The crowded field contending for the 36th District state representative seat, Position 2, which is being vacated by Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, presents an interesting array of possibilities.
Most candidates are Democrats — there’s only one Republican in the bunch — and describe themselves as “progressive.” No surprise there.
SeattlePI.com columnist Joel Connelly, one of the few scribes still around who knows where the bodies are buried, vented his frustration over “Seattle liberals’ insular world” in a column after attending a candidate forum in April. He waxed nostalgic for the no-nonsense state Rep. Helen Sommers, who, he noted, “represented the 36th from the 1970s into the 21st century…. I miss her.”
So do we.
In these times of fiscal anguish, Sommers (“Helen of Troy Ounce,” as one wag called her) understood the ins and outs of a budget. She was the voice of reason, Connolly noted, who “pandered to nobody.”
Connelly wrote his column after witnessing a night of Seattle’s “progressive” orthodoxy pandering to the crowd of the moment.
Given several of the candidate’s impressive backgrounds and accomplishments, they did themselves no favors. What the 36th District needs is not a representative tilting at windmills, but someone with elective experience who will pay strict attention to the immediate needs of the district and the state.
On that basis, we recommend Gael Tarleton.
Tarleton has had the courage to call for a half-cent increase in the sales tax to hold college tuitions down. We don’t know if that is the right path — it may be — but the rising tuition issue needs to be confronted. Steady tuition increases will only widen the gap between the haves and have-nots and shackle graduates with an unconscionable debt load. That fact plays directly into the racial and low-income sensitivities some of the other candidates have espoused, but Tarleton is singularly equipped to so something about it.
Tarleton, 53, is a twice-elected commissioner for the Port of Seattle and has been elected by her fellow commissioners as president. She will give up her seat if elected.
Her resume is impressive: She has served as senior defense intelligence analyst for the Pentagon and is co-founder of the University of Washington’s Citizen Roundtable on Politics and Democracy.
She has broad experience in public investment, management and labor relations.
Her ability to work with diverse groups is reflected in her endorsements: The Inland Boatman’s Union of the Pacific, International Longshore & Warehouse Union Local 19, Seattle King-County Realtors, former Seattle City Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck, former state Rep. Velma Veloria, the Northwest Asian Weekly and Rep. Mary Lou-Dickerson.
Additionally, the Municipal League of King County gives her their highest rating of “Outstanding.”
Tarleton has ability to both understand the details of governance and the bigger picture.