: The expectations for my troops have always been clear. I expect nothing from those that I lead if I do not lead by example.
Challenge the Process: Law Enforcement is ripe for challenging the manner in which we conduct our business. I have continually challenged the process in government from my days as a Police Officer to my last 10 years as a Police Commander.
Effective and Efficient: Before I focus on being efficient, I first challenge the process to make sure that I am being effective. Effective as I apply it, is doing the right thing. After I am sure that I am doing the "right thing", I then focus on being efficient and doing that "thing right". |
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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1) Founder of Families First of Washington, 1994 - present:
Families First of Washington is a non-profit organization that works for families in turmoil related to family violence or family law matters. We offer low fee or no fee services for all types of services that families often seek out when dealing with issues of family violence or family law.
My work fulfilling the mission of Families First began when I created the Domestic Violence Unit for the Seattle Police Department back in 1994. On my own time, I volunteered through churches and my own community outreaching efforts to work with families as they dealt with issues of violence or divorce.
My work expanded in 1999 to creating an organization called Every Victim Counts. This organization worked to assist all victims of family violence and to further educate law makers and the criminal justice system on how improvements could be made in our response to family violence.
These efforts culminated in the creation of Families First of Washington. Families First has recently moved into a 4,800 square foot building and has been able to increase the services that it provides to Families. These services include: 1) Supervised Parenting, 2) a state of the art conference room where parents or service providers can receive education or training on issues related to the family, 3) a counseling room which is a quiet room where professionals or lay people can meet with others going through difficult times, and 4) our Self-Help Area which has four internet ready computers with all of the family law related court documents provided for free (see attachments).
Families First also assists other non-profit organizations with their own work with families by providing them needed space or resources to fulfill their own missions.
2) Tutoring program in Rainier Valley for at risk youth at night, 1989 and 1990:
As a former high school teacher and in 1989 a 3 year police officer, I saw that some of the problems I dealt with on the street had to do with our youth and their home and/or school life. I worked with the Seattle Parks Department to create a space at night where I could bring in other teachers, along with myself, and tutor at risk youth on Friday and Saturday nights.
Getting kids into the classroom on weekend nights was a challenge, but one we were able to overcome. We assisted youth with specific homework issues, SAT performance, and with overall issues of staying in school and not settling for a G.E.D..
I was recognized for my efforts with this Tutoring Program by both the Seattle Police and Parks Departments. I was also quite surprised a few years later when reading a Law Enforcement Management book when it highlighted successes of the Seattle Police Department in building trust in the community and identified the program I created.
3) Local and national speaker on topics related to Family Violence, Family Law, Identity Theft, Crime Prevention and Financial Exploitation of the Elderly, 1999 - Present:
My work as a former high school teacher, currently as a law enforcement commander, and through my non-profit work with Families First I have done an extensive amount of public speaking locally, state-wide, and nationally. I have educated all spectrums of the criminal justice system on issues of family violence and how to best respond and be proactive in our approach. I was the keynote speaker as far away as Louisiana when speaking on our response to family violence.
On the state level I have traveled east of the mountains speaking at college campuses and to family law practioners. I also have testified frequently in Olympia on legislative issues.
Locally my speaking engagements are often through churches, clubs or block watches on any issue related to law enforcement. Speaking to these groups often gets into topics of traditional crime prevention and the more modern cyber-space technology based crime prevention issues such as Identity Theft.
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The Sheriff's Department provides Direct Police Services to the approximately 500,000 citizens in the unincorporated areas of King County. As areas of unincorporated King County continue to be annexed or incorporate, under my leadership, the services to those areas will not be compromised during any transition period.
The Sheriff's Department provides Contract Police Services to 12 incorporated cities and 3 additional entities within King County. Under my leadership, the Sheriff's Department will work tirelessly to ensure that incorporated cities choose the Sheriff's Department to provide their police services because of the quality, manner, and competitve nature in which the services are provided, and not choose us because we are the default provider of services.
The Sheriff's Department provides Regional Police Services to all of King County which includes: - Enforcement of civil orders (e.g. service of domestic violence protection orders, property/eviction orders)
- Search and rescue
- Emergency Management Services
- Felony Warrant Service
- Court Security Service
While all duties of the Sheriff's Department are very important, as the Sheriff, the over arching duties that I need to keep on the top of my list:
Duties to the community: - I will challenge the process so that the Sheriff's Department will continually strive to provide the best law enforcement services to all citizens in a fair and unbiased manner - I will constantly work to earn your trust, not by my words, but by my actions
Duties to the sworn and civilian members at all ranks of the King County Sheriff's Department: - I will lead by example - I will provide you with the best resources and training that we can provide so they you may fulfill your mission of providing the best quality law enforcement services in a fair and unbiased manner - I will hold you to account for your actions and your inactions
Duties to the County Council, County Executive, and other government leaders: - I will work diligently with you for the good of all citizens in King County - I will enforce the laws and ordinances that you establish - I will keep your politics and other inappropriate influences from detering me from my duties as Sheriff to uphold the law in a fair and unbiased manner
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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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Education Degree - Univ. of Wash. - 1985 Executive Training - Univ. of Wash. - 2003 Executive Academy - NW Univ. - 2004 |
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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1) Founder of Families First of Washington, 1994 - present: Families First of Washington is a non-profit organization that works for Families in turmoil related to family violence or family law.
2) Tutoring program for at risk youth, 1989 - 1990: Created a tutoring program in Rainier Valley at night where youth could receive help on homework, SAT, etc.
3) Local and national speaker on topics related to Family Violence, Identity Theft, and Financial Exploitation of the Elderly, 1999 - 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