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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52 |
6. Is the office sought partisan or nonpartisan? Partisan Nonpartisan
CAMPAIGN CONTACTS
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Campaign Name: |
Friends of David Della 2007 |
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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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Chair- Parks, Education, Libraries and Labor; Vice Chair-Energy and Technology; Member-Finance and Budget
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Washington State Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs
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Deputy Chief of Staff, Mayor Norm Rice
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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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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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In the 1940's my parents came to this city with great hope and unlimited dreams for themselves and for their children. Seattle, despite their limited means, was a city of opportunity.
My mother, Inocencia, raised nine of us in the Industrial Area and on Beacon Hill (despite contracting polio) while my father had to leave for months on end to work in the Alaska seafood canneries.
Despite my family's financial struggles, we not only survived, but thrived. My parents were able to purchase a home on Beacon Hill, we attended good schools and even though we didn't own a car, we were able to get around the city by walking, riding bicycles or using our affordable public transportation for just a few cents on our public transportation system.
Our parents always told us that anything was possible in this city as long as we worked hard.
I'm concerned that opportunities for families like the Dellas are slipping away. We are chasing away those that built this city like my parents and shutting out a whole new generation of dreamers based on their ability to pay.
As a member of the City Council, I have made it my top priority to ensure there are opportunties for all families in our city, regardless of income.
As Vice-Chair of the Energy and Technology Committee, I worked to restore fiscal sanity to City LIght so we could reduce electric rates for the first time this decade, while paying off over $57 million in debt.
I stood up to the ill-conceived waterfront tunnel because the extra billions it would have cost would have come at the expense of our waterfront economy and other transportation projects that also desperately need funding, harming the very people transit is supposed to help. It was for the same reason that I opposed the "never ending tax levy" and instead voted in favor of a no-frills transportation package to address our backlog of street maintenance projects.
I sponsored the largest Families and Education Levy in our city's history, voted against cuts for school nurses and secured $1 million for the Rainier Vista Boys and Girls Club because we have to support our schools if we are to retain families and a middle class.
I led the way to protecting open space like on Piers 62/63, expanded athletic fields and wetlands at Magnuson Park and brought more openness and transparency to Seattle's Parks Department because all families need a place to play.
If the voters of Seattle re-elect me this November, they can count on me to continue to be an advocate to keep our city's doors open to all dreamers by working to preserve and increase family wage jobs, create more affordable housing options and (in memory of my late Chief of Staff who was killed while walking to work) make Seattle safer for pedestrians so we can get more people out of single occupancy vehicles.
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2. Describe your most important personal characteristics or traits as they relate to the office you seek.
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As I mentioned in my first question, my family grew up with few resources. We didn't own a car and received our Thanksgiving turkey from St. George's Church. Although at the time I didn't know it, we were what is termed today "the working poor." I carry that experience with me every day on the Council knowing that my decisions have a great impact on thousands of families who count on us to do right so they can survive.
Secondly, I view my tenacity as one of my greatest assets. In the late 1970s to 1980s, I fought to remove corruption and remove the influence of a notorious dictatorship (the Marcos government) within the Alaska cannery union, International Longshore & Warehouse Union, Local 37. On June 1, 1981, two of my comrades and co-union activists, Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes, were shot down in broad daylight because of the reform work that they were leading within the union, and because of their support for the pro-democracy movement in the Philippines against the Marcos dictatorship. The very next day, Silme’s widow, Terri Mast, I and few others went back to the union hall wearing bullet proof vests and defied death threats to continue the work left by Silme and Gene to reform that union. Subsequently, I was elected Secretary-Treasurer. We cleaned up the union of all the corrupt elements, established a fair dispatch system and negotiated fair labor contracts for about 2000 cannery workers. I held that position for six years. Cleaning up this corrupt union and breaking the influence of a hated dictatorship took tremendous courage and conviction, but I was willing to take a stand and fight for what is right.
