The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 2. Candidate statements appear only for those in races with more than two candidates. Ballots are being mailed out today, Oct. 13, and mail ballots must be post-marked on or before Election Day to be counted.
Drop boxes at the following sites will accept ballots until 8 p.m. Nov. 2.
• Auditor’s Office, Clallam County Courthouse
Monday-Friday: 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Election Day: 7 a.m.-8 p.m.
• Clallam County Courthouse – Outside, 223 E. Fourth St., Port Angeles
• Sequim City Hall
152 W. Cedar St., Sequim
• Sequim Vehice/Vessel Licensing
1001 E. Washington St., Suite 5, Sequim
County Treasurer
Selinda Barkhuis
I am running for Treasurer because I care about Clallam County and I want to see confidence restored in the Treasurer’s Office.
I was born and raised in the Netherlands and immigrated to the United States in 1981 at age 19. I have worked and lived and raised my son in Clallam County since 1995. I have sunk my roots here and I consider this my home. I have been active in the community and I have been recognized on numerous occasions for my various public service accomplishments, such as:
• In 1996, I received a Clallam County Pro-Bono Distinguished Service Award;
• In March of 2000, I was featured in the first issue of Peninsula Woman magazine under the heading of "the Law and the Computer;"
• In 2001, I served as Clallam County Bar Association president; and
• For the past three years, I have served as co-producer for Clallam Legal, a Pro-Bono fundraiser.
Earlier this year, the State Auditor’s Office cited failure to segregate duties and lack of monitoring for how some $617,467 was stolen from the Treasurer’s Office. During this time, the incumbent had the fiduciary duty to safeguard the public money, the day-to-day authority over the employees necessary to segregate duties and the physical access over the documents necessary for monitoring. Had the incumbent properly segregated duties and monitored activities, she could have found the fraud within months of taking office. Instead, under the incumbent’s management, the fraud continued for 53 more months, at some $10,000 per month, and that in an office of only five people to supervise.
I do not only have the experience that counts, but that will make a difference:
I have seven years experience as attorney in private practice in Clallam County, so I know the law, I know office management and I know how to smell a rat;
I have seven years experience as Senior County Planner. My work product has been evaluated as "outstanding," which is the highest mark possible, and I was nominated for the "2009 Excellence in Service Award." I know how the county works and I know how to get things done at the county; and
I have several years experience as a Realtor and H&R Block tax preparer. I understand real estate and I understand taxes.
As Treasurer,
• I will use my legal skills to review every aspect of what is going on in the Treasurer’s office for compliance with applicable rules and regulations, as well as compliance with fraud-prevention principles;
• I will use my technical skills to modernize the office, increasing efficiency in the process;
• I will use my organizational skills to complete a comprehensive employee manual for easy cross-training and segregation of duties; and
• I will use my skills as certified mediator to guide office staff in adapting to the new processes, including random audits and monitoring.
I ask for your vote and I look forward to serving you as Clallam County Treasurer. Selinda Barkhuis, www.barkhuis.com.
Judith Scott
I am seeking re-election to the office of Clallam County Treasurer. I have served in the Treasurer’s Office for 27 years and as the Treasurer since 2005. During my tenure as Treasurer, we have installed two new computer systems of major proportions and new policies and procedures. I helped recertify and update our investment policy and had it approved by the Washington Municipal Treasurer’s Association. We have developed our website for online credit card and ACH payments. We now do online surplus sales to increase our market and cut overhead expenses.
I have led the office through some difficult experiences. With my staff’s excellence assistance, we have successfully and efficiently accomplished major improvements to improve accountability and reliability. It is my experience of knowing the duties of the office and helping with these developments over the past 27 years that make these accomplishments possible. I know the history of why things are working and why.
I know the resources to go to for further assistance. I know and work cooperatively with the other county officials, local governments, state officials and departments that help the county government operate smoothly. This experience and ability to network take years to develop. I have worked diligently and steadfastly to build these relationships for the good of Clallam County.
One of the chief campaign issues will be the reported $617,000 fraud investigation in the Treasurer’s Office that came to light on May 19, 2009. I helped discovered the initial error. I knew the procedures that had to be followed and acted fiscally responsible through this whole ordeal. I knew the proper authorities to notify, I secured the evidence, including every hard drive in my office … even mine.
