By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

With ballots going out in just a month, the start of primary-election voting is fast approaching.

Three of our area’s highest-profile elected positions will be on the primary ballot without incumbents. This afternoon, the 34th District Democrats held forums for two of those races – Seattle City Council District 1 and King County Council District 8 – as a prelude to their endorsement votes next week.

We recorded video of both and took as-it-happened notes. First, we’re presenting the one that started the afternoon, two of the three candidates vying for the seat that County Councilmember Joe McDermott is leaving after 13 years. At-large Seattle City Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda and Burien Mayor Sofia Aragon shared the stage for 45 minutes at Youngstown Cultural Arts Center in North Delridge. (Participation was limited to candidates eligible for the 34th DDs’ endorsements, as spelled out here.)

34th DDs’ chair Graham Murphy welcomed attendees and Chris Porter moderated. First, here’s our video:

For those who don’t want to – or have time to – watch the video, we also summarized their replies. Take note that our summaries do not represent everything they said, nor are they direct quotes unless you see words/phrases/sentences within quotation marks. We’re summarizing the questions, too.

First, Porter asked a sort of icebreaker: Name your favorite food in District 8 (which includes Burien, West Seattle, White Center, Vashon Island, and more)

Aragon: Tung Kee Mi Gia.

Mosqueda: Marination.

Then, opening statements.

Aragon: Running because she “wants all county residents to thrive.” She grew up in South Seattle and then her family moved to unincorporated KC for affordable housing. Like her mom, she became a registered nurse. That “taught me to be an advocate for others.” She advocated in Olympia. “Strong public policy creates opportunity.” She took a stand against hate as Burien mayor and works to collaborate with the county. She also tries to promote “respectful debate” on the Burien Council.

Mosqueda: Lives “just four blocks away” (from Youngstown). She spent much of the introduction time talking about endorsements she’s received so far. “They have seen me in action.” She says she is running for this position “to invest in our health” – which she says is a county focus. “We can do more to invest in the health and well-being” of county residents.

Question: Homelessness remains a crisis and hasn’t been effectively addressed. What new solutions will you offer? Are sweeps effective?

Aragon: Burien has an emergency (like other cities). The council is “hands-on.” There’s a “really significant gap in emergency housing.” Burien has promoted some forms of housing but needs more emergency housing, a “transitional place” so people can access services too.

Mosqueda: The solution is “housing and health services.” She touts her track record of housing investments. “The solution is additional housing .. sweeps traumatize people .. we know from human-service providers it’s so difficult to find these folks again” (once swept) and to “get them off the street. The solution is getting people off the street.” She would vote against sweeps as a county councilmember.

Question: The King County Regional Homelessness Authority’s progress has been questioned and it’s in some turmoil. Will you continue to support it (given comments made by its departing CEO)?

Mosqueda: She and other city councilmembers supported creating it. Homelessness is a regional crisis. City has been largest contributor to KCRHA. At county council, she will continue supporting it – investing in the human-service workforce, too, as they are underpaid. That will help ensure “a safety net that is strong.” She also supports tiny houses.

Aragon: She has worked with KCRHA CEO in the Burien situation and appreciates the organization’s availability to help coordinate. “We had great conversations around sanctioned encampments” and (KCRHA CEO Marc) Dones said the data doesn’t show good outcomes from them, so Burien is not supporting them. Many nonprofits are at the table and need better coordination to collaborate.

Followup: Porter recaps Marc Dones’ comments on KCRHA not doing enough on root causes and presses for the candidates’ observations on that.

Mosqueda: “Systemic racism is absolutely part of the reason” for homelessness and low pay for human-service providers. A “disproportionate number of people of color are homeless.” Unable to build generational wealth. “That’s why housing instability is so prevalent among people of color.”

Aragon: “Unhoused peopole are at a crisis in their lives and we have to think about what are the factors that put them there.” That “goes back to education, jobs” … she teaches about health as a registered nurse, and notes that “community conditions” and behaviors have a great effect too. She appreciates Dones’s comments.

Question: Housing is increasingly unaffordable in KC. What needs to change to make more affordable housing, especially for people making under $20 an hour?

