Letter | Sarah Perry is Running for King County Council District 3

[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]

Just when you thought that we were done with elections for a while, new campaigns are starting up. Yes, that’s right; there will be an election on November 2, 2021. On the ballot will be mayors, and school board members and several King County (KC) Council positions. These are very important elected officials who make decisions affecting our local quality of life.

KC Council members oversee the budget, make decisions as to which roads get fixed, and with the passage of King County Charter Amendment 5, they will be appointing the KC Sheriff.

There are 9 Districts in KC, and each district elects one person to serve for a four-year term on the KC Council. In 2019 the even-numbered districts held elections, and in 2021 the odd-numbered districts will hold elections.

Sarah Perry announced just days ago that she would be running for KC Council District 3. While these are non-partisan positions, all the Council members have publicly acknowledged their party affiliations. Sarah Perry is a Democrat and will be running against a Republican incumbent who has been on the KC Council for many years.

Full disclosure: I am fond of Sarah Perry, as I have known her for about 4 years. Perry prides herself on being a coalition builder, and although she and I have had our differences of opinion, we have always worked well together. Perhaps because one of Perry’s guiding principles is that you should assume the person you disagree with has good motivations for what they think, an attitude that I believe derives from her faith.

Perry has been active in the local Democratic party, the ”5th LD Dems”. I watched her take on the role of Precinct Committee Chair, and through training and recruitment, take an anemic group and turn it into a grassroots force to be reckoned with. One which helped elect her husband, Bill Ramos, to be one of our Representatives from the 5th Legislative District.

It’s tough taking on an incumbent, but Sarah Perry is smart, a high energy organizer, and with her heart in the right place, she will be a formidable candidate.