I worked cooperatively with the necessary agencies to bring this case to its current point of prosecution. When I was asked to keep evidence confidential until the State Auditor’s Office was ready to release the reports, I cooperated. This is still an open investigation. The State Attorney General’s office is conducting the prosecution and currently the trial is set for Jan. 20, 2011. The money that is in question is covered under our insurance policy and will be recovered and distributed to the respective cities, state and county. Real estate excise tax has a limited distribution and can only be used at the local levels for capital improvement projects.
These state audits over the time in question continually noted that the county complied with state laws and regulations and its own policies and procedures in the areas they examined and had adequate internal controls in place. It is impossible for the State Auditor’s Office to audit every single aspect of all departments, but they make every effort to review and monitor safeguards and policies.
I have done all in my power to work cooperatively with all concerned to ensure this fraud case is successfully brought to fruition. I know I have the "experience that counts" to continue to work responsibly, cooperatively and accountably for Clallam County.
County Prosecutor
Larry Freedman
My name is Larry Freedman and I am running to become the next Clallam County prosecutor.
I became very concerned about the numerous problems with the current prosecutor and the dysfunction in the office from my experience with the prosecutor as an attorney. Friends in the court and law enforcement who were aware of my background and 47 years experience as a judge, professor of law, commissioner of the court, special prosecutor for the federal government, local deputy prosecutor and law firm managing partner approached me to do something about it. Major concerns are a very high turnover rate of deputy prosecutors and office staff and delays, loss of respect by the court and law enforcement and other major problems with getting the job done properly.
Here are the facts:
The prosecutor’s office employs 21 people. In the past four years 30 employees have left. Just last year four out of 11 lawyers quit, almost 50 percent in one year. That is
totally unacceptable and unprecedented. Also, the court has actually fined the Prosecutor’s Office for misrepresentation to the court. The office is the target of a major age discrimination lawsuit that also alleges a hostile work environment which has cost well over $400,000 so far in fees.
There is obviously a major management problem.
Distractions such as this, aside from being a potential financial disaster, are a terrible drain on the efficiency of the office, which leads to delays, lost cases and creates a roadblock to the entire court system.
Although the prosecutor claims a 91-percent success rate with jury trials, that is a misrepresentation of the facts. In the past five years 24 percent have been found not guilty. Only 39 percent have been found guilty as charged. A 61 percent failure rate is unacceptable. Last year out of 32 trials, 10 outright acquittals. To rectify these problems the county needs a prosecutor with a broad variety of experience who can and will change things. I’ve been working in the legal profession for 47 years as a judge, professor of law, attorney, prosecutor and managing partner in successful law firms. The office needs new management, news ideas, policies and procedures from someone knows how to make the changes.
The attorneys who know both my opponent and me rated me highest by a wide margin in all nine categories: legal ability, experience, temperament, demeanor, administrative ability, organization, work habits, objectivity and judgment/common sense.
Errors in judgment as seen lately lead to wasted time, money and, ultimately, a lack of safety for the community.
The current prosecutor has damaged the reputation of the office.
It’s my mission to restore that reputation, respect and professional performance to the Office of Prosecutor.
I need your vote to do it.
Deb Kelly
For almost eight years, I have been privileged to serve as your elected Prosecutor. I have respected the trust you have placed in me by being tough on crime and a demanding administrator. I have achieved my goals of making our Clallam County community safer, operating my office in a fiscally responsible manner and providing government that is accountable to you.
Although my deputy prosecutors handle a caseload almost 50 percent higher than their counterparts in the Public Defender’s office, our conviction rate at trial is now above 90 percent (based upon calculations from data published by the independent Office of the Administrator for Washington Courts at: www.courts.wa.gov/caseload/index.cfm). While plea bargains are necessary due to a caseload outstripping the number of available trial days, we only accept plea agreements protecting public safety and providing restitution for victims.
As prosecutor, I increased the professionalism and effectiveness of the office. While the changes have not always been easy or welcomed within the office, I insisted that we provide quality public service to the taxpayers who employ us. In other words, I demand a full day’s work for a day’s pay.
I established standards to ensure consistent and tough-minded charging and dispositions by deputy prosecutors and adopted policies designed to improve service and communication with the public as well as crime victims and witnesses. I encourage consistent, value-driven decision-making.
To maintain priorities on violent, sex offenders and DUIs with less funding and staff, I contracted with a private nonprofit to supervise minor offenders who pay restitution to victims and their own supervision costs. If they successfully complete the program, the charges are dismissed but if they fail, they are convicted without jury trial saving costs and court time.
