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Announcer: King County Council.

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As the legislative branch

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of county government,

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the nine members of the

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Metropolitan King County Council

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set the policies,

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enact the laws,

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and adopt the budgets that guide

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the largest jurisdiction

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in Washington state.

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The council's mission

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is to protect public health

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and safety,

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enhance quality of life,

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and ensure public trust.

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Council positions

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are nonpartisan,

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and council members are elected

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to four-year terms.

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This year, five of the nine

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council positions will appear

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on the general election ballot.

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♪♪

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♪♪

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♪♪

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Hello. My name
is Dominique Torgerson,

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and I am running for
King County Council

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for District 7
because we need change.

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I know all too well
the issues that we face

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in our rural, unincorporated
areas of King County.

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With completely unreasonable
and overburdensome

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permitting
and zoning codes,

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it is otherwise a miracle
if someone can even make it

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through the permitting process
at all,

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much less without great
financial and mental difficulty.

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It took our business
2 1/2 years

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to make it through
what should have been

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an over-the-counter
permit.

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King County does little
to nothing to support its rural

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or unincorporated
businesses,

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which is completely evident
by the fact

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that we have the absolute
lowest percentage of sales

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that comes from
the unincorporated areas

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out of any county
in this entire state

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at a minimal 3.2 percent,

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and that is based
on 2016 numbers.

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King County basically
has two principal sources

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of tax revenue --
property tax and sales tax.

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Property taxes levied
by counties

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can only increase
by 1% every year.

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With that limitation,
we have to be able to

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supplement our revenue
by getting sales tax.

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But the only way to create
this foundation

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of stable sales tax
revenue

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is to support
unincorporated businesses.

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With such limited sales tax

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coming back from
the general fund,

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we have absolutely no way

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to continue to support
the rural areas,

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much less get funding
for anything else.

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My second issue
that I want to address

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is our effect
on the environment.

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We have such an inefficient
recycling program

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where most of
what we recycle

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still ends up
in the landfills.

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With the technology
that is available,

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there is absolutely
no reason

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we should even
have landfills anymore,

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and that is something
I want to change.

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Lastly,
we need to get back

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to listening to the people.

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As elected officials,

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it is our duty to be servants
to the people.

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The words "career"
and "politician"

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should never
go hand in hand.

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But unfortunately,
it is now all too common,

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continually reinforced
by greed

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and need to
excessively control.

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If I am elected,
I will push for term limits

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that will effectively remove
the incentive for someone to try

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and make an elected
position a career.