From: Maralyn Chase [maralyn_chase@msn.com]
Sent: Thursday, August 10, 2006 6:22 PM
To: cec@munileague.org
Subject: 2006 Candidate Questionnaire.doc

 

  

 

 

 

The Municipal League of King County

810 Third Avenue, Suite 224

Seattle, WA 98104

 

2006 Board of Trustees

Steve Marshall, Chair

Tami Ritoch, Secretary
Fireside Homes

Albert Israel, Treasurer
Mass Mutual Financial Group

 

Beth Arman, Renton Technical College

Angela Avery, community volunteer

Putnam Barber, Executive Alliance

Dan Berger, municipal attorney

Jill D. Bowman, Stoel Rives LLP

Bill Breitenstein, Financial Executive (ret.)

David Brentlinger, Weyerhaeuser

Bruce Carter, judge pro tem, Seattle Municipal Court

Kevin Carter, Safeco

Paul Demitriades, Medina City Council (ret.)

Sandra Driscoll, City Attorney (ret.)

Mary Gates, consultant

Norma Jean Hanson, Norma Jean Hanson Paralegal Services

Robert Klein, McNaul, Ebel, Nawrot, and Helgren

Jack Jolley

Eric Laschever, Stoel Rives LLP

Eric B. Martin, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

Kent McKinney, Keycenter Manager, KeyBank

Ramsey Ramerman, Foster Pepper

R. Todd Slind, CH2MHill

Norman Z. Sigler, Mobile Partners

Will Smith, T-Mobile

John Spady, Dick’s Drive-In

Ara Swanson, community volunteer

Harold Taniguchi, King County Department of Transportation

Rashelle Tanner, CRISTA Ministries

Wes Uhlman, Wes Uhlman & Associates

Jason Van Nort, Puget Sound Energy

Rich White, Boeing

 

2006 CANDIDATE BACKGROUND QUESTIONNAIRE
FOR NON-JUDICIAL CANDIDATES

 

The Municipal League of King County requests every candidate who participates in the candidate evaluation process to submit background information prior to his/her interview with a candidate evaluation committee.  The questionnaire is the basis of the League’s research and interview process.  The League’s ratings are non-partisan; they are based on standards of Involvement, Effectiveness, Character, and Knowledge, all of which have been developed and refined over the past 90 years.

 

A printed version of the questionnaire is available for candidates who prefer to use the traditional format.  To obtain a hard copy, please contact the League office.  A copy of this questionnaire will be provided to Candidate Evaluation Committee members to help them prepare for your interview.  Candidate responses, except the confidential section, will be available to the general public at the League website. 

 

The Municipal League requests the following materials from candidates.  Please check to make certain you have sent in your:

 

      Candidate Questionnaire

          Sent by:         Email             US Mail          Fax            Not Sending

      Resume (education, employment, and professional activities)

          Sent by:         Email             US Mail          Fax            Not Sending

               Check here if you DO NOT want your resume posted on the Municipal

                   League website

      Campaign Materials

          Sent by:         Email             US Mail          Fax            Not Sending

      Constituent Newsletters and other publications

          Sent by:         Email             US Mail          Fax            Not Sending

      Photograph

          Sent by:         Email             US Mail          Fax            Not Sending

 

Note: Electronically submitted questionnaires are strongly preferred. All materials can be emailed to cec@munileague.org.  They can be processed and made available on-line far more rapidly than handwritten or typed submissions.

 

For non-electronic submissions, please print clearly and legibly and return the application as soon as possible in order to allow the committee the greatest amount of time to prepare a complete report on your skills and experience.

 

If you have not yet been contacted to schedule an interview, or if you have questions about the candidate evaluation program, please contact the League office at 206-264-1070.

 

If you have a disability and require accommodation to participate in the candidate evaluation process, please contact Jennifer DiGiacomo at the League office.