On the civil side, I brought land-use litigation in-house enhancing the county’s ability to retain local control over land use. Before this, the county paid thousands in yearly fees for Seattle lawyers to defend the county’s decisions. Now we have an experienced full-time civil deputy who has prevailed in every land use matter he has handled – giving taxpayers more and better service at far less cost.
We substituted computer research for book subscriptions and saved over $10,000 annually. I reduced positions. I personally took a $4,800 yearly pay cut. These are just a few of the measures implemented to save you money.
These are difficult times. Public service has been my calling for nearly 28 years. Future budget cuts will be challenging but I will make the hard decisions needed to preserve vital public service just as I have over the last eight years. My leadership has resulted in increased accountability and a safer community. My re-election will provide taxpayers with the highest and best return from the Office of Prosecuting Attorney.
Clallam County is one of Washington state’s best places to live. Our quality of life isn’t accidental. If re-elected, I pledge to continue my tough-on-crime and fiscally responsible public service on your behalf. I ask for your vote.
And that means all voters. This office should be nonpartisan and I will treat it that way.
County DCD
Director
John Miller
John Miller has been director of the Department of Community Development since 2007. He was elected to the county Charter Review Commission in 2001 and in 2006; for the latter year he was elected chair. In 2002, the voters decided that the director of DCD would be an elected, rather than appointed, position.
The department has five divisions: building, planning, code enforcement, environmental quality programs and geographic information systems. All are supported by the three-person administrative staff. In all there are 30 staff persons in the department.
As John has pointed out during the debates that have been held – 13 up to now – there have been no building permits denied during the four years that he has been the director. The county building official, who has final say on approval of building permits, reports directly to John. Permits for handicapped, wheelchair ramps have been an issue this year: the challenger has vowed not to require permits, which have a $54 fee for inspection. John has been adamant that the Americans with Disabilities Act standards for these wheelchair ramps will continue to be applied to their construction, as they are now. He does not want to risk injury to a wheelchair-bound person who could be put at risk, being pushed up or down a poorly built ramp.
The issue of 400-square-foot building permit-exempt structures also has been a subject of debate. This issue has been discussed recently before the county permit advisory board and will again be a topic for discussion at their meeting on Oct. 19. John supports continuing the permit-exemption with additional public outreach and attention to siting on these buildings that must be built to code; and, cannot be converted to other uses without a permit.
When John came into office, there were many growth management appeals facing the county. Since 2007 the county has resolved all appeals, except getting a sewer system built in Carlsborg; and, the county is working with the PUD commissioners on a financing plan. The PUD recently approved the capital facilities plan and the state public works trust fund has the Carlsborg sewer on their eligibility list for $10 million, of the estimated $15 million cost; qualifying for a long-term, low-interest loan.
Since 2007, Code Enforcement has completed several neighborhood cleanups, culminating recently in Gales Addition. One hundred sixty tons of garbage were removed from one lot in one day. There also was a serious rat infestation that we eradicated. The neighbors now feel that "they have their neighborhood back." I look forward to continuing the highly successful, well-accepted code enforcement program.
The stormwater comprehensive planning process and the shorelines update were started this year with an emphasis on public participation. The stormwater plan is to go to the planning commission in 2011. And, Shorelines Master Program is to be approved by 2012. Lots to do!
If you like the way the department has been run for the last four years, please vote to re-elect John Miller.
Sheila Roark Miller
Personal: Age 51, I have been married 22 years to Win Miller, Washington State Department of Fish & Wildlife Enforcement officer for 32 years. He followed his father Sandy’s 30-year Fisheries Patrol career, also on the Olympic Peninsula.
I have a 29-year old son, Lucas Kendrick, who is married to Erin, living in St.Louis, Mo.
I was born and raised in Port Angeles, the youngest of four children.
My father’s family migrated to Port Angeles with the Chicago Milwaukee Railroad in 1911, constructing buildings and bridges, including the Dungeness River Railroad Bridge, located near our family farm in Carlsborg. My husband’s family arrived on the shores of Port Crescent (now Joyce) in 1884.
Experience: I have worked for the Department of Community Development (DCD) for more than 20 years, beginning in April 1990.
I was Clallam County’s first female building inspector in 1992, inspecting thousands of new homes and commercial buildings, including fire and life safety inspections on existing commercial and public structures.
In 2006, I was the first person in Washington to hold both International Code Council, Certified Fire Code and Building Code Official certificates. While working full-time, I enrolled at Peninsula College, graduating in 2005. My studies included environmental science, biology and economics. I have been to the prestigious National Fire Academy, twice.