Aragon: “There’s been a lot of progress in standing up affordable housing … (they’re using) four models in Burien” including equity building with Habitat and ecoTHRIVE. Current legislation to maximize land we have, two or three houses instead of one per lot.

Mosqueda: Housing has been unaffordable for years for 2/3 of King County households. This is a crisis. More people need to be able to live near where they work. She asked a West Seattle business owner who “looked at a parking lot across the street’ and told her it should be housing so their workers could be close. Market not picking up housing for 0 to 50 percent mean income. Incentives for density.

Question: Seattle, Tukwila, Seatac have higher minimum wages (than state/federal). What should the minimum be in KC including unincorporated areas?

Mosaueda: While working as a labor advocate, she worked for years on the minimum-wage issue. Touts track record to support those increases. That supports businesses and local economy. KC doesn’t necessarily have jurisdiction to raise everywhere but hopes for investments in good economic opportunities for all. The county itself also should be a good employer.

Aragon: We need to secure a living wage for everyone. Everyone needs to be at the table when we talk about this. Burien for example is mostly small businesses. Need to discuss how to get to living wage.

Followup: (since neither had directly named a number) What would that wage be?

Mosqueda: Get it closer to $20. Even in Seattle, the minimum is not keeping page with inflation. We should look at the “actual minimum” right now, which is actually more like $35.

Aragon: (still not naming a sum) She’s running a nonprofit as executive director. She appreciates unions speaking to elected leaders.

Question: Earlier this week, the Seattle City Council voted down a proposal to match city law with the state’s new drug-possession law, with Mosaueda among the “no” votes. King County Prosecutor is not going to prosecute. How should these cases be addressed?

Aragon: I’ve had conversations. “We want a uniform policy across the state. It is inefficient and creates gaps when one entity is different.” Public safety is local government’s job. “We need to do everything we can to address this epidemic.”

Mosqueda: There does need to be unanimity across the state. But the city does not have to mirror that. Three examples in recent history where state made changes in gross misdemeanor and cities didn’t have to change their laws. Need to have a dialogue with prosecutor. We have better return on our investment “when we treat addiction like the public-health crisis it is.”

Followup: Years ago, then-Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes put out a statement that the city would deprioritize marijuana enforcement. Remaining tickets still mostly went to black/brown folks. Does that disturb you?

Aragon: We’re talking about bias in the system. During COVID, that was a factor too. “We have to work as a county to root out what that bias is.”

Mosqueda: The reason she voted no is “precisely because of the disproportionate affects on people of color. Addiction affects people who are housed and unhoused.” But the legislation was just to target open public consumption, so it would only have exacerbated effects on POC. The solution is harm reduction.

Question: What is your biggest environmental concern in KC and what about the disproportionate effects of climate-change/environmental problems on BIPOC people?

Mosqueda: Cars are the biggest problem. For housing I am concerned with people being able to get to work without using cars. Focused on building affordable housing closer to work. More ways to help people get around without cars, even to visit places like Vashon. Wants to increase access to Water Taxi all day long.

Aragon: Burien was one of the first cities to pass a climate action plan. Carbon emissions come from homes too. We are prioritizing funding to help people modernize – heat pumps, for example. Promoting electric cars. Just launched RapidRide H Line. Need to really understand impact of environmental problems on human health. Burien is an airport community. Must be aware of impact That’s why we preserve greenspaces.

Last question: How can Public Health – Seattle & King County prepare for next pandemic?

Aragon: As a smaller city of 52,000 people, Burien pushed to make sure there’s data for all communities and which strategies worked. Pop-up clinics became important. She serves on governor’s Public Health Advisory Board, first time a city rep has been involved. “We need to look really hard at public-health system …” to be sure it truly promotes equity.

Mosqueda: Health is her passion in public policy. “We were on the front line across the globe” during the pandemic. “We had made investments in an actual footprint …. that model served us very well” … she’ll
invest in expanding PHSKC footprint for more services. She wants to see a Public Health District.

Then, closing statements.

