State Representative, District -- 47, Position -- 2

Party: Democrat

Date of birth: July 20, 1962

Residence: Covington

Education: B.A. Political Science, University of Washington (1987)

Political offices held: Covington Mayor (1997-2000, 2002-03); Covington City Council (2001-02)

Public service and volunteer experience: Covington Elementary PTA (past president), Kiwanis Club of the Foothills (past president), Covington Economic Development Council (member), Covington Rotary Club (member), South King County Multi Service Center (past board member), Youth soccer & T-ball coach, Communities in Schools of Kent (past board member), King County Regional Policy Committee (former member), Suburban Cities Association (past board member), Church Volunteer

Endorsements: Aerospace Machinists Council, Washington State Nurses Association, Washington Conservation Voters, Washington Federation of Teachers, Children's Campaign Fund, Sierra Club, WA State Labor Council and many more.

Campaign theme: "Sincere Commitment for a Change"

Questions for candidates

What are the biggest differences between you and your opponent(s)? I am very active in our community in numerous groups and organizations. I also made it a priority to go door to door through our district to listen to people about their concerns and answer their questions. I will continue to take the time to listen to citizens throughout the 47th district and will continue to be actively engaged in our community.

What are your highest priorities for state government? If you had to close the projected $1 billion gap between state government revenues and expenses, how would you do it? I believe we need to live up to our constitutional mandate and make education our highest priority. I also believe we need to implement a performance audit system for our state that audits each government agency. Each tax break and tax incentive should also be audited to ensure that it is producing the result that it was intended. This will help us close the $1 billion anticipated gap between revenues and expenditures.

Do you support the initiative to raise the sales tax 1 penny to raise money for schools and higher education? While I support additional funding for our schools and the concept of a dedicated revenue source, I am concerned about the additional sales tax. This would make our tax system even more regressive and more of a burden for those who are having a difficult time paying for everday goods. I also believe we need to look at our entire system of funding our schools. School districts should not need to rely on local passage of operating levies to fund basic education and PTAs should not need to purchase supplies that the state should be covering.

Are you happy with Washington's new primary? Are you supporting the initiative that would give Washington a "top 2" primary system that the parties oppose? No. I would prefer the "blanket primary" that has served our state so well. We have a very independent state and voters enjoyed the ability to cross over and vote for the candidate they preferred rather than needing to select a party. While there are some aspects of the "top 2" system that I prefer to what we have now, I do not believe it will be fair to third party candidates who will likely face a harder time qualifying for the general election ballot.

What do you think of the initiative to expand the use of slot machines to reduce taxes? I do not believe that the expansion of gambling is the solution for reducing our tax burden. This initiative would result in the substantial expansion of gambling in our state and would lead to an increase in problem gambling and other problems. I believe that we need to do a better job with taxpayer dollars and make our government more efficient. But expanding gambling to pay for services is not the answer.

Contact

26513 168TH PL SE
COVINGTON, WA 98042
(253) 740-6772
sullivansare@comcast.net

Campaign Web site:
www.votepatsullivan.com