I currently perform 90 percent of the Fire Marshal duties and review complex construction projects, such as the new Walmart Superstore, working closely with regionwide architects, engineers, builders, fire officials and planning staff.
I have been lead over plan review, inspections and permit technicians. I have written many policies, co-written several county ordinances, participated in numerous interview teams and am knowledgeable in the county’s Policy and Procedure Manual, as well as union contracts.
Prior to Clallam County, I was in the stock brokerage business for six years, fully licensed. I also worked at Olympic National Park Headquarters, for Olympic Park Institute, an environmental educational campus now located on the shores of Lake Crescent.
Goals for the department: We have a responsibility to keep up with the changes made through state mandates that financially and socially affect us. These include restrictions along our shorelines, DOE water right regulations, Growth Management Board rulings and storm water management programs.
We also need to keep our vision on the future, such as energy producing wind farms, economic opportunities and preparing for upcoming wildland urban interface codes.
With my professional relationships and technical experience I can more quickly resolve small issues before they become financial burdens. I will facilitate cross-training programs which will ensure more consistency between staff, reduce unnecessary expenses and provide you tangible results.
I will institute positive changes to our department’s website, improve communication to stakeholders of farm, recreation, timber and investment properties and repair broken relationships with our professional boards and affiliations.
Combined with my family’s longevity, I am financially, socially and professionally embedded in the natural resources, planning, enforcement, building and fire marshal aspects of our department.
Vote Sheila Roark Miller, Director of Community Development.
State Representative
District 24, Pos. 1
Dan Gase
Ladies and Gentlemen, Hello, my name is Dan Gase and I am running, full speed ahead, to earn your confidence and your vote so I can be your next state representative.
I’m seeking this position because I am very concerned with the financial direction that our state is headed. As a husband, father and grandfather of three wonderful little boys, I worry about what kind of future will be in store for us if we continue down this economic path.
In reviewing our state’s financial situation, I find that Washington does not have an income problem, we have a serious spending problem. I believe we can balance our budget without raising your taxes.
My diverse background will help bring a commonsense approach to solving our budget troubles. As a small business owner, I’ve signed the front side of a paycheck, made payroll and worked within a budget and I know how important it is to rein in the excessive taxation that is simply strangling small business in our district.
I pledge to work toward the reversal of the recent rollback of I-960. The people of the district spoke clearly when they voted to require a two-thirds majority vote of the Legislature before raising our taxes. To ignore the will of the people was simply a slap in the face and you do not deserve that kind of treatment from your representative.
It’s obvious something must change in Olympia and I represent that change. You, the voters, have the power to make this change happen.
As a first time politician, I have the courage to stand up and represent your interests and I pledge to do just that.
Learn more at www.votedangase.com and let’s just get this job done!
Thank you for your time and may God bless America and the 24th District.
Kevin Van De Wege
For the past four years, it has been my honor to serve as the 24th District’s state representative along with my good friend and mentor, Lynn Kessler. Today, I am writing to my constituents in Sequim to ask you to once again send me to Olympia on your behalf so I may bring relief to our local economy, create family wage jobs, and protect the gorgeous natural landscape of the Olympia Peninsula.
When I was a young child, my parents instilled in me the passion for public service that became the driving force in my life. As an adult, I’ve tried to honor the civic values taught to me by my parents first as a volunteer firefighter, then as a full-time firefighter and paramedic in Sequim, and finally as a state representative for the 24th District in Olympia. Every single day I endeavor to do my parents and my community proud by doing my best to protect and serve my constituents – whether as a firefighter or as their representative in Olympia.
Through my work as a firefighter/paramedic and my wife’s work as a schoolteacher, I am in daily contact with Sequim at its most vulnerable. I know the hardships that the honest, hardworking families of our community are experiencing because I see them everyday. I have listened to the people of the 24th District and what they are almost unanimously asking for is representation in Olympia that is willing to do absolutely everything it can to help alleviate the recession devastating our communities. My mission as a legislator is to fight in Olympia to deliver the family wage jobs, economic stimulus and support for small businesses that the 24th District so desperately needs.
The catastrophic recession that is causing so much suffering and hardship across the 24th District is the greatest challenge any legislator serving today has ever faced – but it is also exactly the sort of challenge that drove me to a life of public service in the first place. I will continue to deliver such victories as doubling the state small business tax credit, securing the state contract to build the new 520 pontoons in Grays Harbor, negotiating state loans for indispensable local businesses and driving new alternative energy projects to our pulp mills.
