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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15 years |
6. Is the office sought partisan or nonpartisan? Partisan Nonpartisan
CAMPAIGN CONTACTS
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Campaign Name: |
Bryant for Port |
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Address: |
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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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United States Export Import Bank
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US Agriultural Trade Advisory Committee
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Congressional Advisory Committee on Agriculture, Trade and the Environment
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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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I have dedicated my career to expanding trade for Washington State's exports. Traveling around the world the last twenty years has given me a deep understanding of international trade. It has also reinforced something I knew from growing up hiking in the Olympic Mountains and playing in Hood Canal's tidal pools, and that is how incredibly fortunate we are to live in the Pacific Northwest. That is why I have supported and led efforts to protect open space, restore habitat and protect our environment. My experiences in international trade and environmental protection have shaped the three priorities I want to take to the Seattle Port Commission.
My first priority is cleaning up Puget Sound. Since the port is the largest owner operator on the waterfront, I believe it has a responsibility, to partner with the governor's Puget Sound Partnership and other entities, to identify and help fund projects that will clean up Elliott Bay.
Second, is cleaning up our traffic mess. Tens of thousands of King County's family wage jobs depend on our port moving cargo quicker then other ports, and nothing undermines or ability to do that more than traffic gridlock. The Port of Seattle should help fix our freight related traffic bottlenecks.
Third, we need to clean up the Port of Seattle. Last year, the incumbent and other commissioners met behind closed doors in executive session nearly 40% of the time. Secrecy is no way to run a public agency and it is no way to earn the public's support for the port taking a leadership role in cleaning up Puget Sound and fixing our traffic bottlenecks.
I have been raised to consider community service both an honor and obligation. Serving on the Seattle Port Commission will enable me to use my experience in international trade and also environmental protection for the betterment of our port and community. |
2. Describe your most important personal characteristics or traits as they relate to the office you seek.
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The two most important characteristics I would take to the port commission are effective leadership and a commitment to public service.
Given projected increases in Trans-Pacific trade, the Port of Seattle has an opportunity to at least double its capacity. While the Port of Seattle is already an enormous engine for family wage jobs in our county, doubling its capacity would be a significant boon to family incomes and our economy's diversification. However, this just won't happen on its own. A vibrant sea and air port are no more a birthright than was Boeing's corporate headquarters. To capture this growth opportunity, the Port of Seattle must invest in infrastructure , help fix freight related traffic chokepoints around Safeco and Qwest fields, Sea-Tac and South King County, and must do so in a manner that is environmentally sensitive and that welcomes public participation. Moving the Port of Seattle in this direction requires the ability to listen, set priorities and propose solutions. Those are the skills I have demonstrated in every project, whether in business or community sectors.
Bringing groups with diverse interests but similar long-term goals together is never an easy task, but it is what leaders do. Over the last twenty years of negotiating with foreign governments on behalf of US exporters, I've learned if you want to move multiple groups or individuals in the same direction, first listen. After listening to a broad range of input, leaders set priorities. Especially when working on community-based projects, I've learned that leaders must consult on those priorities with interested stakeholders. Finally, a leader proposes solutions. I have demonstrated an ability to exercise such leadership, and the incumbent has not.
The incumbent is good at knowing what he is against, and identifying what's wrong, but he doesn't propose solutions two other commissioners will support. Always identifying what is wrong is fine if one is in the audience, but he sits behind the commissioners' desk and should be able to not only identify what is wrong, but should also propose solutions. Always pointing out what is wrong is not leadership, it's just complaining.
I started my business fifteen years ago alone in my Seattle basement. Today we have offices in Seattle and Sacramento with strategic partnerships around the world. I did not do this alone. I did it by listening, setting priorities and proposing solutions. I want to take the skills I have learned building a business and negotiating with foreign governments and apply them to the priorities we need to act upon at the Port of Seattle.
