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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13+ Years |
6. Is the office sought partisan or nonpartisan? Partisan Nonpartisan
CAMPAIGN CONTACTS
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Campaign Name: |
Citizens for Orin Wells |
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Address: |
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City/State/Zip: |
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Campaign Phone: |
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Campaign Fax: |
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Campaign E-mail: |
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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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Office Title |
Year of Run |
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King County Counci - Position 9 (unsuccessfully sought appointment)
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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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It is human nature to reflect on how others in public office do their jobs, whether it is percieved as effective or ineffective, and either praise those in office or grumble about one's belief that the job is not getting done properly. I had reached a position where I could either continue to complain about how King County was being run and what I believed were inappropriate decisions or to step up to the bar and try my hand at doing a better job. This is the basic reason I am running for office. I am not running so much to defeat the incumbent in the office as to make an attempt to alter what I believe is a culture that has taken hold on the County Council. There are many issues where I believe the current members of the Council are not making decisions based on the needs and direction from the constituents. In fact in some cases it appears they are ignoring the wishes of the constituents. Recognizing that if I were to win my race the balance on the Council would change I would have an opportunity to work cooperatively with the remaining members to modify some previous bad decisions and to make contributions in areas that are in great need of attention. |
2. Describe your most important personal characteristics or traits as they relate to the office you seek.
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My background influenced by the principles of Scouting as an Eagle Scout have given me personal characterists of honesty, sincerity and concern for both my fellow man and nature. I realize that every politician seems to say this sort of thing, but I feel that in my case this is who I am. I am greatly disturbed by the social services delivered in our County that do not seem to be solving the everyday problems experienced by those we are supposed to be serving. I am also trained in Math, Physics and Computer Science which gives me a unique ability to analyze problems and work with others to find solutions. It appears that most who have spent their lives in the government sector have lost the ability to look at issues with the detachment and open minded approach to finding creative solutions that is necessary. When faced with an issue I prefer not to be bound by the traditional beliefs but to look to those who are involved on the gound level to more fully understand an issue and work toward a solution that others might initially say "that can't work" or "we don't do it that way". |
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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Again the experience in the Boy Scouts as a leader is the primary experience in this area. When one is as active as I was at the time both in the troop and within the Boy Scout Council and working full time as well one has little time for other efforts. At the end of this experience I moved overseas to Switzerland and Germany for 8 years. During that time I was consumed full time by my work and commute and had no time to get involved in local activities in the communities. After returning to the US I was again engaged full time with a small business that left me no time to look to being involved with community activities. However, I have been involved helping with my neighborhood owners association. I have also been engaged in assisting with road-side cleanup projects. Additionally I have been operating the Wells Family Research Association with membership of about 700 world-wide that helps genealogical researchers. I have also been operating a DNA project related to genealogy for the past 5 years that has tested nearly 350 participants and is the largest project of it's kind (a surname project) in the world - so far. In each of these activities I have learned a great deal about working with others.
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The county council is the legislative arm of the King County government. As such the members of the council are called on to pass ordnances impacting laws, regulations and the annual budget. They also serve on and oversee many different aspects of the county government and they are the people's representatives to the county. One of the duties is to chair various committees and to oversee reports on the work of the committees and to present feedback to the council. In my opinion THE most important duty of a council member are to be the contact point for citizens within the county who have problems or who want to have something accomplished by the county. Often this is as simple as identifying the correct contact within the county to handle the problem or to engage in an investigation of the issue and present the findings to the council and give feedback to the citizen(s). There are many great challenges continually facing the county related to the county infrastructure such as sewer, roads, transportation, elections and other day to day tasks that may seem simple on the surface but are actually very complex. It is the responsibilty of each member of the council to review every piece of legislation presented to the council and be familiar with all aspects of the legislation before voting. If necessary the council member's office must research the issues associated with the legislation and to reach out to the members of the community who will be most impacted by the legislation to give them an opportunity to comment on it. Sometimes the council seems to give the community a chance to comment then ignores the input. |
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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Educated at Chico State College in California, the University of Arizona and Arizona State University. BS in Computer Science from ASU with minors in Math and Physics. |
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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12 years as a Scoutmaster and volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America. Coordinator of the world's largest genealogical surname DNA study. |
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