My work as a firefighter provides the template for my work as a public servant: I endeavor to do nothing more than protect and serve my fellow citizens to the best of my ability. I have proven to my constituents and my colleagues in Olympia that I am a tough, plainspoken, open-minded legislator who will never let Big Business lobbyists, special interest groups or an extremist partisan ideology get in the way of bringing family wage jobs, economic opportunity and improved government services back home to the 24th District.
It would be an honor to be able to represent my fellow citizens in Sequim in Olympia for another term and I humbly ask all of you for that opportunity.
State Representative
District 24, Pos. 2
Jim McEntire
The state Legislature must focus on improving our economy so that the American system of private enterprise can once again do what it has always done – take prudent risks; make wise investments with private capital; and produce the goods and services that people need throughout our state, our country and around the world.
This is the way American jobs are created.
I believe state government has lost its way. Last spring, the Legislature put the wants of Olympia politicians ahead of the needs of our citizens. As your representative, I’ll work to change that.
Government’s role is to set rules of the road for business and consumers so that markets remain orderly and predictable. Its role is also to spend hard-earned taxpayer dollars to create public use infrastructure – roads, bridges, water and sewage treatment plants, seaports, airports, and the like, so that our citizens and the goods we produce in our factories can get where they need to go. Of course, there are other things government must do, but those aren’t focused on the economy and jobs.
Olympia’s recent tax increases and regulatory actions have done much to create uncertainty – how can investment decisions be made by business owners or entrepreneurs and providers of capital in such an unstable atmosphere? Answer: they cannot. So we see economic drift, lack of investment, investment capital sitting idle – and very few jobs created.
You can elect a thoughtful, fair-minded, sensible, responsible leader who will represent all citizens of the 24th District with no divided loyalties. If you elect me, I’ll resign my office as a Port Commissioner.
I have a great store of experience in 32 years in the U.S. Coast Guard (28 of which were as an officer and six years of which were in command of three ships); an additional six years as a senior federal career civilian official working in budgets and strategy; and most recent, 21/2 years as an elected port commissioner for the Port of Port Angeles.
As a port commissioner, I have an excellent record in keeping tax burdens steady and in voting for actions which directly led to private-sector jobs.
I bring great skills, tenacity and experience to bear on
your behalf in Olympia.
As your representative, I will stand for three things:
• Fiscal responsibility – balancing the state budget without raising taxes as the Legislature did, ignoring citizens’ explicit direction to do so only as a last resort;
• Easing regulatory barriers and straightening the pathway for successful private enterprise – ensuring that the encyclopedia of regulations businesses and entrepreneurs must understand and comply with, provide the maximum of market orderliness with the minimum of compliance cost; and
• Commonsense environmental regulation – that keeps our environment from being harmed, but that imposes the least impact on our economy, and with minimum impact on our rights as citizens and property owners.
I support time-tested civic values of self-reliance, personal liberty, private enterprise, and families and communities taking care of each other.
I ask for your vote.
Steve Tharinger
For the past 11 years, it has been my pleasure and honor to serve the Sequim community as Clallam County commissioner. Today, I am just as honored to be writing to you to ask for your support as one of our community’s state representatives in Olympia. I am humbled to have received the endorsement and unconditional support of the great Lynn Kessler to fill her seat in the statehouse, and I ask that my fellow Sequim residents look to my record and agree with Lynn’s judgment that I am the legislator most qualified for the job.
I’ve earned the support of such trusted leaders as Lynn Kessler, Norm Dicks and Kevin Van De Wege because I already have proved myself in Clallam County. As your county commissioner for more than a decade, my administration is one of only two county governments in the state that is debt-free. I have ensured that Clallam County’s tax dollars are not wasted and that its local government serves the needs of the community effectively and affordably.
During the current crisis of economic recession and out-of-control government spending, I am uniquely qualified to help put Washington back on the path to prosperity and fiscal responsibility. I have a proven record of administrative expertise and balancing budgets without compromising government services and I am known throughout our local community as an accessible, pro-business public servant committed to maintain a healthy and sustainable business climate in the 24th District. Unlike my opponent, I have extensive experience in 24th District government service and forging compromises that produce solutions to real-world problems.
