Know your county chairs: Mason County Democrat Roslynne Reed

PolitickerWA.com's weekly series, Know Your County Chairs, is back today with Mason County Democratic Party Chair Roslynne Reed (D-Hoodsport).

PolitickerWA.com: How long have been the Mason County Democratic Party Chair?

Roslynne Reed: Two and a half years.

PolitickerWA.com: What got you started?

Reed: Well I was a PCO for the Skokomish precinct and our chair needed to take care of personal business and put more time into her job so I was asked and decided, "ok, I will do that."

I finished out her last year and then I was elected for the next two years.

PolitickerWA.com: When does your term end?

Reed: December of this year.

PolitickerWA.com: Are you going to run again?

Reed: Well, I was hoping someone else would take a turn at it. It is a lot of work and I do a lot of volunteer work.

PolitickerWA.com: What has been the biggest challenge?

Reed: Organizing the group. When I first started we had typically less than 20 people at our monthly meetings. [Now it is up to] about 50 per meeting, and we are also getting younger people involved.

PolitickerWA.com: What are the key issues for the Mason County Democrats?

Reed: Primarily we have just been working at getting people elected and raising money and getting themselves organized. Basic issues, of course, we still have one Democrat that people are concerned about, that is our Senator Tim Sheldon who is sometimes a Democrat and it is kind of hard to manage that part.

PolitickerWA.com: Is Sheldon the main reason you are running for Mason County Commissioner?

Reed: No.

PolitickerWA.com: What are you hoping to advocate for if elected?

Reed: My main focus is the [Hood] Canal. I was born here and it is pretty important in my life to make sure that the dollars that Congressman Norm Dicks (D-Belfair) has gathered for the state stay in the canal instead of moving to the Puget Sound.

PolitickerWA.com: Is this regarding pollution?

Reed: Pollution, yeah, we have to make sure it stays--it gets--healthy. Now that we've done a lot of studying on it and money has come for that purpose, but with the Puget Sound Partnership, I am concerned that maybe the Hoods Canal won't get the emphasis it deserves.

Some of the other areas would be land use. That seems to be a pretty big item. I attend meetings and we shared the concerns of the people out there and something is just not working. I think people should be able to enjoy their property and getting permits and that sort of thing should not be a barrier to doing that.

PolitickerWA.com: Are you confident about the candidates that you have in your district and county?

Reed: I think so. We have done a great job of getting Democrats elected. All of the ones that ran as a Democrat last time won and I think that is because we put a lot of effort into it. Other than that they also are good candidates, too.

PolitickerWA.com: Who is your favorite politician who is not from Washington and not running for president?

Reed: Oh, of course it would be John Edwards

PolitickerWA.com: Are you a Husky fan or a Cougar fan?

Reed: I would probably be a Husky fan.