The Flag of the World

Regardless of what happened Monday morning, the gubernatorial election showed that Washington is very evenly divided between red and blue–but the fact that only a three of our nine person delegation to the House of Representatives is Republican doesn’t bear that out. However, there’s a man who aims to make that score a little bit more even. That man is Doug Roulstone, and he is challenging Rick Larsen for the 2nd District House seat.

I’ve had my own run-in with Larsen, so it gives me great pleasure to say that Roulstone is a fantastic candidate, tailor-made for the 2nd District, and he has a fantastic shot at winning this contest.

Roulstone has two main areas of experience, both of which are perfect matches with the district, which ranges from Everett up to the Canadian Border, east to the Cascades west to Island and San Juan counties. First off–defense.

Roulstone served in the US Navy for over 30 years, becoming highly decorated, accumulating over 3500 military flight hours, serving in over 100 countries and finishing his career as the Captain of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis, a with a crew of 5,000 under his command. Roulstone’s military experience and contacts would come as a great boon to the 2nd District, the home of two important military bases that employ thousands of people.

His second main area of experience is aerospace. Since retiring from the Navy in 1999, Roulstone has been the senior vice-president of Thomas James International, a local aerospace and engineering company that does business with Boeing, the Defense Department and many other big-time aerospace players. In a district so heavily influenced and employed by Boeing and other connected aerospace, that kind of experience is vital. Boeing’s image has taken a beating in Congress in recent years, not without cause, and it will be helpful to everyone in the region if Boeing has a local congressional ally who understands aerospace.

Beyond these two main areas, Roulstone has a couple other issues he can easily run on. One is education–in part because he is a parent of children in public schools, but also because he has gone out of his way to make those schools better. During a recent school strike in Snohomish, when the official leadership of the district were wouldn’t do it, Roulstone organized an ad hoc town meeting between parents, teachers and District administration. Just a couple days after his meeting, the sides came to an agreement, and teachers went back to work.

Additionally, Roulstone and his company have been instrumental in setting up a state-of-the-art computer aided design facility at Snohomish High School. The lab is so good that some Boeing engineers who worked on the project have confided that in some ways, the high school classroom is better than what Boeing has! This year, for the first time ever, the Boeing engineers and the high school students will both be designing a part for the 787–in this case, the overhead storage bins–and competing with each other to see which design goes into the plane.

All this is due to the hard work and tenacity of Roulstone in making the facility happen. He understands education at the two most important levels–that of a parent and of an employer.

Roulstone’s fourth major issue is a simple one–he’s a Republican. While that’s not usually a big advantage in this state, it may be in this race. In many issues, but especially those of defense and aerospace, the 2nd district will be much better served by a member of the majority than a 3-term member of the minority. Base closures will always be a worry for the military-heavy 2nd District.

For example, The USS Abraham Lincoln is constantly in danger of being moved from Everett to Bremerton. Larsen will never be able to compete with Rep. Norm Dicks if Dicks decides he wants to bring the Lincoln into his District. A Republican, on the other hand, will be able to, because Dicks is also a member of the minority. The same sort of thing will play out dozens of times in other areas–the 2nd District will be much better served by someone who plays for the winning team.

Roulstone is in this to win–he’s not a no-hoper who just threw in against Larsen to fill a spot on the ballot. He’s getting started early and is working hard to get the financial help of the House Republican Caucus–something he needs your help to do. He needs to raise $300,000 by the end of the year in order to show them that he’s a serious contender. You can help make that happen that by clicking right here.

A whole lot more information can be found at www.Roulstone4Congress.com. Roulstone offers a fantastic voice for the 2nd District and Washington State as a whole. I hope you’ll help him make that voice heard in Washington D.C.

Cross-posted at Sound Politics.

Posted by Timothy Goddard at 10:29 pm 6/7/2005 | Election 2006| Northwest Politics

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