2006 Candidate Questionnaire
SECTION I
BASIC CANDIDATE INFORMATION
1. Name as it will appear on the ballot
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First Name |
Middle Initial or Nick Name |
Last Name |
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ROGER |
E. |
GOODMAN |
2. Office sought (include office, jurisdiction, position/district number):
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WASHINGTON STATE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 45TH LEG. DISTRICT, POSITION #1 |
3. Are you the incumbent? Yes No
4. How long have you resided in this district/city?
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NINE YEARS |
5. How long have you resided in King County?
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NINE YEARS |
6. Is the office sought partisan or nonpartisan? Partisan Nonpartisan
7. If partisan, please indicate party: DEMOCRAT
CAMPAIGN CONTACTS
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Campaign Name: |
FRIENDS OF ROGER GOODMAN |
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Address: |
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City/State/Zip: |
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Campaign Phone: |
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Campaign Fax: |
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Campaign E-mail: |
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Campaign Website: |
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POLITICAL BACKGROUND
1. Please list public offices which you have held. Include positions on appointive Boards or Commissions.
Public Office |
Elective or Appointive? |
Dates Held |
Leadership Role (if any) |
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KING COUNTY ALCOHOLISM AND SUBSTANCE ABUSE ADMINISTRATIVE BOARD
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Appointive (by King County Council)
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2002-present
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Chair, Joint Legislative Committee, King County Mental Health Advisory Board and Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Administrative Board
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2. If you ran for public office but were not elected, please list those races below: N/A
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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:
- Involvement: What has the candidate done previously in family, neighborhood, community, volunteer work, employment or public life to suggest readiness to accomplish challenging objectives? How do these activities demonstrate readiness for the challenges unique to the office sought?
- Effectiveness: Has the candidate demonstrated promise of being productive in the office sought? Has the candidate shown the ability to work with other people?
- Character: Do the candidate's personal traits show the ability to take on the responsibilities of campaigning for and holding the public office she or he is seeking? Is the candidate a leader, participant or observer? Is the candidate trustworthy, reliable and candid?
- Knowledge: Has the candidate demonstrated the willingness and ability to learn and adapt? Does the candidate understand the duties and challenges of the office sought? Does the candidate have a firm grasp of the issues important to his or her constituency and their potential effects?
1. In a page or less, why are you running for this office? (Note: the interview committee will be given a copy of this statement before your interview; at the beginning of your interview you will have the opportunity to expand on this statement in any way you wish.)
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With a broad range of professional and government experience, a lifelong commitment to public service and a family well-settled in the 45th District, I am ready to enter the public arena as an elected representative.
Locally, I have been president of a neighborhood association in Kirkland and in King County I have served for several years on an appointed citizen advisory board for substance abuse treatment. For several years at the King County Bar Association I have coordinated a coalition of professional and civic groups, including the Municipal League of King County, in a ground-breaking public education initiative to examine our current drug control policies and to recommend more effective and humane alternatives to address the chronic societal problem of drug abuse.
In state and federal government I have served as a state agency director in Olympia (the Sentencing Guidelines Commission) and as chief-of-staff and legislative director to Representatives in the U.S. Congress. I am an attorney trained in environmental law, licensed to practice in Washington, Rhode Island, two federal circuits and the U.S. Supreme Court.
As I support and help raise my family here on the Eastside I am becoming even more committed to my community, and I am concerned about preserving the quality of our schools, reducing the prohibitive cost of health care and somehow getting us out of traffic, among many other issues. With my knowledge, experience and a record of bringing people together to accomplish things, I believe I am the best qualified candidate for this position at this time.
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2. Describe your most important personal characteristics or traits as they relate to the office you seek.
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I am a straight talker who eschews politics-as-usual and I have a record of getting things done in the professional, governmental and non-profit sectors.
I try to bridge differences by remaining respectful and inclusive. I want to help bring civility back into the legislative discourse, sparing the people’s time and money from needless bickering. I will use this common-sense approach to serve the citizens of my district, focusing on growth management, affordable health care and strengthening the schools, issues which I believe should not be so subject to partisan gridlock.
I take public service very seriously and I believe it is an honor and a privilege. In this spirit I want to serve as a resource for the constituents of the district, whether it is a legislative measure or a local or personal matter that needs attention.
As a complement to my professional experience and knowledge base, I also have a very healthy sense of humor!
Most important, I understand that my family comes first.
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3. Please describe in sufficient detail, one to three accomplishments or contributions of which you are most proud. These examples should illustrate effective skills and capabilities you think apply to the office you are seeking. These accomplishments may have occurred at any time in your personal, professional, or public life.