Aragon: The unincorporated area where she lived long ago is actually modern day Issaquah and Sammamish. Investment can determine whether “area thrives or simply survives.” Role of local government is public safety, public health, prevention

Mosqueda: She wants to move to county council to focus on directly investing in publiv health – committed that “every single piece of policy … I will continue to prioritize the social determinantns of health” – economic resilience for small businesses, workers with good living wage jobs

34th District Democrats members will vote on their endorsements Wednesday. Meantime, we’ll publish the City Council D-1 forum video and notes from today later tonight. If you’re not registered to vote yet, there’s plenty of time – here’s how.

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He’s only been on the job six months, but King County Councilmember Joe McDermott is already running again. Last fall, he was elected for the year remaining in what was now-County Executive Dow Constantine’s term, after Jan Drago served a year as an appointee; this time, a full four-year term is at stake. Thursday night, in bowling shoes, McDermott presided over his official campaign-kickoff party at Roxbury Lanes just yards south of West Seattle. Among those in attendance were County Council colleagues Julia Patterson, Larry Phillips, Larry Gossett, and Bob Ferguson, State House Rep. Eileen Cody, elected city officials from Burien and Tukwila, members of the North Highline Unincorporated Council, and community advocates from neighborhoods in the 8th District including White Center, South Park, and Vashon. And from McDermott’s home neighborhood, West Seattle – his parents Terri McDermott and Jim McDermott:

Though all at the party were exhorted to have fun and get some bowling in, there was of course the opportunity for the candidate to offer a short speech first:

McDermott spent almost a decade in the State Legislature before moving to the County Council. The other candidate in this race so far is another West Seattleite, Diana Toledo, whom he also faced in last year’s general election. We covered her kickoff party at the Admiral Theater last week.

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With three months till the primary, and candidate forums and campaign kickoffs starting to intensify, we’re stepping up coverage of the 2011 election. Last night at the Admiral Theater, West Seattleite Diana Toledo launched her second campaign for King County Council District 8 (which includes West Seattle and White Center), with an all-ages party, friends and family chatting in the theater’s loft, while little ones brought by partygoers romped down on the main floor. Toledo says she chose the venue to support a local business that could use more patrons.

Among those at the party was Tim Fahey, one of the three other candidates that ran for the office last year. You’ll see him in our clip from the short speech Toledo gave last night:

Toledo is a former King County employee who says her experience inside county government will help her reform it (here’s her online bio). The candidate to whom Toledo lost in last year’s general election, now-King County Councilmember Joe McDermott, is the only other declared candidate so far; he has a kickoff party scheduled next week. The official filing period opens this Friday for candidates filing by mail. (Wondering why there’s another election so soon after the last one? That was for the remainder of the term that had been won by Dow Constantine before he moved up to King County Executive two years ago, so this time a full 4-year council term is up for grabs.)

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As of this afternoon, West Seattle’s Joe McDermott is the newest member of the King County Council, representing District 8, which also includes White Center and Vashon/Maury Islands. In the county-provided photo above, he was sworn in by Clerk of the Council Anne Noris, hours after the November 2nd election results were certified. The official news release announcing his swearing-in quotes Councilmember McDermott as saying, ““I am honored the voters of the 8th Council District chose me to serve them in a position that has a long legacy of strong, effective leadership … We must work together to provide meaningful and efficient government services with an eye to the future. We cannot let today’s economic crisis keep us from meeting our commitments in regional planning, environmental stewardship and public safety.” McDermott spent the past decade in the State Legislature, in the State Senate since 2007, following seven years in the State House. On the nine-member County Council, he succeeds Jan Drago, appointed early this year after the November 2009 election moved Dow Constantine up to County Executive; this election was for the remaining year of Constantine’s unexpired term, so the position will be back on the ballot in November 2011. Final certified results of this election are here; McDermott had 68 percent of the vote, Diana Toledo – also a West Seattleite – 32 percent. They were the top two finishers from a field of four in the August primary.

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8:16 PM: We’re starting the night at the McDermott party at Calamity Jane’s in Georgetown. Still no King County results at all; the room full of people is busy checking their smartphones, while we hit “refresh” every few seconds on the MacBook. A bigscreen projector is showing, alternately, the King County Elections site and the New York Times front page.

