By Manny Frishberg , JTNews Correspondent
With the primaries just days a way, two candidates in the outer areas of the Puget Sound region are apparently headed to the November ballot unchallenged.
Thanks to the new one-party-only primary system there is no suspense for either Joel Selling or Sherry Appleton – both Democrats will be facing off against Republican and Libertarian opponents in the general elections for places in the state House of Representatives.
Sherry Appleton is no stranger to the legislative halls in Olympia or to the campaign trail. A veteran lobbyist for groups ranging from the American Association of University Women, the Washington Defenders Association (which represents public defenders around the state), unions and progressive organizations, including the Coalition for a Jewish Voice, for the past 11 years, Appleton also spent eight years on the Poulsbo City Council.
Her list of accomplishments also include appointments to the Washington State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and the state’s Judicial Conduct Commission, as well as serving on boards of directors of the Association of Washington Cities, the Northwest Women’s Law Center’s legislative committee and the Urban Forestry Council. This year marks her second run for the legislature from the 23rd District, which includes the cities of Bainbridge Island, Kelso, Bremerton and parts of Kitsap County.
“I have all this experience and something needs to be done,” she said. “Washington is at a crossroads and we have to move forward.”
Asked about her priorities for the 2005-2006 legislative session, she said they are “children, seniors and working families.”
“For children, it’s education issues, which I think are really important and, of course, health care,” she said.
She favors reducing class size as a key to improving quality in the classrooms and “redefining ‘basic education’” from K-12 to K-14.
“Children need a community college-level education, at least,” Appleton said. “Then, we have to allow school districts to pass levies and bonds by a simple majority vote. I don’t think there’s any other way.”
Regarding seniors, she said, one concern is the affordability of prescription drugs, Appleton said listening to pharmaceutical company representatives testify against allowing drug imports from Canada “was one of the defining moments that led me to want to run.”
To illustrate the problem she referred to her mother’s situation. Having recently had surgery for breast cancer, Appleton said, the doctors had prescribed tamoxifen, which was costing her $296 a month in Florida, where she currently lives. While on a visit to Washington, Sherry made some inquiries for her mother and found that a Canadian pharmacy could provide a three-month’s supply of the same prescription for $96.
“Something is wrong here,” she concluded. “To me it shouldn’t be a choice, whether you should pay the rent or have food, just to have medication.”
As for working families, the third of her triumvirate of priority groups, she said “we have to have living-wage jobs with a highly skilled and highly trained workforce, which goes all the way back to education.” That, she said, is the key to attracting new businesses and industries to the state.
Other issues of concern to her include transportation and the environment, “especially here on the Kitsap Peninsula where we’re losing the Hood Canal because of oxygen levels.”
Appleton has been married to her husband Ron for 22 years and has a “blended family” of five children, 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, though she is quick to point out that at 61 she is “not that old.” A native of Rhode Island who went to college in Florida, Appleton is a member of Congregation Kol Shalom on Bainbridge Island.
Joel Selling is making his first run for state office in the 39th District, which runs from the Canadian border, north of Newhalem to south of Skykomish in northern King County, and from Sedro-Woolley in the west to east of Silverton, and includes parts of Whatcom, Skagit and Snohomish counties.
“I decided to run because we need to have good legislators,” he said, “I’m less concerned with the party than I am people who have intelligence, integrity and a willingness to work with the other party.”
He described his Republican opponent, incumbent Dan Christiansen, as “extremely conservative” and “either unable or unwilling to look at any other views.” Selling said that, in opposing virtually any proposal “that would cost any money,” Christiansen has demonstrated a lack of distinction “between fiscal conservatism and fiscal irresponsibility.”
A native of Portland, Ore., the 54-year-old Selling has lived in Western Washington since 1980, where he has worked as a marketing manager for several different companies over the years. He has also started two small businesses of his own and taught marketing at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
Although this is his first foray into partisan political races, he has chaired levy election committees for the local school district and libraries. Selling lists his three key issues as education, transportation and jobs.
“Those three issues were what I chose after taking two months before announcing I would run, talking to different people throughout my district and hearing what their concerns were.”
Like Appleton, he favors repealing the super-majority requirement for school levies. In transportation, he prefers smaller projects and maintaining and improving existing roads over spending on big new projects. In the area of jobs, he wants to concentrate on making business creation easier by reforming the Business and Occupations Tax, although he said he has not done the economic analysis necessary to come up with a revenue-neutral plan that he would support.
Selling is not the first member of his family to enter politics, either. His great-grandfather, Ben Selling, was the first Jewish governor of Oregon, though due to a change in administration that position lasted for only three days.
Selling grew up a member of Temple Beth Israel in Portland, but dropped out of active participation “for 30 years” after college. He recently joined Temple Beth Or in Everett.