Rodney Tom
Rodney Tom is an American politician, currently representing Washington's 48th Legislative District in the state Senate and a member of the Democratic Party.
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[edit] Personal life
Tom earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Washington in 1985 and went on to earn his MBA from the University of Southern California in 1988. A year later he began a career as a realtor, and remains one to this day, presently affiliated with Windermere Real Estate. He resides with his wife Deborah in Medina. The couple have two children.[1]
[edit] Political career
In 2002, Tom was elected to the state House of Representatives as a Republican by defeating Democrat Connie Espe by a 52 to 42% margin with 5% going to a third-party candidate.
He was reelected in 2004, edging out Democrat challenger Debi Golden with a 51.76% to 48.24% margin (1816 votes).
On March 14, 2006, Tom announced that he was switching to the Democratic Party and challenging Luke Esser.[2] This announcement caused no small amount of controversy, as Tom's 2004 Democratic opponent, Debi Golden, had already declared her intention to run for the state Senate in the 48th district, which brought the two together for a rematch of their 2004 race.[3] However, two weeks later, Golden ended her candidacy, citing the expense and futility of a primary battle, leaving Tom unopposed for the Democratic nomination.[4] He defeated incumbent Republican Luke Esser with 53% of the vote.[5]
On July 17, 2007, Tom publicly announced his campaign for the 8th District's congressional seat.[6] He soon ended the campaign and endorsed Darcy Burner (D), who was the challenger to Dave Reichert (R) in 2006 and had a major lead in fundraising.
On March 2, 2012 Tom joined with 22 Senate Republicans to push through a revised budget bill. The revised bill he supports contains significant cuts to public services and public education. He justified his actions by saying, "Since before this legislative session began, the message from my constituents has been loud and clear. Another budget that is unsustainable, relies upon accounting gimmicks and sets our state up for a perennial deficit is simply unacceptable.If we ever want to get ahead of our budget crises, our state needs wholesale government reform and a budget that reflects our commitment to sustainable governing.”[7] It remains to be seen whether he will remain in the Democratic caucus.[8]
[edit] References
- ^ Project Vote Smart - Senator Rodney Tom - Biography
- ^ Postman, David (March 15, 2006). "Bellevue representative switches parties to run for senate". The Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2002864809_webpartyswitch14.html.
- ^ David Postman (2006-03-15). "GOP legislator switches to Dems". The Seattle Times. http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20060315&slug=tom14m. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
- ^ Bach, Ashley (March 30, 2006). "Golden reassesses, quits Senate race". The Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/eastsidenews/2002899174_golden30e.html.
- ^ 2006 General Election Results
- ^ Fryer, Alex (July 17, 2007). "State Sen. Rodney Tom enters congressional race". The Seattle Times. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003793099_webtom17m.html?syndication=rss.
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