Advocacy & The Arts
Q&A w/ City Arts’ Shaun Scott
Q: Politics, I’ve observed, are a lot like writing: without a vision, you can’t get too far. What is your vision for the district you want to represent? If you could boil it down to one “theme,” what would it be?
A: We truly do live in an amazing place. I’m not just running for Congress. I’m running because I believe so passionately in the Pacific Northwest, and because I believe that the solutions to so many of our problems nationally will start with the innovation that we’re seeing at home. We live in a pretty unique place. In our national political climate, there are so few places in the country, where we can elect leaders who will boldly stand for values — like reproductive rights or single-payer health care — but who can also effectively deliver on the truly systemic changes that we need.
I’m also running because we’re a region that’s absolutely poised to become one of our nation’s major metropolitan centers over the next 10–20 years. In many ways, we’re already there. For reasons both within and beyond our control, I think we’ll continue to be a magnet for growth for a long time to come. Our big challenge is how we balance growth and equity, and achieve this in a way that preserves our climate and the natural environment that make our region so great.
I frequently think of a statistic that the Seattle Times ran last year: less than 10% of families in King County have seen their incomes rebound to pre-recession, 2008 levels. And, the most recent census tracts show us becoming less racially diverse in Seattle. This is alarming.
As David Byrne, reminds us: “And you may ask yourself. Well… how did I get here?” Like so many of my peers, I was born during Ronald Reagan’s first term. Starting in the 1980s we started to see a systematic federal withdrawal in partnership and funding in areas from transit to housing to mental health to education. Homelessness doubled in the 1980s. Today, we’re facing a crisis. In 1968, we went to the ballot in Puget Sound to approve roughly $400M in funds for a local transit system. The initiative, “Forward Thrust”, narrowly failed and we lost $900m in federal matching funding that went to Atlanta to build Atlanta’s MARTA system. We need these partnerships again.
All this to say, I’m am so bullish on the Pacific Northwest. This is my home. My mom’s family immigrated here from Cuba and my dad’s family has been in the northwest for generations. I grew up in rural Whatcom County, in schools where very few of my classmates made it to college. I believe in what our region can do.
For me, here’s the theme: partnership. My husband, Micah, who’s a marine biologist, and I often talk about the place we want to raise the kids we’ve not yet had. That’s a place where the middle class is getting stronger and where our climate is protected. It’s a place that’s succeeded in balancing growth and equity.
To get there, we need a strong federal partner who’ll stand for our values, share our innovation with the country, and deliver on our needs at home.
Q: In our meeting about your campaign’s economic policy, I was impressed by your recollection that the 4 largest employers in the 7th Congressional District are Amazon, Boeing, the City of Seattle, and the University of Washington. It seems to be a perfect cross section of the major pillars of the American economy, between big business, government, and the academy. How do you imagine these sectors interacting with one another in a way that benefits your constituents?
A: First, we need to invest in the innovation pipeline by advocating for public research funds from NSF and NIH to our research institutions like the UW and the Hutch. I’ve championed these efforts in the State legislature the last few years. I’ve experienced this in my own career outside the legislature in advocating for public research funding in the sciences. Public funding for R&D is important for our economy but it’s also important for equity. As we’ve seen more and more research funded privately, we’re seeing the public sector play a smaller role in R&D than it once did. We can also play a significant role in the transition we’ll see over the next several years toward a clean energy economy.
Second, federal policy is not catching up with the needs of urban centers like Seattle as we grow. Congress will be reauthorizing many spending packages over the coming years, from the Farm Bill to the Highway Package to Section 8 housing, each of these are opportunities to influence how these massive federal appropriations benefit our region. This impacts our region’s major employers and research institutions.
With housing, for instance, we know that up to 45% of low-income Section 8 housing vouchers are not being accepted by landlords in King County because of the source of this income. This is an important issue federally and it’s one we’ve tried to address in the state legislature — it’s called “source of income discrimination”. The result is that we’re seeing many of these housing vouchers go unused and federal funds are being left on the table. This affects the affordability crisis we’re experiencing in Seattle.