While perhaps not on the same scale, these experiences have given me the inner strength to take tough stands like I did on the Viaduct debate, when it would have been far easier to go along with the Mayor and a majority of my colleagues and powerful downtown business interests who were pushing for a waterfront tunnel, despite its flawed design and finances.
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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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There is nothing I am more proud of than my family. I carry the lessons of my parents with me every day and the hope that my daughter will choose to make Seattle her home to extend the Della story in Seattle.
One of the accomplishments relates to cleaning up ILWU, Local 37, addressed in the previous question because it demostrates the courage of my convictions.
As a member of the City Council, I would like to cite three accomplishments because each has a distinctly different meaning.
First, in 2003, I campaigned on a platform of bringing fiscal sanity to City Light. I'm proud to say I kept my word to the voters as we reduced electric rates for the first time this decade, paid off $57.5 million in debt and instituted new management controls to ensure the fiasco of 2000-01 won't be repeated again.
Second, I've kept faith with my family. Last year, my young Chief of Staff was tragically killed while walking to work by a driver who was (police reports say) talking on his cell phone. Rather than lash out punatively towards the driver in anger, I turned my attention to that which Tatsuo (my Chief of Staff) would have wanted--turning the anger into something positive. I became a fixture in Olympia this past session, lobbying for a hands-free cell phone bill that had been defeated for the last seven years as well for a bill named the Tatsuo Nakata Act that adds curriculum to the state's drivers' education requirements that will provide information on how motorists can safely share the road with pedestrians and bicyclists. I testified and talked to my legislative colleagues, and I'm proud to say I was there when the Governor signed the bill into law. I intend to continue that work in Seattle, in Tatsuo's memory, to make our city safer for pedestrians.
Finally, I would cite the Families and Education Levy that I sponsored in 2005 as a proud achievement, not just because it was the largest levy in our city's history, but because it was the culmination of a public realization that our children are too important to let our schools fail. I'm proud that I was able to work with a broad and diverse city to come to agreement on how we could best support our children.
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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 have extensive experience in community advocacy where I fought for critical social services in underserved neighborhoods. I have exercised decisive leadership that got things done in my past roles as commission chair, labor union official, mayor's staff, executive director of a state agency or as a community volunteer for the city libraries campaign.
1. Community advocate. Through my 20+ years as a community advocate, I fought hard to provide critical human and social services to underserved communities. I made sure that local government responded to these types of needs. a. I was a founding member of the International District Drop In Center, which to this date provides services for many elderly Filipinos. b. In the 1970s, I was a community organizer with the Central Area Motivation Program responsible for the SE Food Bank and organized within Rainier Vista and Holly Park for social services, street improvements and public safety c. I fought for low income housing and social services in the International District in the 1970s. c. In 1998, I chaired the Economic Development Subcommitteee of the International District Neighborhood Planning effort in 1998. This led to the successful inclusion of expanding the number of affordable housing units that will be built through the recently-passed Housing Levy as well as key street and façade improvements in the International District.
2. Seattle Human Rights Commission, Chair - 1985-1989. In this capacity, I dealt with issues involving public safety, police-community relations and promoting diversity in public contracting. As chair of the Seattle Human Rights Commission, I led the efforts to improve police/community relations in the city's minority communities. Under my leadership, we also took on the issue of blatant discrimination against black workers on the Washington State Ferry System where we forced the state (through the governor) to change the Ferry's recruitment, hiring and promotion policies, strengthen their anti-discrimination policies, and, in the process, averted a major lawsuit against the Ferry System.
3. Labor organizer and union official (from 1981 to 1987) -- As mentioned in my answer to Question 3 above, I became Secretary-Treasurer of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union, Local 37, after we cleaned up the union of corrupt and criminal elements. As a result of my work, we were able to establish an effective dispatch system, nullified the "sweetheart" deals negotiated by the previous corrupt union officials and negotiated fair labor contracts forabout 2000 cannery workers. After my stint with the ILWU, I joined the Inland Boatmen's Union of thePacific as their national organizer where I organized the workers in the tour boat industry in the West Coast.