As your state representative, my top priority will be to deliver economic relief to our local communities, protect the local environment and family wage jobs that Sequim desperately needs and bring financial responsibility and free-market efficiency to the state government. I plan to use my experience to balance the state budget in a way that protects local jobs and government services from reckless, ideologically motivated budget-slashing.
I will be Sequim’s steady and reliable advocate in Olympia – the experienced, trusted leader with an indisputable record of fiscal responsibility, commonsense good government and administrative excellence. With me, you know what you get, and what you’ll get is a dedicated public servant with an eye toward protecting your investment in the state government for the long term.
U.S. House of
Representatives
Doug Cloud
My name is Doug Cloud and I am running for Congress in Washington’s 6th District. As your congressman, I will support tax cuts that create jobs, fiscal responsibility and accountability in Congress. I will seek to repeal the recent health care bill.
We must lower our current tax burden in order to fuel job growth in the private sector. More than 70 percent of new jobs come from small businesses. They should be rewarded for their innovation, not penalized for their desire to grow and prosper and create jobs.
Our nation is headed for bankruptcy if we continue massive deficit spending. We must roll back out of control federal spending now. We must end the bailouts to Wall Street, stimulus packages that do not create jobs, new entitlements and wasteful spending. We must keep the federal government to its Constitutional role. I will promote fiscal responsibility once I am elected. I understand the principle "You cannot spend more than you make."
Congress must be held accountable for its mistakes. Congressional meddling in the economy has resulted in the highest unemployment rate in this district in 25 years and a national unemployment rate of 9.5 percent. The uncertainty in our economy, caused by an out-of-control Congress which adopts new regulations and new taxes at a rapid pace, has nearly ground our economy to a halt. Congress only can be reformed by electing new representatives.
I will work to repeal the new health care bill. This health care law is really a tax, regulate-and-spend bill which ultimately will result in the rationing of health care. We simply cannot afford this new $3 trillion dollar health care plan that threatens Social Security, takes $500 million from Medicare, puts our privacy at risk, forces people to buy insurance at a high cost, takes away our health freedom and creates a new bureaucracy of unprecedented size.
Congressional earmarks and overspending has resulted in a waste of our economic resources. This makes our country less prosperous, strong and optimistic than its natural potential.
The incumbent, Mr. Dicks, has a long track record of sponsoring and supporting legislative favors for political contributors and his friends and family. This is a form of corruption that has imperiled our republic. This needs to stop immediately.
I was born in this district and have lived here all my life. My experience in this community as a lawyer, as a student of economics and as an investment advisor has provided me with a thorough understanding of the citizens and problems of this district.
My opponent has been in Washington, D.C., since 1968 and has lost touch with the people and the issues that are important in this district. I will not be subservient to a liberal congressional elite who emphasize government planning, restrictions on individual freedom and wealth redistribution policies which have nearly destroyed our prosperity.
The times we live in demand new ideas and new leadership. Please vote for me, Doug Cloud, for United States Congress.
Norm Dicks
I’m Norm Dicks and I am proud to be representing you in the U.S. Congress. I’ve fought hard to bring jobs to communities across this region since my first election, and in these tough times, I’m working harder than ever to create new jobs and economic opportunities in this area.
This means investing in needed infrastructure and securing financial support to assist local businesses. It means supporting cutting-edge technology that can help grow an alternative energy industry. It also means supporting Battelle’s growing environmental research work that takes place here in Sequim and continuing the fight to make sure Boeing has a fair shot at winning the Air Force tanker contract – sustaining thousands of jobs in the Puget Sound area.
This year, I also supported small business tax credits to put people back to work and to encourage capital investment. And I remain committed to preserving sales tax deductibility for Washington state residents.
Throughout my career I’ve been committed to protecting our valuable natural resources. I’ve worked hard to restore critical habitat for Northwest salmon runs and to secure federal funds to clean up Puget Sound and Hood Canal, ensuring they are healthy for generations to come. Through my leadership on Interior Appropriations, we’ve made great strides in improving our national parks, including Olympic, and to protect and sustain our national forests. I have strongly supported the restoration of the Elwha River, creating jobs and re-establishing a world-class fishery, and this year I championed the effort to keep Hurricane Ridge Road open year-round.
My commitment to seniors remains non-negotiable: we simply must keep the promises we’ve made to those who have counted on Social Security and Medicare. I’m working hard to reform reimbursement rates to make Medicare more efficient and ensure that doctors in Washington state are fairly compensated so they’ll be available to treat seniors.
