2006 Candidate Questionnaire
SECTION I
BASIC CANDIDATE INFORMATION
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?
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Born and raised on Mercer Island, voted here all my life (often via Absentee Ballot). |
5. How long have you resided in King County?
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Same. |
6. Is the office sought partisan or nonpartisan? Partisan Nonpartisan
CAMPAIGN CONTACTS
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Campaign Name: |
Committee to Elect Dale |
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Address: |
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City/State/Zip: |
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Campaign Fax: |
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Campaign E-mail: |
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Campaign Website: |
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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) |
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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 III
In this section, we are seeking responses that reflect the four ratings criteria: involvement, effectiveness, character, and knowledge. These are defined as follows:
- Involvement: What has the candidate done previously in family, neighborhood, community, volunteer work, employment or public life to suggest readiness to accomplish challenging objectives? How do these activities demonstrate readiness for the challenges unique to the office sought?
- Effectiveness: Has the candidate demonstrated promise of being productive in the office sought? Has the candidate shown the ability to work with other people?
- Character: Do the candidate's personal traits show the ability to take on the responsibilities of campaigning for and holding the public office she or he is seeking? Is the candidate a leader, participant or observer? Is the candidate trustworthy, reliable and candid?
- Knowledge: Has the candidate demonstrated the willingness and ability to learn and adapt? Does the candidate understand the duties and challenges of the office sought? Does the candidate have a firm grasp of the issues important to his or her constituency and their potential effects?
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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I am running for State Representative because the challenges facing our State (and beyond) have reached the point that I am no longer comfortable simply teaching about them. As a professor I emphasize social responsibility and business ethics to my students (primarily MBA and MSFS candidates), and have encouraged them to run for office. Given my interests and background I would feel I was abdicating my responsibility if I did not get involved myself. Among the State-wide issues that motivate me are the following: 1) Improving our health-care system to provide affordable quality coverage for all Washingtonians, starting with childrren under 18. 2) Supporting public education, including providing for adequate funding and continuing training of teachers. 3) Providing real economic security, which means not only near-term traffic improvements, but also longer-term transportation planning for our highways and ports. As major trading cities, Seattle and Tacoma depend on trade for jobs and we are targets for attack; Olympia needs to play an appropriate leadership role in national security issues that affect us. 4) More generally, I believe I can play a useful continuing role as an educator, reaching a broader audience than in the classroom. |
2. Describe your most important personal characteristics or traits as they relate to the office you seek.
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I have a strong sense of moral obligation and civic duty. In high-school, I helped establish the "Committee to Save the Earth," an environmental group. We were awarded the Washington State Environmental Excellence Award for establishing the Mercer Island Recycling Center. Funds from recyling were used to sponsor environmental programs. My undergraduate thesis was on the moral obligation of Third-World development.
My teaching and writing emphasize the interconnectedness of business, politics, ethics, media, and other aspects of civic life. I bring to this office a command of international issues and how they relate to our local economy, as well as the values of a native-son. I have read, studied, written books and articles, and taught business and international relations for 20 years. I kept my residency in Washington State, even when working in Washington, DC, because it has always been my home. I love the culture, the outdoor orientation, and the strong sense of community here.
I do not shy away from major issues, I seek them out and seek a leadership role in solving them. For example, I choose to work for Citibank to help resolve the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s, as a staff member to CEO John Reed. I spent a summer working for the Reagan Administration on US-Soviet relations, and helped Secretary of State George Shultz prepare for his seminal negotiations with Edward Shevardnadze (see below).
I have a strong sense of civic duty; I am more motivated by this than I am by material rewards. The goal of my second book project is to resuscitate the concept of "common good" (or "public interest") which, astonishingly, has largely fallen into disrepute in the social sciences and been misused in politics. |
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.
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a) As a scholar, my book published by Oxford University Press (2004) is a major source of pride: "The Structure of Regulatory Competition: corporations and public policies in a global economy." This was an ambitious book. I sought (and provided) a general explanation of globalization's impact on all domestic regulations. I was rewarded when the #1 US scholar of international relations, Robert O. Keohane, endorsed the book; and by favorable reviews in the #1 US political science review journal and elsewhere. (See the attached review by the APSA's "Perspectives on Politics.") What relates directly to holding State office is that I explain how the policy-process works, the divergent preferences of powerful firms, and the impact on public policies. Even though the book addresses issues that are highly contentious -- recall the 1999 WTO meetings here in Seattle -- I remain objective about these and above-the-fray, seeking an explanation that all participants can agree on and find useful, whether they work for firms, NGOs, or governments.
b) I spent the summer of 1987 working for the Reagan Administration, in the State Department's Policy Planning Staff. My job was to develop briefing material for Secretary of State George Shultz on long-term economic, technology, and security trends, for use in his ongoing meetings with Soviet Foreign Minister Edward Shevardnadze. Contrary to the bluster of other officials, Shultz did "not want Soviet-bashing," he wanted facts. I am proud that my analyses played a part in propelling Gorbachev's realization that the Soviet economic model could not survive.