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As Legislative Director to West Virginia Congressman Bob Wise, I was responsible, on the congressman’s behalf, for steering a controversial amendment to the Clean Air Act of 1990 through the many traps in the legislative process. This included securing the support of three separate committees of jurisdiction in the House, retaining the key language in the final House-Senate conference committee bill and ensuring passage of the final bill by both houses of Congress. The amendment established a $250 million job transition and assistance program for displaced workers in the coal, chemical and utility industries that were adversely affected by the new stringent air pollution regulations. This effort required maintaining a constant, delicate balance between the interests and positions of the major stakeholders (including organized labor, the environmental community and heavy industry) and careful negotiation with key members of Congress and their staff.
More recently, here in King County as the Director of the King County Bar Association Drug Policy Project for the last several years, I am proud of the work I have done to bring together a broad coalition of professional and civic organizations, including the Municipal League of King County, to educate and influence policy makers and opinion leaders to examine and improve our drug abuse policies. This high-level effort has attracted scores of busy professionals to volunteer on numerous task forces and working groups, producing major reports, white papers and detailed policy position papers. Most significantly, the initiative has spurred major legislative reforms at the state and county levels, with state and local funds being shifted away from wasteful and counterproductive incarceration toward therapeutic treatment options. The work of the King County Bar Association in this policy area has attracted national attention and has helped make Washington and King County a national model for responsible drug policy reform. |
4. Please list or describe your current and past activities in the community in which you have acquired skills that relate to the office you seek. Include your role in the activity and the year(s) in which you were involved. Involvement consists of many areas such as family, neighborhood, community, employment, or public life.
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My first responsibility is as husband and father and I derive great joy from my family life. My wife and I are expecting another child at the beginning of next year, so the joy will only grow!
I have served on the boards of the neighborhood associations where we have lived, including in our current neighborhood of Norkirk in Kirkland (until 2005) and also for two years as President of the Lakeview Neighborhood Association in Kirkland (from 2000 to 2002).
Since moving to the Eastside (1998) I have regularly and frequently volunteered at the Eastside Legal Clinic in Bellevue, providing free legal advice and referrals to disadvantaged clients who cannot afford standard legal services or who are intimidated by the legal system.
Through my work for the King County Bar Association (2000 to the present), and during my tenure on the King County Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Administrative Board (2002 to the present), I have tirelessly fought for public policies and practices that improve the life conditions of the less advantaged, particularly for those caught in the grip of mental illness and drug abuse.
I continue to serve on the boards of other organizations dedicated to improving the life chances of the less advantaged in our community, including the Marie Institute, which promotes and funds innovative therapies for people suffering from borderline personality disorder; and the Post-Prison Education Project, which is providing opportunities for higher education for qualified individuals being released from prison. I am also a charter board member of the Rainier Institute, a non-partisan think tank dedicated to stimulating debate over vexing policy problems in our community, including affordable health care, maintaining educational quality and improving the administration of justice.
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- Please describe the duties of the office you seek. Which are the most important duties and why?
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The principal duty of a state legislator is to serve the constituents of the legislative district and in a prompt and even-handed fashion. This often takes the form of direct service to constituents with personal or neighborhood problems, including helping constituents battle with bureaucracy, educating them about local issues and listening carefully to their opinions.
A state legislator also serves the constituents by advocating for policies and legislative measures that will enhance the quality of life in the district. Often this takes the form of introducing and shepherding bills through the legislative process in the state capitol. The on-the-ground issues that constituents care the most about (and that a legislator should pay closest attention to) include: strengthening the schools; keeping neighborhoods, public spaces and homes safe and secure; gaining access to good quality, affordable health care; and helping to relieve the stress and inconvenience associated with traffic congestion and explosive population growth.
A legislator also plays an important role as an agent of change, ignoring convention and remaining unafraid of controversy, by articulating a vision of the future that reflects the values of how we want to live our lives.
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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.
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MPA, Harvard University (1998); JD, George Washington University (1986); AB, Senior Fellow, Dartmouth College (1983) |
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.
Check here if you would like the Municipal League to copy the first 500 characters from Question 4 to paste into this section.
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President, Lakeview Neighborhood Association (2000-2002) in Kirkland; Board Member, Norkirk Neighborhood Association (until 2005); Volunteer Attorney, Eastside Legal Clinic (2000 to present); Board Member and Legislative Chair, King County Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Administrative Board (2002 to present); Charter Board Member, Rainier Institute; Board Member, Marie Institute; Board Member, Post-Prison Education Project. |
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
Seattle, WA 98104-1614 Fax: 425-671-0506 Website: www.munileague.org