Hunter, Jarrett get ‘very good’ ratings by Muni League

Published 6:02 pm Thursday, July 23, 2009

Two Bellevue-area legislators have received “very good” ratings from the Municipal League of King County in the closely fought battle for King County Executive.

Ross Hunter, of Medina, and Fred Jarrett, of Mercer Island, received that rating along with two Seattleites now on the County Council – Dow Constantine and Larry Phillips.

Hunter represents the 48th Legislative District and Jarrett the 41st District, both of which include part of Bellevue.

Others in that raced didn’t fare as well. Both Susan Hutchison and Alan Lobdell were rated “good” while Stan Lippman and Goodspaceguy Nelson were both rated “not qualified.”

In races for Bellevue City Council, which will be on the November ballot, all six candidates running for three seats were rated “very good.” They include Conrad Lee and Vicki Orrico for Position 2, Patsy Bonincontri and Kevin Wallace for Position 4 and Don Davidson and Michael Marchand for Position 6.

The Muni League ratings are based on four criteria: Knowledge, Involvement, Effectiveness and Character. They assess each candidate’s potential to be effective in office and ability to serve the community. Political affiliations or stands on specific issues are not considered and candidates are not rated against each other, Municipal League officials say.

“The League’s rating process is similar to a job interview for candidates, with a diverse group of citizens serving as hiring managers,” said Brad Meacham, Municipal League Chair. “This result is a useful tool to help voters make decisions.”

In other races that will be on the ballot for Bellevue-area residents, The League rated incumbent County Councilman Reagan Dunn “outstanding” for Council Position 9. His opponents, Beverly Tonda and Mark Greene were rated “good” and “adequate” respectively.

In races for the Port of Seattle, Rob Holland was rated “very good” for the Position 3 seat with his opponents, David Doud and Al Yuen each rated “good.”

For Position 4 on the Port, Tom Alobro was rated “outstanding,” Max Vekich was rated “good” with Robert Walker rated “adequate.” Juan Paraiso provided insufficient information for the League to give a rating.

Complete definitions of the ratings are available at www.munileague.org. Here are abbreviated descriptions of each rating:

Outstanding – Has made numerous outstanding contributions requiring skills related to the office, is a path-finding and respected leader, brings knowledge and creativity to issues facing the office.

Very Good – Makes significant contributions, is a skilled builder of consensus, inspires confidence in the way he/she would serve, is thorough and attentive to issues.

Good – Has been active and effective in many roles, is capable of moving people to productive action, has strong record of participation in problem solving, shows satisfactory commitment to tackling issues.

Adequate – Has a record of participation and interest, is effective on specific issues, has provoked questions about suitability as an office holder, will need significant time/energy to fill gaps in knowledge.

Not Qualified – Doesn’t appear engaged, has a record that casts doubt on ability to be productive, hasn’t demonstrated ability to deal with responsibilities of office, has narrow focus, inflexible attitude or is otherwise troubling.