Dr. Richard Burkhart (Dick) is a well-known Seattle progressive political activist. He has closely followed politics in America throughout his life. He is especially concerned about the extreme wealth gap in this country. He knows lots of politicians personally and is very knowledgeable about the political views of every candidate on the ballot. Many justice-minded Seattleites look forward to receiving Burkhart’s recommendations to help them decide who they would like to vote for. Erin Jones, a favored to many people of color is missing from the list. He picked Chris Raykdal for Washington State Public Instruction Position instead of her. When we asked him why he favored Chris over Erin, he simply said she is equally qualified as he is.
Erin speaks to the Ethnic Media of Seattle called SeaBeez during Meet n Greet Candidates!
Here is the list:
Measures
Sound Transit:
- Proposition 1: Approved (Best vote for our future: Regional expansion of light rail, commuter rail, and express buses, from Tacoma to Everett.)
Seattle:
- Initiative 124: Yes (Badly needed health and safety protections for hotel employees)
King County:
- Charter Amendment #1: Yes (Make the prosecuting attorney non-partisan)
- Charter Amendment #2: Yes (Switch to gender neutral language in the King County charter)
State:
- Initiative 732: Yes (Best triple win: Restructures our state taxes to be more progressive, while taxing carbon to reduce air pollution and climate change. Could set the stage for a capital gains tax on the 1%)
- Initiative 735: Yes (Urges a US Constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United)
- Advisor Votes 14 & 15: Maintained (Ignore the confusing language mandated by a past Tim Eyman initiative. These votes are about appropriate insurance premiums and about removing tax breaks)
- Initiative 1433: Yes (Badly needed increase in the state minimum wage to $13.50 by 2020)
- Initiative 1484: Yes (Reduces the influence of big money on state politics by giving each citizen three $50 vouchers to donate to candidates)
- Initiative 1491: Yes (Permits court orders to get guns out of the hands of people who exhibit potentially violent behavior)
- Constitutional amendment 8210: Approved (A technical amendment that requires that congressional redistricting be completed 46 days earlier after a census)
Federal Candidates
- President: Jill Stein (preferred) or Hillary Clinton
- Senator: Patty Murray
- 9th Congressional District: Adam Smith
- 7th Congressional District: Parmila Jayapal
State Candidates
- Governor: Jay Inslee
- Lieutenant Governor: Cyrus Habib
- Secretary of State: Tina Podlodowski
- Treasurer: Duane Davidson
- Auditor: Pat McCarthy
- Attorney General: Bob Ferguson
- Public Lands: Hilary Franz
- Public Instruction: Chris Reykdal
- Insurance Commissioner: Mike Kreidler
- 37th Distrist: Sharon Tomiko Santos
- 37th Distrist: Eric Pettigrew
Judicial Candidates (contested)
- State Supreme Court #1: Mary Yu
- State Supreme Court #5: Barbara Madsen
- State Supreme Court #6: Charlie Wiggens
- Superior Court #14: Nicole Gaines Phelps
- Superior Court #26: David Keenan
- Superior Court #31: Helen Halpert
- Superior Court #44: Cathy Moore
- Superior Court #52: Anthony Gipe
- Superior Court #53: Mariane Spearman