As chairman of the Defense Subcommittee in the House, I believe it is vitally important for Congress to keep our promises to military personnel, to veterans and to their families. I have fought to give service men and women the best facilities and equipment possible, for expanded educational opportunities, for better health care and for substantial increases in veterans’ medical programs, including the new clinic for peninsula-area veterans.
I have supported ending our combat mission in Iraq and am working to ensure that we are pursuing a more clearly defined strategy in Afghanistan. I remain committed to eliminating unnecessary spending at the Pentagon and this year, as chairman of the Defense Subcommittee, I proposed $7 billion in responsible cuts to the defense budget.
Supreme Court
Justice
Richard B. Sanders
Legal/Judicial Experience: First elected to Supreme Court in 1995; and reelected in 1998 and 2004. During my time on the court, I have written more opinions than any other justice. Before that, I practiced law for 26 years. I also have served as an adjunct professor teaching appellate advocacy at the University of Washington School of Law and guest lectured on state constitutional law at Seattle University.
Other Professional Experience: I am an Eagle Scout and once played the French horn in the Rose Bowl.
Education: B.S. and J.D., University of Washington
Community Service: I frequently lecture and have written many legal articles and opinion pieces explaining our constitutional rights.
Philosophy: A Supreme Court justice must uphold the highest ethical standards, working to assure that government is open and the rights of citizens are protected. It has been my honor to serve on our state’s highest court since 1995 and to follow these standards.
Article 1, Section 1 of our constitution states: "Governments … are established to protect and maintain individual rights." I believe that’s the job description of a justice also: We must look out for individual citizens and protect their rights.
Sometimes this makes me seem conservative, as when I support property rights, and sometimes it makes me seem liberal, as when I call on the federal government to end the unconstitutional treatment of prisoners. But I am consistent: We have rights the government must not violate.
For 15 years, I have been protecting the liberty of individual citizens from my position on the Supreme Court. Our constitutional rights — to freedom of speech and of religion, to own and use property, and to keep and bear arms – are what makes us a free nation and it is my duty and honor to uphold these rights.
Thomas Jefferson said the God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time. It’s a good thought to remember.
For more information, go to www.friendsofjustice.com or www.justicesanders.com.
Charlie Wiggins
As an experienced attorney, former Court of Appeals judge and longtime resident of Kitsap County, I would be honored to serve as your next Supreme Court justice. I have practiced law in Washington for the past 34 years, representing all types of clients in all types of cases and frequently serve as a pro tem judge in King County and Jefferson County.
I have been given the highest possible rating by the King County, Pierce County, Latino and African-American bar associations and the King County Municipal League (higher than my opponent). I am endorsed by more than 80 judges, 31 of our 39 county prosecutors, the Washington State Labor Council and the Washington State Democrats. I’m also endorsed by prominent Republicans such as former U.S. Attorneys John McKay and Mike McKay, and many others.
My wife, Nancy, and I have been married for 25 years and we have two grown children, Amy and Sam. I am an elder at my church and have traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, with my church’s high school youth group five times to build houses for families. I always have been very active in my community and have organized and led the lawyers of Bainbridge Island in building two Habitat for Humanity homes for single mothers and their families, which earned me the 2010 Humanitarian Award from the Kitsap Bar Association.
My legal achievements have been widely recognized – I was given the highest possible ethics rating by the widely-respected legal directory Martindale-Hubbell, consistently have been designated as a Super Lawyer by Washington Law and Politics and am included in the national publication Best Lawyers in America.
I’ve always tried use my legal career and talents to serve others by sharing my legal skills by teaching in more than 100 seminars for lawyers and by providing pro bono services free of charge to those who cannot afford a lawyer. I’ve also volunteered my time for bar association activities, including eight years on the Court Rules and Procedures Committee and three years on the Disciplinary Review Board (serving a year as chair of each). In 2006, I helped establish the award-winning nonpartisan website www.votingforjudges.org, which consolidates information for every judicial race in Washington. Every year I also visit high school classes to teach students about judicial elections.
I have first-hand experience in the tasks that are the responsibility of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court reviews decisions of trial judges; I have tried cases as a lawyer and as a pro tem superior court judge in King County and in Jefferson County. The Supreme Court reviews decisions of the Court of Appeals. I have served on the Court of Appeals in Tacoma and have argued literally hundreds of appeals in all areas of the law in all three divisions of the Court of Appeals. I have the personal integrity and desire for an impartial and independent court, as well as a heart for justice, to serve with distinction on our Supreme Court.
