Several candidates in Federal Way have thrown their hats in the ring for both state House of Representative positions in 2012. The filing deadline for candidates is May 14-18.
District 30 state representative position 1 is held by Democrat Mark Miloscia, who is forgoing re-election to the Legislature in order to run for state auditor in 2012. Miloscia was first elected to the state House in 1998.
Candidates who have filed to run for Miloscia’s seat:
• Linda Kochmar, a Republican. Kochmar has served on the Federal Way City Council since 1997, including stints as mayor, deputy mayor and chairwoman of multiple committees. She has twice been elected as chairwoman of the Suburban Cities Public Issues Committee. Kochmar is a risk manager at Lakehaven Utility District, where she has worked 33 years.
• Roger Flygare, a Democrat. Flygare owns a small business that deals with court reporting. He has worked with state lawmakers to pass bills related to the court reporting profession, such as license requirements and protection of job performance. In November, Flygare finished second to Susan Honda in a bid for Federal Way City Council.
• Tony Moore, a Republican. Moore was appointed to the Federal Way School Board in 2008, and currently serves as board president. Moore has been behind the recently-enacted accelerated academics and standards based education policies. He narrowly lost to Tracey Eide (D) in the 2010 race for State Senate. In 2011, he ran unopposed in his re-election to the school board.
• Thom Macfarlane, a Democrat. Macfarlane officially announced his candidacy April 12. He has a background in the information technology field and promises, if elected, to advocate for job creation, economic development, education reform and veterans. “We need to create other sources of economic development for this district,” he told The Mirror in an email.
• Jerry Galland, a Republican. Galland ran for the other state representative position when it was an open seat in 2010, but lost in the primary. He also ran for South King Fire and Rescue commissioner in 2011 against incumbent James Fossos.
District 30 State Rep., position 2
For position 2, two Democrats are running against incumbent Katrina Asay, a Republican and former mayor of Milton.
• Dominic Barrera, 21, is a political newcomer and lifelong Federal Way resident. He is a senior history student at the University of Washington. “I first decided to take a shot at this because I don’t see enough advocates for education in the Legislature. I’d like to change that,” Barrera told The Mirror, adding that he wants to present a clear ideological difference to Asay.
• Rick Hoffman, a Democrat. Hoffman is a political newcomer who serves on the board for the Martin Luther King County Labor Council and works as an electrical engineer at Boeing. Education is his top priority, along with housing and jobs. “We need to move in a more positive direction in Olympia,” Hoffman told The Mirror.
Asay was elected to the state representative seat vacated by Skip Priest, who became Federal Way’s first elected mayor in 2010. In November 2010, Asay defeated Democrat Carol Gregory in a close race, winning by 301 votes. Relatively unknown in Federal Way before the August 2010 primary, Asay was outspent by Gregory almost 2 to 1.
Asay made an appearance at the Federal Way School Board meeting March 13, saying she plans to work closely with the district and community leaders to ensure that funding to Federal Way schools stays unharmed from her fellow legislators in Olympia.
Primary election
• Beginning in 2012, the candidate filing deadline is May 14–18, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
• The Federal Way Mirror will host candidate forums this summer (dates to be announced).
• Any race contested by more than two candidates will go to the primary election ballot on Aug. 7, 2012. The top two finishers will move on to the general election in November. Click here to learn more.
• Check out candidates’ expenditures at www.pdc.wa.gov.