4. As a deputy chief of staff for Mayor Norm Rice, I learned how to work within City Hall, including the City Council. We were able to gain an effective coalition with the City Council on issues that mattered most for the city, i.e. economic development and jobs since the city faced an economic recession at that time, police-community relations (after the LA riots in the early 1990s), public safety and neighborhood planning efforts. In addition, I was part of the Mayor's team that had to deal with budget cutbacks when the city faced an economic recession and public revenues declined. To balance the budget, we made tough decisions to ensure that the city government remained efficient but delivered critical public services to the city's residents.
5. As executive director for the Washington Commission on Asian Pacific American Affairs, I managed a budget and utilized staff to make the agency efficient in serving its various constituencies. Under my leadership, we were able to protect rights and benefits for immigrant and refugee families, built effective community coalitions that mobilized thousands of members of the Asian communities to lobby in Olympia on key issues affecting our communities (such as welfare reform, affirmative action).
6. Libraries for All Campaign - Citizen's Implementation Review Panel (CHIRP) 1999-2001 -- I served as the project steward to seven library projects throughout the city. I also chaired the CHIRP Opportunity Fund Committee where the committee allocated $6 million to 10 neighborhood community projects.
7. Community Affairs Director of United Way of King County (in charge of public policy), I designed an effective public policy agenda for the organization and led the successful passage of a significant piece of legislation in Olympia. United Way of King County has long avoided engagement in public policy. As the point person for this campaign, I worked with the board of directors, composed of distinguished business and civic leaders, to develop a public policy agenda for United Way for the first time. Our team convinced the board of directors that it was critical for United Way to get involved because local and state governments were slashing budgets at the expense of human services. In the 2003 legislative session, United Way led the charge in pushing for "211" legislation which will provide state residents a dedicated line (similar to 911) to call for critical human services. This is an important milestone because it ushered in United Way of King County's participation in public policy/legislative work after nearly 20 years of not doing so. More importantly, this is a service that will benefit many communities statewide. Given the tough budget session, United Way was able to win key legislators from both sides of the aisle. The legislation passed, which the Governor signed into law in April 2003. In this particular project, it shows that I can work with key stakeholders, including legislators in Olympia, convince them to move on an agenda and specific goals, get the organization focused on such goals, along with other community allies, to pass legislation in a tough budget session.
8.Seattle City Council 2004-present--Chair, Parks, Education, Libraries and Labor; Vice Chair, Energy and Technology; Member, Finance and Budget. As a member of the Council, I've been able to work with my eight colleagues to create opportunities for all families while maintianing and enhancing the core services of our city. Every policy requires at least five votes so I've been successful in working not only in coming up with policy, but working with my colleagues to make those policies a reality. I worked with my colleagues to unanimously pass the city's largest Families and Education Levy as well as worked with them to come up with a slimmer "Bridging the Gap" measure that wasn't so onerous to businesses. Even after more contentious debates like the Viaduct, I was able to come together with my colleagues to come up with meaningful next steps to continue working for the public good rather than political posturing.
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Duties of Seattle City Council members include setting city-wide policy, ensuring city departments are acting in the best interest of our residents, and overseeing the city's budget.
I believe the following are the vital responsibilities in my role as City Council member: 1) representing the interests of the residents of Seattle to the best of my abilities; 2) advocating for reasonable and responsible policies, especially when carrying out our fiduciary duties; 3) providing for the safety of all people in our city, whether they live or work here; whether they drive, walk, or bike; and 4) setting clear priorities for city government which will inform council's policy-making responsibilities and budget priorities. The core priorities for city government are: (a) public safety; (b) utilities and infrastructure; and (c) housing and human/social services |
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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Graduate of Cleveland High School; University of Washington; Bastyr Institute of Leadership |
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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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