The second trait I encourage you to consider, is my commitment to public service. I believe, in a republic such as ours, we each have an obligation to make our government work better, and to make our community a better place in which to live. This commitment expresses itself not only in my interest in this office, but also in how I would reach out to neighborhoods and interested groups when setting priorities and proposing solutions. Community involvement and ensuring public agencies are making decisions that reflect the public’s interests, are essential to building public support for important initiatives. If the Port of Seattle is to help clean up Puget Sound and fix our traffic mess, we will need public support. That will require commissioners who are committed to public service, and who insist that the port operate in a manner that best serves the public. |
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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1. Preserving the Nisqually River Watershed: Nisqually River Foundation
The Nisqually watershed is truly one of our country's environmental gems. Its headwaters, emerging from the Nisqually Glacier, are protected in the Mount Rainier National Park and its delta is protected as a fish and wildlife refuge and by the activities of the Nisqually Tribe, Land Trust, River Council and River Foundation. From its glacial origin to its delta in south Puget Sound, this watershed's ecological diversity ranges from glacial burrowing ice worms to free roaming elk to saltwater shellfish. In presentations to community groups about this watershed, I have said that “If the salmon and orcas are the Northwest’s canary in the coal mine, the Nisqually is the mine.” Over sixty percent of the fresh water that runs into South Puget Sound comes from the Nisqually. It is impossible to be concerned about the health of Puget Sound and not be committed to preserving the Nisqually watershed.
Over five years ago Stewardship Partners (a non-profit that helps private landowners restore and preserve natural landscapes), on whose board I serve, received a grant request from the Nisqually Tribe for a salmon restoration project. After successfully completing that project, I began asking people I had worked with on the project what they would do to protect the Nisqually over the next fifty years if resources were not an issue. That launched a three year project to develop a fifty year plan to preserve the watershed. I helped focus the institutional and management capacity of Stewardship Partners on this effort and helped secure grant funding from Stewardship and other Northwest organizations. I worked with local leaders of the tribe, public entities and community groups to ensure we were developing a program that reflected their interests and priorities. In the end, we developed a fifty year plan that landowners, environmental organizations, public power authorities, city and county governments, Fort Lewis, the National Park Service, the State Department of Ecology, US Fish and Wildlife, the Nisqually Tribe, farmers, foresters, developers and residents in the watershed have embraced.
The plan identifies projects that need to be implemented over the next fifty years in order to 1) preserve important scenic views, 2) preserve the integrity of salmon, elk, prairie oak and waterfowl habitat, 3) accommodate development pressures with low impact building and architectural guidelines, 4) encourage environmentally sustainable businesses, and identified when over the next fifty years each project should be implemented. It is an example of listening, setting priorities and proposing solutions. The fifty year plan needed an on-going funding and management mechanism independent of Stewardship Partners and the Nisqually River Council, and so I helped found the Nisqually River Foundation. I continue serving on that board and hope to for years to come. We are currently implementing the first five year plan of the overall fifty year effort.
This will be a lifelong effort. It is quite possible that I will not live to see its completion. That is not depressing; on the contrary, bringing together diverse groups in support of a plan that will endure is an accomplishment of which I am proud.
2. Building Bryant Christie Inc. (BCI)
On July 1, 2007 Bryant Christie inc. will celebrate its fifteenth anniversary. It is a time for me to look backward with a sense of accomplishment, but fortunately, for all of us at the company to look forward with anticipation.
BCI helps exporters eliminate trade barriers and develop new markets for their exports. We have ten employees in Seattle, three in Sacramento and may expand to Washington, DC this year. Our team is works with foreign governments, the US government and with partner agencies around the world.
While I am pleased to look back over the previous fifteen years, BCI is not something I created on my own. The company and its success are the result of a solid partnership and an excellent team working to achieve common objectives. Building the business is the result of listening to clients, prioritizing their needs and concerns, and then identifying solutions to their problems. Our success has been based on listening to the foreign officials we might be negotiating with, or with the local buyers, and then again developing priorities and a plan to accommodate multiple interests. This result has led to BCI being known around the world for its professionalism and for its ability to deliver tangible results.
3. Reforming the United Nations Food Safety Decision-making Process: Codex Alimentarius
In 2002, I was asked to serve on the United States' delegation to the U.N.'s Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues. This U.N. committee sets international food safety standards. Since BCI represents numerous food producers, I have developed a detailed understanding of how different food safety systems operate. For that reason, and was asked to bring this policy background to the U.S. delegation (that otherwise was largely comprised of scientists). Within a year, I realized that the 6-7 year process the UN committee used to set a new standard might have worked in the years following World War II, but were rendering the committee's work irrelevant in the modern, dynamic international economy.