8:19 PM: Numbers in. McDermott over Toledo, 67 to 32 percent. From the county website:

Joe McDermott 21020 67.61%
Diana Toledo 9957 32.03%

10:28 PM: Quick video interview:

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(Part 1 of 3 unedited segments comprising tonight’s candidates’ forum in White Center)
It’ll be the wee hours before we finish the full story, but for election-watchers, we wanted to let you know we’ve written a very quick first summary of tonight’s North Highline Unincorporated Area Council-presented candidates’ forum in White Center’s Greenbridge neighborhood, featuring both candidates in each of our area’s open-seat races: King County Council District 8 and 34th District State House Position 2. That quick summary is up right now at partner site White Center Now. We also recorded the forum on video in its entirety – nothing artistic, we’ll warn you, but in case you want to see/hear for yourself, we’re putting it on the record in three unedited segments comprising the entire 2 1/2 hours – what’s embedded above is Part 1. ADDED 11:19 PM: And here’s part 2:

12:47 PM: And part three:

Again – full story to come!

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The following candidates have confirmed their participation.

for King County Council:
Diana Toledo
Joe McDermott

for 34th Legislative District:
Mike Heavey
Joe Fitzgibbon

The King County Council race is for the 8th District, the seat held by Dow Constantine before he was elected as County Executive a year ago (Jan Drago, appointed to serve until this election, chose not to run for the job); the 34th District race is for the State House, Position 2, seat that Sharon Nelson is leaving to run (unopposed) for the State Senate seat that McDermott is leaving to seek the County Council spot. (Researching? Voters’-guide links here.)

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The top two finishers in each race advance to the November 2 general election, which means Joe Fitzgibbon and Mike Heavey for 34th District House Rep #2, and  Joe McDermott and Diana Toledo for King County Council District 8.  

For the local race results, the only official change from primary night’s results is that Joe Fitzgibbon has inched ahead of Mike Heavey, by an oh-so-slim margin (we reported on August 20 that this shift was starting to happen).

Local results: 

34TH DISTRICT STATE HOUSE REPRESENTATIVE, POSITION 2
(Rep. Sharon Nelson isn’t running for re-election – she’s unopposed for State Senate in LD #34)
Fitzgibbon first 34%, Heavey second 32%,  McElroy third 18%, Stone fourth 14%

(Note: Early returns on primary night had showed Heavey at 34% and Fitzgibbon at 33%)

KING COUNTY COUNCIL DISTRICT 8 (nonpartisan)
(Councilmember Jan Drago isn’t running for the seat to which she was appointed early this year)
McDermott first 60%, Toledo second 19%, McEvoy third 13%, Fahey fourth 7%

In another LD #34 race of note, Eileen Cody captured 81% of the vote against 18% for Ray Carter.

Full results are here.

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Mike Heavey Prefers Democratic Party 6215 33.43%
Joe Fitzgibbon Prefers Democratic Party 6194 33.32%
Geoffrey Mac McElroy Prefers Independent Party 3433 18.47%
Marcee Stone Prefers Democratic Party 2652 14.27%
Write-in 95 0.51%

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(King County Elections photo from their HQ, cars lined up to drop off ballots by 8 pm)
The first and only results that King County is making public tonight have just come out. In our area’s two major races – each with four candidates going for an open seat, and the top two advancing to November once ALL the votes are counted and the election is certified:

34TH DISTRICT STATE HOUSE REPRESENTATIVE, POSITION 2
(Rep. Sharon Nelson isn’t running for re-election – she’s unopposed for State Senate)
Heavey first 34%, Fitzgibbon second 33%, McElroy third 19%, Stone fourth 14%

Full results here

KING COUNTY COUNCIL DISTRICT 8 (nonpartisan)
(Councilmember Jan Drago isn’t running for the seat to which she was appointed early this year)
McDermott first 59%, Toledo second 20%, McEvoy third 13%, Fahey fourth 7%

Full results here

All King County results are linked here. We’ll add other highlights of interest shortly, and we’ll be adding candidate reaction as we get it. Meantime, if you still haven’t voted – it’s not too late – you can mail it till midnight at Riverton Heights (near Sea-Tac; see our earlier story).

