Patricia Terry
Terry takes on Bailey this fall
Published March 25, 2008

Camano Island nurse seeks to
unseat incumbent Republican

By BRIDGET BUDBILL
Staff Reporter

Camano Island resident
Patricia Terry, RN, has
her sights set on Olympia.

The 53-year-old Democrat
will run against incumbent
Republican Barbara Bailey
(R-Oak Harbor) for Position
2 to the Legislative 10th District
this fall, which includes Camano
and Whidbey Islands, Stanwood,
and the surrounding areas north
to Burlington and south
to almost Marysville.

Terry, a registered nurse of
more than 30 years, plans to
bring her experience in health
care and management to the
starting blocks.“I see the best
way to fix problems as identifying
where in the process things
broke down and getting
started there,” she said.

Although the political race has been on her mind for the last few years, her campaign officially kicks off this weekend, Sat., March 29, 5 to 8 p.m., at Camano Multipurpose Center, 141 East Camano Drive. Tickets are $20 per person and can be purchased in advance at Snow Goose Bookstore in Stanwood and at Camano Island Coffee Roasters, or the night of the event. A lasagna dinner, silent auction, live music and political speeches are on the evening’s agenda.

But Terry knows that the campaign trail itself is no party — and she has already begun doorbelling in parts of the district that have traditionally voted Republican in the past. “Many said to me, ‘you’re the first candidate who has ever come to my door,’” said Terry.

Spending time in unfamiliar living rooms has shown Terry — who says she is new to campaigning but familiar with the political process — that many voters consider the same issues important, but through different perspectives. “We want the same things for different reasons. We pay attention to the same issues,” she said. “I don’t want to insulate myself on the Democratic or Republican side — I am district focused.”

The issue Terry has heard about most is health care, a field in which she has spent the last three decades. Health care access and the quality of that care are poised to become central issues in this race,” said Terry, who says expertise in the areas of health care reform, health care management, and understanding of how government works are paramount to her commitment to making the industry function to better benefit citizens. She began her health care career as an intensive care nurse, followed by management roles in health care quality improvement, working with Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

Terry was a regional manager for a team of healthcare professionals who reviewed the in-hospital treatment of active duty military personnel and their families, including families at the Naval Air Station Whidbey in Oak Harbor, as well as at Madigan in Tacoma and the Naval Hospital in Bremerton.

“In time, I came to believe the best way for me to care for people was to impact the legislation that governed their lives. I went back to school to study government, how policies are developed and implemented, and how to get things done,” said Terry, who went back to school at age 49.

She studied with the Institute of Public Service at Seattle University (SU) and earned a Master of Public Administration in 2005. In 2006, Terry completed an internship with the Snohomish County Performance Auditor, and shortly thereafter, taught budget management classes to both graduate and undergraduate students at SU. From 2004-2006, Terry also served as a board member of the Washington State Association for Healthcare Quality from 2004 to 2006 and was the organization’s president in 2005. Last year, the Island County Board of Health appointed Terry to a three-year term with the Community Health Advisory Board.

While working on other local Democratic campaigns, Terry recalled listening to a former Republican candidate “say that anyone who wants health care can have it.” “That is very far from reality for even those with insurance,” she said. “I know what a crowded emergency room looks like.

There is a big difference between knowing what the words mean and knowing what actually happens.” It is with this “discerning eye” that Terry plans to go to work on issues of health care, as well as conservation of rural character and preservation of the environment. “Cluster developments worry me,” she said, of the high-density housing systems that many residents in the Seven Lakes area have been vocally combating for months. “They create an immediate need for infrastructure that doesn’t already exist,” she said, adding that the real underlying issue is housing affordability.

The state’s ferry system is also a hot-button issue on Terry’s radar. Terry said the ferry system should be converted into its own state agency, apart from the state Department of Transportation, and maintenance checks and a replacement schedule should be implemented and acted upon. “Before, I don’t think the ferries were seen as a highway system. They are now, and the silver lining is this has changed how we feel about the ferry system,” she said. But Terry also feels the system’s recent struggles are reflective of a bigger problem. “There is an unwillingness to support infrastructure,” she said. “Keeping things lean (in taxes collected) does not negate the need for capital planning needs.”

Spending tax dollars wisely is a promise made by nearly all politicians; Terry said she would make good with her promise to do just that. “The responsible management of public dollars are neither Republican nor Democratic — they are important to everyone in the 10th Legislative District,” said Terry.

Terry and her husband, Michael Cooney, live in the Elger Bay area of Camano. She helped her husband raise his two daughters, who are now adults. She attends the Stanwood United Methodist Church, volunteers at the Northwest Organization for Animal Help and is trained as a first responder for the Camano Island Fire and Rescue’s Community Emergency Response Team program. Terry is also a member of the Camano Island Chamber of Commerce.

Terry isn’t alone in her quest for the 10th District, Position 2 seat. Coupeville Port Commissioner Ann McDonald, a Democrat, also seeks Bailey’s title.

Both Terry and McDonald were originally going to run against former Representative Chris Strow (R-Freeland), who resigned in December to take an economic policy analyst position in Seattle. Norma Smith (R-Clinton) was appointed to replace Strow. That caused Tim Knue, an educator from Conway, who narrowly lost to Bailey in 2006 and had planned to challenge her again, to change positions and instead challenge Smith this fall.

The campaigning will be trying, and Terry knows it, and she said she has a lot of respect for her opponent’s work as a public servant. “That said, I see the ways to solve problems differently,” she said.

For more information, visit http://www.patriciaterry.org