[Letter by Roger Ledbetter – Snoqualmie, WA. Views expressed are those of the author, not the Living Snoqualmie website. You may submit letters of support for your candidate to info@livingsnoqualmie.com]
Representative Gael Tarleton has the education, experience and passion that we need in our Secretary of State.
Tarleton earned a B.S Degree in Foreign Service and then went on to complete a Master’s degree in Government and National Security. From 1981 to 1990, Tarleton worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington, D.C. as a Senior Defense Intelligence Analyst.
From 1990 to 2002, she was the Director of Global Technology, Science Applications International Corporation. Her first elected office was in 2007 to the Port of Seattle as Commissioner. She was reelected in 2011 and then became Commission President in 2012.
In 2013, Tarleton was elected to represent the 36th Legislative District in Olympia and continues to serve in this office. This is only the tip of the iceberg of her experience and qualifications.
One of Tarleton’s signature bills is HB 1251. This bill is a plan to protect our voting systems from both foreign and domestic interference and provides for testing to identify vulnerabilities.
I had an opportunity to speak with Representative Tarleton and was impressed with her passion for democracy and commitment to increasing citizen participation in our elections. She said, if elected, she would work with the Secretaries of State across the nation to protect our elections from corruption.
She also indicated that she would evaluate “Ranked Choice Voting” (RCV) as a fairer alternative to Washington’s “Top Two” primary. RVC would prevent a situation like voters have now having to choose between two Democrats for Lt. Governor.
Tarleton’s expertise in government, national security, and technology make her uniquely qualified to watch over Washington’s election systems making sure our elections are fair, secure, efficient and inclusive.
Roger Ledbetter, Snoqualmie