(Tim Fahey being interviewed by Q13’s Parella Lewis, with Mac McElroy looking on outside his pub)
8:41 PM: We were at Geoffrey “Mac” McElroy‘s party at his Triangle Pub in White Center when the results came in – with at least four other members of the media sighted. Now we’ve moved on to Fauntleroy, to Mike Heavey‘s campaign party, a gathering of family and friends (iPhone photo at right, as the candidate posed with varying combinations of people from both those groups). Both locations so far have been full of good cheer, despite the varying results. McElroy’s party also was visited by two other candidates – Ray Carter, the “reluctant Republican” challenging Democratic Rep. Eileen Cody, and Tim Fahey, who is currently fourth of 4 in the King County Council race. We are moving on to other locations shortly. Just interviewed Heavey, who foresees the general-election campaign, apparently against Fitzgibbon, as “a battle for the ages” – with voters being asked to choose “what kind of Democrat” they support. 10:16 PM: We’ve also caught up with Joe Fitzgibbon, whose supporters were celebrating at Heartland Café in the Admiral District:

Video from the frontrunners, coming up. And again, tonight’s vote is nowhere near final – King County Elections will release vote totals daily, until the final results are out on September 1st – two weeks away. ADDED 12:25 AM: Quick comments on video from Heavey, Fitzgibbon and McElroy:

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(WSB video of each candidate’s opening statement)
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The West Seattle route of the King County Water Taxi got a lot less love from King County Council District 8 candidates at a forum last night than the Vashon Island route did.

You of course have to take into consideration the fact that Vashon Island was where the forum was held – Courthouse Square, to be specific, part of a double bill with a forum for candidates in the other big open race that’s on Vashon, West Seattle, White Center and Burien (etc.) ballots, 34th District State House Position 2 (we’ll cover that one in a separate story later).

This race, if you’re just starting to ramp up, is for the County Council seat that used to be held by now-County Executive Dow Constantine. Former Seattle City Councilmember Jan Drago was appointed to do the job until this fall’s election, but wasn’t interested in running to keep it. Four candidates are running, and all were on hand for last night’s forum.

State Sen. Joe McDermott of West Seattle was the only candidate voicing unqualified support for the West Seattle Water Taxi run. Tim Fahey of South Park said he’d only found it useful to “go on dates” (and he hadn’t been aware of the Vashon run until it came up at the forum); Normandy Park City Councilmember Shawn McEvoy said West Seattleites had better “step up” their usage of the passenger ferry (seeming to infer “use it or lose it”); and Diana Toledo of West Seattle was noncommittal, saying she didn’t want to make promises she couldn’t keep.

And that was nowhere near the hottest topic they had to face in the hour-long forum moderated by Seattle University law professor (and Vashon resident) Craig Beles:

(From left: Toledo, McEvoy, McDermott, Fahey)
The forum format gave each of the four a chance to make an opening and closing statement (though the latter was preceded by moderator Beles reading audience questions that didn’t get asked and offering the candidates the chance to address them in their final words), with Q/A – written audience Q’s, candidate 1-minute A’s – inbetween.

Asked to name three departments for budget cuts, if more had to be made, the candidates’ answers diverged significantly. McEvoy suggested “flood control … county ferries … human services.” McDermott said there wouldn’t be much choice but to cut human services and public safety/criminal justice. Fahey focused his answer on wanting to “redirect how the Department of Transportation does its job – change it from service-based to research-based,” as in researching which roads are in the worst shape, to decide which to fix first. Toledo mentioned the King County Sheriff’s Office and went on to a theme she repeated several times during the night, her belief that county government has “significant amounts of waste … there are people in middle management positions making six-figure salaries with no experience or qualifications.”

Money matters came back around in a question about the sales-tax increase on the November ballot, with much of the proceeds going to stave off some of the expected cuts in the county public-safety budget. How are you going to vote? each candidate was asked.

McEvoy: Qualified “yes” – “I’m not in favor of raising taxes, but (this is) so important, we can’t afford to let this opportunity pass.”