c) I joined Citibank as an assistant vice president to work on developing-country debt issues. Citibank held 1/4 of all Latin American debt and was the lead negotiator. I am proud of the role I played in breaking the deadlock on debt negotiations. Citibank had been the main proponent of sovereign-debt lending ("countries don't go belly up"), so this took considerable work in navigating the internal corporate culture as well as US Treasury and Latin government officials. I was pleased to help Citibank accept the Brady Plan, which succeeded in resolving debt issues and allowing the resumption of lending. |
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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I taught for the past nine years in the Landegger Program in International Business Diplomacy (IBD) at Georgetown University, which trains students to examine the intersection of the public and private sectors. Over time I grew to understand in what areas MBA and MSFS students most need help to further their understanding of the business and political worlds. My pedagogical orientation combines theoretical and historical approaches with attention to current events, in a Socratic method of discussion, such that I had to stay abreast of major issues of the day. I got to know each students strengths and weaknesses, and challenged them to push forward their own thinking. For example, I challenge MBA students to understand the difference between the free-market (a theoretical ideal-type involving many assumptions) and private-sector realities. I grew to emphasize business ethics, corporate responsibility, and entrepreneurship in my courses, as ways to increase students' civic-minded interests and capabilities. My book (see above) explains how globalization affects the creationn of local laws and regulations. The single greatest lesson of my career in analyzing business and governments is that the questions they ask (or avoid) determines the answer they provide. This skill of asking the best questions is readily transferable.
Starting a company or non-profit creates value and jobs (over half the employment in Washington State is provided by small companies; women-owned small firms alone employ more than the Fortune 500 combined). Teaching others to start companies is a form of civic involvement. One example is "Global Integrity," a non-profit started by a student who took my Startups course, and invited me to serve on the Board (pro bono). Global Integrity's mission statement is to "provide global citizens -- including the public, private sector, NGOs, and governments -- with tools to analyze governance trends in a globalized world." Global Integrity generates and disseminates credible and timely information on governance and corruption trends around the world. They completed reports on 25 countries and have 50 more underway, with significant acclaim.
My role as a professor extended beyond the classroom. I was an active faculty advisor for a student group called Net Impact (formerly Students for Socially Responsible Business). I helped build this into the largest club in the Georgetown MBA program, with a second chapter in the School of Foreign Service. We hosted the annual national conference, which attracted 900 participants to hear 150 speakers address ways to use the power of business to improve the world. Our chapter won the chapter of the year award (out of 120 chapters worldwide). Net Impact encourages civic involvement in many areas -- environment, community relations, workforce issues, and other stakeholders. My former Net Impact students now include the manager and the assistant manager of Corporate Responsibility at Nike, two executives working in stakeholder relations at 3M, an International Finance Corporation specialist in micro-lending, etc.
On a personal level, my commitment to caregiving for my late parents and grandmother gave me insights into Washington's health and elder-care systems. My father fought Parkinson's Disease for 20 years, and helping him and my mother was a significant investment of time. My brother and I increasingly took on all responsibilities for them, from hands-on nursing to financial management.
One final example is my work in Cambodian refugee camps, when I was 20-21. These were difficult conditions ("The Killing Fields" movie portrays one of the camps I worked in.) Cross-cultural understanding, building programs under pressure (one Camp had active skirmishes with Vietnamese-backed troops), and administration were some of the transferable skills I learned.
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- Please describe the duties of the office you seek. Which are the most important duties and why?
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The formal duties of the State House include the creation of new State laws, changing existing laws, and enacting budgets for the State that reflect the interests of my constitutents and the common good for the State. These are all important; my training as a banker and business educator emphasizes fiscally responsible leadership and keeping a balanced budget as a high priority. There are other, informally-prescribed roles that a good State Representative should play. The most important of these in my opinion is to shape the public agenda, through interviews, press releases, hearings, and debate. Public opinion is largely shaped via mass media. I see a State Representative's role as not merely a law-maker and problem-solver, but also a public educator. |
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.
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BA: Philosophy & Economic Development, Middlebury College, 1982 PhD: International Relations & International Business, MIT, 1995 |
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.
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Georgetown University: professor of business, international relations, and entrepreneurship; Deputy Director of Landegger Program in International Business Diplomacy.
Net Impact: Faculty advisor.
Global Integrity: Board Member.
US State Department: Policy Planning Staff.
Next Generation Democrats: co-founder, foreign-policy group.
UN High Command for Refugees (UNHCR) and CARE-Thailand: field volunteer.
UN Global Compact conference in Kazakhstan on CSR and public-private partnerships. |
Finished!
If at all possible, send your response to the Municipal League electronically as an attachment, or insert it into an e-mail message (cec@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 newsletter 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: Jennifer DiGiacomo
Seattle, WA 98104-1614 Fax: 425-671-0506 Website: www.munileague.org