With transportation, last year we authorized Sound Transit 3 which will go the voters this Fall. The proposal will finance the expansion of our transit system in the Puget Sound. We need more federal partnership for our transit system. We also need to be innovative and look at ways that federal transportation funds can be used for housing around transit stations. These are two examples.
Third, we have an extraordinary creative economy in our region that we need to support and nurture. Yes, we have some major local employers, but we also have a rapidly growing number of smaller employers in the creative economy.
Q: When people talk about Millennials, it’s often as a shorthand for other ideas. What does being a Millennial mean to you? How does this dovetail with the experiences of previous generations?
A: When I’m asked this, I often think about foreign policy. We’re part of a generation of Americans who’ve grown up in a country that’s been at war for well over half our lives. The only stretch of relative peace was during the Clinton administration.
I remember going to protests against the first Gulf War with my dad in Bellingham at Western Washington University while I was growing up. This isn’t often associated as a defining factor of the Millennial generation, but I do very much believe that it’s shaped the psyche of our generation in this country.
I also think of is aging and economic security. We’re projected to be the first generation of Americans who’ll have a lower life expectancy than our parents. We have the lowest rates of homeownership and the lowest asset base than any generation before us at our age. We were directly affected by the recession at a time when so many millennials were starting to get on their feet. My husband and I are still paying off student debt.
We also came of age with rapid changes in technology. We older millennials will be the last generation to remember the dial-tone of a 56k modem.
Politically, I believe our generation is shaped by these influences: economic insecurity and debt, hawkish foreign policy, technological transformation, and the aging and the financial well-being of our parents.
We’re a generation that believes overwhelmingly in civil rights and marriage equality, climate change, and the decriminalization of drugs like cannabis.
As our generation moves into positions of political leadership — I’m excited. I think there is a great potential to harness the potential and hope for the future, but also understand the systemic depth of the problems we face.
Q: I’m writing to you as a columnist for City Arts Magazine. The creative community in Seattle has been hit hard by rising rents and increasing cost-of-living expenses. Because Seattle is known nationally for its support of music, film, and literature, what would you do as a candidate to bolster that national reputation by supporting artists locally?
A: I’ve been active with the arts and artists in Seattle since I moved back to the Northwest, after several years back east and some time living in Honduras.
The arts and particularly working artists are such an essential part of the fabric of our community. The arts let us confront social and political challenges in new ways. I’ve worked for several years with Intiman Theatre and this year, Intiman’s season is being produced by Valerie Curtis-Newton and is focused on the work of black women playwrights.
Our arts community in Seattle defined us in so many ways. In many ways we can measure the health of an urban community by its affordability for artists.
I’ve worked in the legislature to support arts funding in many ways, including the authorization of the Cultural Access fund in last year’s legislative session. Being an advocate for the arts and culture in the Northwest comes very naturally for me — I believe in this deeply for the character, livability, diversity, and vibrancy of our city.
Federally, we do need to take steps like provide more funding through the National Endowments. As I’ve discovered in my role in Olympia, there are many ways that legislators can be partners to the arts through funding and visibility. This has already been a focus for me the last several years.
Q: What are some Seattle bands, films, songs, films, or books that really resonate with you, and that you feel provide a sense of the region, and the district you’ll be representing?
A: The first CD I ever bought was Presidents of the United States first album, with Peaches. At our wedding this summer, Micah and I, had one of our best friends do a reading by my favorite northwest poet, Theodore Roethke, “the Right Thing”. As for other northwest performers, as everyone around me knows, my go-to Pandora station is Brandi Carlile. She did this amazing performance last year with the Seattle Symphony. Shontina Vernon did a wonderful performance at our campaign launch, and I’ve seen her twice since. I also love live theater. We’ve got a great fringe theater scene in Seattle and our more established theaters have had great productions lately. Since I’m running for political office, I did think the two-part piece at the Rep over summer on LBJ was fantastic and provocative.
