Meet the candidates: 32nd District, Senate

Published 10:20 am Friday, July 30, 2010

What’s the job?

At stake is a four-year term as a senator in the state Legislature. The 32nd Legislative District covers the cities of Shoreline, Lake Forest Park, Kenmore, Bothell, Edmonds, the town of Woodway and portions of unincorporated King and Snohomish counties.The annual salary is $42,106.

Election Day: Aug. 17, with ballots scheduled to be mailed out July 30. The top two vote-getters will proceed to the general election in November.

Notable: The senate incumbent who held this seat since 1995, Darlene Fairley, retired from the Legislature this spring. After her announcement, Maralyn Chase, 32nd District state representative from Shoreline, declared her intention to seek Fairley’s senate seat.

David Baker

Age: 66

Occupation: Kenmore mayor, business owner

Party: Republican

Residence: Kenmore

Web site: bakerinthesenate.com

Education: Doctorate, Iowa State University

In his own words: “We need to go through this budget line by line and figure out what do we really need — what is the core purpose of government?”

Baker’s priorities: Said the state needs to operate more efficiently. He said Kenmore managed to build a new City Hall and paid for it with cash. “We live within our budget,” he said.

Wants to consolidate the region’s transportation agencies. “We’ve got seven different transit agencies all collecting revenues,” he said. “Government has gotten way too big. People are upset.”

Patty Butler

Age: 58

Occupation: Manager, Fran’s Chocolates

Hometown: Shoreline

Party: Democratic

Website: pattybutler.com

Education: Associates degree, technical arts, business management, Edmonds Community College. Project Management Certificate, Edmonds Community College.

In her own words: “I think we need someone who is more open to communication in Olympia and someone who can bring consensus back to Olympia.”

Butler’s priorities: Education. Says the state isn’t following its constitutional mandate to provide basic education to children.

Environment. Said she’s taken classes on sustainability recently and feels more strongly now that the state needs to offer tax credits for businesses that implement green energy approaches. On sustainability: “I don’t think the average person knows about it, so we have to educate the average person.”

Protecting the disabled and seniors. “We need to ensure they have quality health care and safe places to live,” she said.

Notable: Butler served in the state House of Representatives from 1996 to 1999 before losing an election to Carolyn Edmonds. While she served, Butler was a key sponsor on a bill to license whitewater rafting guides.

Maralyn Chase

Age: 68

Party: Democratic

Hometown: Edmonds

Occupation: State representative

Education: Masters degree, political science and critical social theory, University of Washington.

Website: maralynchase.org

In her own words: “I think there is a different culture in the Senate. I’m one of these issues persons. I believe the Senate is more receptive to more individual initiatives of the members than is the House. I like that a lot.”

Chase’s priorities: Economic development. Says the advent of a knowledge-based economy has received a lot of media attention but is the wrong place to focus. “It doesn’t contribute to our economic base,” she said. “We can work to develop new products, put people to work, build our export market and then bring the money back home.”

Notable: Chase just toured the oil sands in northeast Alberta, Canada. She says she hasn’t made up her mind on whether the sands, said to be a possible new oil reserve, are good or bad for the environment. “A lot of people say it’s an environmental catastrophe. I don’t know that. I would hope they could figure out a way that it won’t be.”