U.S. Senate
Patty Murray
As your U.S. Senator, I have always measured my success by two simple goals: helping people and solving problems.
That’s why I have continually worked to create jobs, stand up for working families, and do what’s right for Clallam County.
As the daughter of a disabled World War II veteran, a former preschool teacher and a mother, I know what it’s like to face the day-to-day challenges that working families are up against today. I will never stop working for you, whether it’s getting our heroes the care they deserve, fighting to hold Wall Street accountable or doing everything I can to create jobs in your communities.
I’ve worked to get our economy moving again. I put workers ahead of Wall Street CEOs and voted to end the financial abuses, recklessness and corruption that got us into this recession. And I went to bat to help small businesses create jobs by getting them the credit they need to expand.
Here on the peninsula, I’ve gone to bat to make sure your communities have the resources you need. I come home every weekend and hear stories from families around the state about the challenges you are facing. That’s why I’ve fought to help you expand broadband access on the peninsula and to open up a new VA clinic in Port Angeles. I worked to create jobs at PNNL researching the clean energy of the future. I know there is no substitute for your input and I always will listen and fight for you.
I’ve been proud to stand with seniors in the fight to save Social Security and Medicare. When George W. Bush wanted to privatize Social Security and let big banks gamble with your retirement, I pushed back. I vowed that Social Security would never be privatized on my watch. And we won.
And today, I am continuing my work on behalf of Washington state seniors by closing the Medicare Part D donut hole and fighting to make our state’s Medicare reimbursement rates fairer, so that seniors can see the doctor they want.
I am a strong supporter of extending tax cuts for the middle class – those making under $250,000 – and letting George Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy expire. I oppose Republican efforts to hold tax cuts for the middle class hostage to tax breaks for the rich, as my opponent has said he would. I know that we have to restore fiscal responsibility to Washington, D.C., and so I will continue to stand up against a nearly $1 trillion tax break that would explode our debt and put the future of programs like Social Security at risk.
I want to continue being your voice in the U.S. Senate, but I need your vote to keep fighting for Washington state families in D.C. Please vote by this Nov. 2.
Dino Rossi
Our country is in trouble. Congress has mortgaged America’s future by passing trillion dollar budget deficits, wasteful stimulus packages that didn’t create jobs and Wall Street bailouts
Their approach has failed. Washington’s unemployment rate is dangerously close to 10 percent, our national debt has soared past $13 trillion and taxes on working families keep rising. Our economy is headed for a breaking point.
But we can’t change direction until we change the political leadership that seems more interested in their political ambitions than in getting things done.
If Congress keeps spending your money at this unprecedented pace, our national debt will reach $19.6 trillion by 2015. Both Republicans and Democrats are guilty of running up our nation’s credit card without considering how they’re going to pay the bill. Congress is putting our economic future in jeopardy by continuing to spend money they don’t have.
Washington families have to make tough budget decisions every day to live within their means; it’s time for Congress to do the same.
When individuals and small businesses are free to invest more of their money back into the economy, good things happen. Lower taxes promote economic growth and job creation. Recently, Congress raised taxes to pay for massive increases in government spending and they left town to campaign without extending the 2001 and 2003 tax relief that benefits 2.5 million Washingtonians.
If we’re going to get our economy back on track and our people back to work, that’s got to stop. Congress must make permanent the 2001 and 2003 tax relief which spurred economic growth and job creation, repeal the death tax and lower the tax rates paid by our job creators. The problem isn’t that taxes are too low; it’s that spending is too high.
Federal spending has exploded, in almost every aspect of government. I’ll do in Washington, D.C., what I did in Olympia, balance the budget without raising taxes while still protecting the vulnerable.
Congress’ health care "reform" bill was crafted by a series of backroom deals with special interests, pharmaceutical companies and the insurance industry. It was designed to help special interests, not the American people.
My plan is simple: Cut the massive growth in federal spending that has created these huge deficits and will double our national debt in just five years.
Pass a Balanced Budget Amendment because neither Republicans nor Democrats in Washington, D.C., have any discipline when spending your money.
Fix the tax code to reward work, saving and the investments that create jobs while closing special interest loopholes that favor the politically connected.
Replace the health care bill and reform health care by taking power away from big government and insurance companies and giving it back to patients and their doctors.
Finally, I know America’s best days are ahead of us if only we unleash the energy and talent of the American people and get government back to its proper, more limited role. That will be my mission as your senator. I ask for your vote.