Toledo: “No,” again citing her belief that King County government is “full of bloated management positions.”

Fahey said no, noting that he has been unemployed for almost a year, in a union (carpenters) that he said has a very high rate of joblessness currently, so “I don’t know what they think we are buying that we can charge more sales tax for.”

McDermott: “Yes,” citing how imperative he feels it is to preserve programs such as Drug Court and Family Court that would face cuts without it, as well as other public-safety and criminal-justice programs.

They also fielded a question about their potential future colleagues – “Who (that’s currently) on the King County Council do you admire most?”

McDermott: Larry Gossett

McEvoy: Julia Patterson

Fahey: Reagan Dunn

Toledo: Said she didn’t want to name one because she’s “truly nonpartisan” and hopes to work with them all

On a Vashon-area hot-button issue – the Maury Island Glacier gravel-mine controversy – Toledo and Fahey both acknowledged they weren’t deeply familiar with the matter enough to answer the question of what they would do to stop Glacier from mining Maury. McEvoy didn’t speak to specifics, but recalled the South King County fight against the third runway, and suggested that islanders “go to meetings and let them hear your voices.” McDermott promised to “continue doing everything in my power to prohibit Glacier from expanding their mining operations,” mentioning his support in the last legislative session for Maury-residing Rep. Sharon Nelson‘s bill allotting $15 million in state money to buy the site.

The hour went quickly (and remember, a quarter of it went to the opening statements, all four of which you can watch in their entirety in the video clips atop this story). In closing statements, Fahey emphasized that the South Park Bridge is his most important issue of the campaign, and that he’d like to see human-services money spent more wisely – “We spend an awful lot of money on homeless shelters that go unused because they are awful.”

McDermott stressed his endorsements and ratings, saying he is running for County Council to be part of how services are delivered (as opposed to his legislative role, involving making policies about those services).

McEvoy read from a written statement, saying, “Nonpartisanship works,” and stressing his skills in collaboration and relationship-building.

Toledo recalled her days in King County Animal Services, selling pet licenses on Vashon (among other places), saying she’d go anywhere possible to “improve the level of service,” telling the story of losing her job because of “a budget cut” after “speaking against what I thought was gross abuse and waste” in the Animal Services system, then vowing to spend long hours working for constituents if elected.

You have another chance to see all four candidates at one forum, this time without a ferry ride, if you go to the Seattle League of Women Voters‘ forum at First Baptist Church (1111 Harvard) this Thursday night at 7:30 pm – state Supreme Court candidates are on the agenda too. Meantime, we’re archiving our coverage of this race here; plus, we have another story coming up, about the first half of last night’s “double bill,” the 34th District State House Position 2 candidates’ forum

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ADDED 10:43 AM: In comments and via e-mail, it’s pointed out that the county candidate-filing list page is showing McElroy’s registration, even though the state page hasn’t caught up yet. And indeed, “prefers independent party” is the designation. We also have heard from newly filed State House candidate Ray Carter, who e-mailed us an explanation of his “reluctantly GOP” preference and his campaign – click ahead to read:

I’m a bad Republican and a worse Democrat. Much too liberal on some
issues for many in the GOP, and far too conservative on many others for
the Democrats, I hold my quiet little doubts that even the Libertarians
would gladly have me.

Yet, with imploding state, county, and city budget pictures leading us
perilously close to the path of fiscal tragedy that California presently
endures, I’m willing to throw my hat in the ring as being reluctantly
Republican – if only to give voters a choice between a candidate
supporting the present course of state government, and one supporting a
sustainable course of state government.

For all that we have Microsoft, Starbucks, and several Boeing facilities
in our state and a wealth of talented and educated workers, the
generosity of tax-paying workers and business owners are not unlimited.
Additional taxes and regulations are best imposed during economic good
times when businesses, that fundamental source of state revenue (taxes
either hit a business directly, or businesses pay employees who – with
their families – are then taxed), can take the impact. In bad times,
taxes and regulation foster unemployment and business
re-locations/closures small and large.