2006 Candidate Questionnaire

 

SECTION I               

 

BASIC CANDIDATE INFORMATION

 

1.      Name as it will appear on the ballot

 

First Name

Middle Initial or Nick Name

Last Name

Maralyn

     

Chase

 

2.   Office sought (include office, jurisdiction, position/district number):

 

State Representative, 32nd Legislative District, Position 1

 

3.   Are you the incumbent?                xx  Yes          No

 

 

4.   How long have you resided in this district/city?

 

16 years

 

5.   How long have you resided in King County?

 

46

 

6.   Is the office sought partisan or nonpartisan?       x  Partisan     Nonpartisan         

                                                                                                                       

7.   If partisan, please indicate party:  Democrat

 

CAMPAIGN CONTACTS

 

 

Campaign Name:

 

Citizens for Maralyn Chase

 

Address:

 

PO Box 77267

 

City/State/Zip:

 

Shoreline, WA  98177

 

Campaign Phone:

 

425-775-0600

 

 

Campaign Fax:

 

425-775-0600

 

 

Campaign E-mail:

 

maralyn_chase@msn.com

 

 

Campaign Website:

 

     

 

 

POLITICAL BACKGROUND

 

1.   Beginning with the most recent position, please list public offices which you have held.  Include positions on appointive Boards or Commissions.

 

Public Office

Elective or Appointive?

Dates Held

Leadership Role (if any)

State Representative

 

Elected

 

2002- to present

 

Chair, Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Trade Policy

 

Precinct Committee Officer

 

Elected

 

Periodically from 1968 to 2001

 

Chair of most committees in several districts

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

 

2.   If you ran for public office but were not elected, please list those races below:

 

Office Title

Year of Run

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 

     

 


 


SECTION III

 

In this section, we are seeking responses that reflect the four ratings criteria: involvement, effectiveness, character, and knowledge.  These are defined as follows:

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.)

 

Like most Americans, I care deeply about the values we share and standards we expect our government to uphold: equality of opportunity; security for our country and our citizens, especially the vulnerable among us; work for those who can work; the ending of special privileges for the few; preservation of our civil rights and liberties; a clean, sustainable environment;  and the ability of everyone to share in the wondrous advances in our creative, innovative economy.

 

These are the standards by which I judge public policy.  Having spent my entire adult life studying public policy, I believe elective office is the most effective way to influence that  policy.  

 

My ongoing commitment to the voters of my district is to keep public resources in the public hands, particularly Fircrest and St Edward Park, to continue my work and legislation in addressing solutions to global warming, and to continue my legislation to empower small businesses.  I am committed  to challenge health insurance companies to give back the excess surplus they have accumulated from ever increasing health insurance premiums and to establish triple B & O taxes on interest income received from any interest rate over 12%.

 

 

 


 

  1. Describe your most important personal characteristics or traits as they relate to the office you seek.

 

      When first announced my intention to run for the State Legislature to my local 32nd LD organization I made it clear that the primary motive for my doing so was to defend our democracy and human rights.  I told them I believe in the right of participation in all decisions that effect one's life, I believe in inclusion and I believe in empowerment.  In addition, that means citizens have a responsibility to debate and discuss the public policy issues we deliberate in Olympia. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. 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. 

 

My open door policy is fundamentally rooted in my belief in democracy and PIE (Participation, inclusion and empowerment). 

 

I am proud to say that I have made my office accessible to all the people in my district, from small to large businesses, to the parents of school children and their teachers, to the families of residents of Fircrest, to the neighbors trying to prevent a brew-pub from being established in St. Edward Park, to the citizens establishing a performing arts center in Edmonds, to the community college and to our district's small cities and the exciting movement to combat global warming.   We have a noisy, thriving, and democratic district  from Snohomish County to Kirkland.   I was very proud to be introduced at a community meeting recently as "Our Voice from the District in Olympia, not the voice from Olympia to our district." 

 

I bring to the office a deep and abiding interest in sustainable development and a responsibility to future generations to make sure that the decisions we make today do not impede their ability to meet their own needs.  I am pleased that my service on the Hood Canal Committee brought about the funding for the science to determine exactly what is causing the decreased oxygen.  We have made assumptions that failing septic tanks are the problem, but this was based upon a survey of the literature, not hard science.  We funded the science project in the last session.  Our unfinished business is huge:  we have spent two years becoming informed about the canal but we have not yet determined the solution.    The people working on Hood Canal have a deep respect for each other and the contributions everyone is making to solve the problems.  It is satisfying to be a part of this and to be trusted by the hundreds of scientists working to solve the problem.  They bring us their findings, their recommendations, and their judgements.  Our job is to make the decisions that everyone can accept.  This is good process for public policy.

 


 

  1. 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.

