Rose Ehart
Candidate for University Place City Council
Rose, one of our registered volunteers, is trying to make a difference by running for city council in University Place.
A former small business owner and realtor, Rose left the for-profit world in the 90’s and embarked on a mission to “make a difference” in her community. She founded the Bread Basket, a 501c3 non-profit food and clothing bank, which delivers food at no charge to low-income homebound seniors and disabled persons.
Rose is elected to the Pierce County Conservation District Board. Local conservation projects include Chambers Clover Creek Watershed Project, salmon recovery and improvements at Curran Apple Orchard. Rose is active in her church and her community. She volunteers most of her time in community service and political activism. Rose is a member of several local and county boards. Choosing to serve her community on the University Place City Council is a natural outgrowth of her business and political experience and her love for her community.
Rose's answers to our questionaire:
1. Why are you seeking office? I am running in order to lead our city in a new direction
and tackle some of the difficult issues we face as a community. University
Place is undertaking a significant change to it’s economic infrastructure. This
includes constructing new buildings, new roads and providing opportunities to long-term
employment. These projects and jobs should be done by those companies with safe
working conditions who offer family standard jobs.
2. What qualifies you to represent
working families? I am a
mother and a wife in a middle class working family. I know from experience the
difficulties and joys working families face. I have run a food bank in my
community for a number of years and I understand the challenges facing many of
our working families. Additionally, I have worked closely with Rep. Tami Green
and will continue to work with all elected officials to address the issues of
providing jobs that allow for dignity and respect of working families. I
believe we need to spur economic development in order to bring in family
standard jobs and as a city institution, we must make sure we pay our employees
a livable family wage.
3. What are the main issues affecting the people you would represent? We need to complete the Town Center Project, which will attract new businesses and family standard jobs to our city, boost our economy and reduce our personal taxes.
4. What is your position on the “Right
to Work” issue? I
oppose “right to work” laws. The state of
5. Do you feel government entities should
change zoning laws to accommodate big block retailers like Wal-Mart? ABSOLUTELY
NOT! Current laws and the Growth Management Act sometimes make it difficult for
zoning committees to deliberately favor homegrown “small town” businesses over
big box stores. However, this is the direction I would take if elected. I
disapprove of the business model Wal-Mart uses because it is not good for
working families and it is not good for communities like
6. Do you support initiatives like the “Fair Share Health Care” Bill that would force large companies to either provide health insurance for their employees or pay into the state’s health care system? It is inherently unfair for working taxpayers and ethical businesses such as Brown and Cole, to subsidize corporate profits of Wal-Mart and others by paying their corporate responsibilities. Big companies that do not offer adequate healthcare insurance tax our entire healthcare system, and our state and city resources. I support single payer solutions like that of Senator Rosa Franklin’s SB 5756 as the long-term fix for this problem.
7. What is your position on living wage
ordinances? I support living wage ordinances. The creation of family
wage employment must be a significant criteria in selecting contractors to
provide goods and services to the city or to qualify for economic incentives to
locate a business in the