I began sharing my thoughts with other members of the U.S. delegation and with some members of other countries' delegations, and learned that while there was significant opposition to change, there also were those who also recognized the need. Those initial conversations led to a five year effort to revise how this U.N. committee comprised of delegations from nearly every government, reviews issues and makes decisions. This past May, the committee met in Beijing and for the first time followed new procedures that enable it to set a new standard in 18-30 months rather than the previous 6-7 year timetable.
Securing this change was not easy. As the most junior member of the US delegation and a non-scientist, there were some who questioned whether the need I recognized really existed, others commiserated but told me the procedure was the way it had always been done and that the UN committee would never change. Slowly, however, I and others on the US delegation won over the chair of the US delegation and most others on the committee. We then worked to identify allies in other national governments, and then introduced the subject of possible change in practices at one of the international committee meetings. Based on that discussion, the U.S delegation worked with other delegations and proposed a pilot project for streamlining the antiquated process. While many countries embraced the pilot project, some liked the plodding pace of decision-making and the some staff saw that a streamlined process might require more activity and also opposed the change. I and others continued gaining allies, including the chair of the entire U.N. committee. When the pilot project failed for lack of support, there was a coalition ready with an alternative that secured our major objectives.
This is an example of how listening, identifying priorities and proposing solutions can change even the most intransigent of institutions. It is en example of how I, as a junior member with no scientific credibility, assembled an international coalition for change. This accomplishment has given me the experience I need to serve effectively on the Seattle Port Commission. |
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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Federal Appointments
Export-Import Bank of the United States, Advisory Board, appointed 2003, reappointed 2004
U.S. Delegation to the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues, appointed 2002-present
U.S. Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee (ATAC) for Fresh and Processed Horticultural and Tropical Products served 1988-1998, vice-chair 1994-1998
Congressional Advisory Committee on Agriculture, Trade and the Environment served 1993-1995
Professional Appointments
WTO Seattle Ministerial’s Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations, Chairman, February-December 2000
Produce Marketing Association, International Advisory Council, U.S. representative, 1995-1998, chair, 1993 & 94 International Trade Conferences
European Union’s US outreach committee 1993-2003, European Union Visitor’s Program (Boeing Airbus subsidies, EU environmental & transportation policies, October 1991)
Community
Pacific Council, Western Affiliate of the Council on Foreign Relations, member
Washington Council on International Trade, Board of Directors, 1994-current
University of Washington, European Union Studies Center, Advisory Committee, 2001-current
Stewardship Partners, Executive Committee, 2001-current
Nisqually River Foundation, Founding Board Member, 2006-current
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Our port commissioners' most important duty is to position our port to capture an increasing volume of trans-Pacific trade, and in doing so increase the port's contribution to our regional economy.
Over the next decade Trans-Pacific trade will significantly increase. Those increasing volumes of cargo will move through the West Coast port that can get it to its Mid-West destination the quickest. To this extent, Port of Seattle Commissioners need to ensure the port's executive director and staff have the policy direction needed to make necessary infrastructure and technological investments to ensure our port's competitiveness, and have the authorization to involve the port in partnering with county, state and private interests to ensure we have an efficient freight corridor through our city and the Cascade mountains. This requires prudent use of operating income and tax levy revenues, and requires the transparent accounting of those funds.
In addition, our port commissioners must serve as the public's representatives on the port. This goes beyond ensuring revenues are transparently accounted for, and extends into ensuring the public understands the direction in which our port is moving and has input into decisions about that direction.
Finally, the port commissioners need to ensure the port operates in manner that reflects the community's values. This extends beyond transparency into environmental stewardship. Seattle Port Commissioners have a responsibility to ensure that the port is a good environmental steward and partners with other agencies working to improve our environment. |
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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Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service, B.S.F.S. '83 |
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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My diverse civic involvement has spanned from being appointed to serve on the advisory board of the United States Export-Import Bank and to advising Republican and Democratic administrations on trade policy, to more locally helping guide the University of Washington's European Union Center, serving on the Washington Council on International Trade's board, to supporting and leading efforts to preserve the Nisqually River watershed and to helping establish the Nisqually River Foundation. |
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 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: Jason Thibedeau
Seattle, WA 98104-1614 Fax: (425) 671-0506 Website: www.munileague.org