 

     

Since early sixties I have worked on civil rights issues in our area, especially helping the Human Rights Councils throughout the county break the back of the restrictive covenants preventing people of color from living where ever they wanted to now, I have spent a great deal of time working for peace and human rights.   In those days, it was legal to refuse to even rent an apartment to people of color.  We stopped that.  I then went on to work for the Seattle Urban League in providing housing for first time homeowners.  My work with the peace movement also dates from that time.   I am proud to say, the values that impelled me to work on those issues are the same values I bring to Olympia. 

 

When I began my human rights work, women could not apply for jobs that were deemed "Men's work", and were relegated to second class citizenship.   This is perhaps the most fundamental change of the last century, crossing all class, racial and gender lines.  We are now faced with terrible divisions of income and wealth in our society, a problem that knows no gender or race.  

 

Using a human rights standard to evaluate public policy means that we recognize that our society has developed roles to how different citizens  are perceived and expected to think and act in a particular socio-economic political and cultural context.  These roles shape our access to rights, resources and opportunities in our cultures and at different stages of our lives.  Identifying the obstacles each citizen experiences in comparison to the other gives us benchmarks for helping all in achieving the full realization of their rights.

 

I am equally proud to be a member of a four-generation family that participates in our community and with each other's activities.

 

  1. Please describe the duties of the office you seek.  Which are the most important duties and why?

 

     

 

On my wall I have the oath of office in which I swore to uphold the Constitution of the State of Washington and the United States of America.  I believe the Priorities of Government are laid out in the Constitution and the paramount duty of the legislature is to provide for the education of the children.    It is hard to keep this before the Legislature when there are conflicting claims.

 

I think it is important to keep the Constitutional priorities in mind in all the legislative committees.  This is, in my opinion, more important than the newly established Priorities of Government in which none of the legislators have participated in establishing but do seem to drive legislation.  Given the pace of the legislative work it is almost impossible to read all the legislation, but I think it is important to try, particularly with legislative issues where there is disagreement.

 

I think it is important to bring the voices of the citizens to the legislative debates  so that the citizens know they have been heard.  Legislation is not just for special interests, it is for all the citizens of our state and it should strive to be fair.


EDUCATION BACKGROUND SUMMARY

FOR PUBLICATION IN CANDIDATE EVALUATION REPORT

 

The Municipal League’s Candidate Evaluation Report is distributed to voters in print and/or on our website.  It includes a summary of the candidate’s education.  Please summarize your education in 120 characters (letters, punctuation, and space all combined).  The League will delete material that exceeds the space limit by beginning with the last entry.  Suggested order is (degree) (subject) (school) (year, if desired). 

 

Note: If this question is left blank the League will not include education information in your candidate profile.

 

     I have a BA and MA in Political Science from the University of Washington.

 

CIVIC INVOLVEMENT SUMMARY

FOR PUBLICATION IN CANDIDATE EVALUATION REPORT

 

The Municipal League’s Candidate Evaluation Report also includes a summary of each candidate’s civic involvement.  Please summarize your civic involvement in the space below.  We will make every attempt to include the information in the Candidate Evaluation Report as submitted.  Due to space restrictions in the Report, your response is limited to 500 characters (letters, punctuation, and spaces all combined).  It is important that you list your involvement beginning with the most important and ending with the least important.  If you exceed the length of response permitted, or if the League should find it necessary to shorten responses for publication purposes, deletions will be made beginning with the last item listed. 

 

Note: This information will appear verbatim on the League’s Candidate Evaluation Report.  If this question is left blank, the Municipal League will not include information on your civic involvement in the Report.

 

 x Check here if you would like the Municipal League to copy the first 500 characters from Question 4 to paste into this section.

 

     

 

Finished!

If at all possible, send your response to the Municipal League electronically as an attachment, or insert it into an e-mail message (cec@munileague.org).  Mail and fax numbers are listed below.  If the League has not contacted you to schedule an interview, please call the League office at your earliest convenience.

 

Don’t forget to send the following to the Municipal League:  a resume, a photo, campaign literature, and, if you are an incumbent, constituent newsletter and other materials.  Please use the check-off list on the cover sheet of this packet to indicate which items you have sent.

 

 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION AND GOOD LUCK IN YOUR CAMPAIGN!

 

THE MUNICIPAL LEAGUE OF KING COUNTY

 

Candidate Evaluation Coordinator:  Jennifer DiGiacomo

 

810 Third Avenue, Suite 224                  Phone: 206-264-1070                        Email: cec@munileague.org

Seattle, WA 98104-1614                        Fax: 425-671-0506                        Website: www.munileague.org