To the Editor: Attend candidate forums

To the Editor:

I hope that we all consider attending any legislative candidate forums that I hope will soon be announced. Ironically, all three positions - one senator and two representatives - have 3 candidates: 2 Democrats and 1 Republican. One would figure to see a lot of candidates for the open positions, but that hasn't happened. One would also think to see more than one Republican candidate for each position given that the pundits have forecast this to be "their year," but that hasn’t happened. Of course, not having a Republican win any of these positions for 20 years is no doubt a factor.

The State Senate has Representative Maralyn Chase and former Representative Patty Burke Butler, both Democrats, and Republican Kenmore Mayor David Baker. For State Representative, position 1, Democrats are former Shoreline Mayor Cindy Ryu and current Shoreline Councilmember Doris Fujioka McConnell with Republican Art Coday. For position 2, incumbent Democrat, Representative Ruth Kagi, Democrat Stan Lippmann, and Republican Gary Gagliardi.

The primary election is Tuesday, August 17, about 8 weeks. Only the top 2 vote-getters advance. I expect the debates, both for the primary and the general elections, to be vigorous, which some will find interesting in and of itself. Here's one thing I'll be keeping in mind. I've heard the climate in the State Legislature described as a bunch of "silos" where King County and Seattle are not viewed favorably by those senators/representatives outside of it. Thus, to be effective, it takes strong powers of persuasion, i.e. people who know how to get things done working with a wider array of opposing views, far more so than we typically see in our local governments, which are comprised of far fewer representatives.

Brian Doennebrink

Shoreline