Today, in the middle of an economic depression, with a predictable spike
in energy costs (The Gulf oil spill and regulatory response thereto, and
the rise in the levels of tension in the Middle east) on the near
horizon that will drive production and delivery costs ever higher in
many industries is not such a good time. Businesses that were on the
edge when this began have already failed, and those that are a bit more
stable are pulling back yet further into survival mode or approaching
the edge of failure. Count the number of empty storefronts and
commercial spaces that used to hold businesses that employed people, and
ask if there “are there more or less “for lease” and “for sale” signs
than you saw in the same area last year?”

We need to make Washington a more attractive and easier place to do
business, pay taxes, and hire people than the other 49 states in the
Union. We need those new businesses to help pay our states bills – it’s
painfully obvious that in todays climate, we cannot depend on our
current tax base to pay those bills, and unsurprisingly, not a single
interest group is eager to watch its’ particular oxen be gored.

I enthusiastically support same-sex marriage and the repeal of “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell” at the same time I support the right of law-abiding
private individuals to utilize and have access to effective means of
self-defense.

I support higher education funded less on the budgetary whims of an
ever-changing State Legislature and more on the endowment fund model.
I’m nothing short of delighted with the decision of the University of
Washington to refurbish the Husky Stadium without resorting to state
dollars.

I approve of abolishing the Washington State Liquor Control Board. I
believe it long past time for the Legislature to do its own work in
enacting such laws as are necessary to regulate liquor and it’s
purveyors. The State should be in the business of taxing and regulating
alcohol – not selling it. And enforcement doesn’t belong in the same
agency as sales.

We need to continue to promote the use of bicycles as a mode of
transportation, even as we realize they are not a practical option for
many – for a variety of reasons. We need also to protect our bicyclists
and motorists from each other, striving to provide urban bike paths and
routes well-separated from motor traffic wherever possible, simply to
keep the casualties to a minimum. At the same time, we need to bring to
our bicyclists the same level of competence and safety that our
motorists are required to display. Such efforts must be paid for, and we
need to look at how that might best be accomplished.

Similarly, whether for environmental reasons or to reduce our dependence
on oil, the State Legislature needs to continue taking steps to support
the transition away from internal combustion engines and towards clean
electric vehicles in state, business, and private use.

As we seek to again become an economic powerhouse, we need to re-examine
just how much authority Counties and Cities have and how they use it –
and ask “Are these actions really growing our state economy? And to the
extent they are not,are they producing other benefits that make such
actions acceptable in relationship to the goals of building a healthy
and sustainable Washington?” These questions should be asked by both the
voters AND the Legislature on a fairly regular basis – sometimes, those
bodies need *more* authority, sometimes rather less – but simply
assuming they have *just the right amount* at any given moment is a
failure in responsibility on the part of both voters and the Legislature.

For every elected office where no candidate emerges, or a candidate runs
unopposed, our experiment in democracy fails a tiny bit – foundering on
the rocks of apathy. When we have the opportunity, and it makes even a
small amount of sense, we have a duty to at least indicate a willingness
to serve – no great campaign effort is required, merely a willingness to
serve if the voters pass you the short straw.

Rep. Cody has served long and honorably. If she is re-elected, I am
confident she will stay her course and continue her support of the
Governors leadership. The voters of the 34th District have already won a
small victory simply in having choices easily available to them in two
out of three of their legislative representatives. Now the voters get to
go to the polls and choose the course they support.

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The daughter of a Filipino immigrant who earned his U.S. Citizenship serving in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam Conflict and an American mother (Alice Coker-Toledo) who operated a neighborhood food-bank to help struggling Seattleites in the 1970’s; Life-long Seattle resident and 15 year King County employee Diana Toledo has entered the race for King County Council.

Diana’s platform is focused on 3 issues; 1) Fiscal responsibility in King County Government. 2) Local Business incentives and Job creation. 3) Safe streets via youth outreach.

Diana and her husband Jerry (a small business owner), and their children live in West Seattle where they are active in community programs, church, and public service.

For additional information on the news that is the subject of this release, contact Diana Toledo’s Campaign or visit www.VoteTOLEDO.com.