Reagan Dunn

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Reagan Dunn
Councilmember for the 9th District of King County
In office
January 1, 2006 – Current
Succeeded by Incumbent (2009)
Constituency Approximately 200,000
Councilmember for the 6th District of King County
In office
February 5th, 2005 – December 31st, 2005
Preceded by Rob McKenna
Born May 28th, 1971
Bellevue, Washington
Political party Republican Party
Spouse Paige Dunn (Green)
Relations Married
Children None
Residence Maple Valley, Washington
Religion Roman Catholic
Website www.metrokc.gov/dunn

Reagan Blackburn Dunn (born May 28th, 1971) is a Republican Councilman representing the 9th District of King County, Washington. The 9th District is roughly the size of Rhode Island in land mass. It is 40% rural and 60% suburban.

Reagan Dunn was appointed to the King County Council in February of 2005 to replace outgoing Councilman Rob McKenna, who was elected to serve as Washington State's Attorney General. He currently serves as the Chairman for King County's Transportation Committee and Regional Transit Committee, while also serving on the Executive Board of the Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID). Other committee assignments include Law, Justice & Human Services; Operating Budget; Growth Management and Natural Resources; External Affairs; Regional Water Quality; and Regional Policy.

Contents

[edit] Early Life and Career

Reagan Dunn was born in Bellevue, Washington, to Dennis and Jennifer Dunn, and was named after Ronald Reagan.[1] He is a third-generation resident of Bellevue, and attended and graduated from Lakeside School. After high school, Dunn attended Arizona State University, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1995. In 1996, Dunn entered the University of Washington Law School. He received his J.D. degree magna cum laude from Washington in 1998. While in law school, Dunn was a judicial aide to the Honorable Barbara Durham, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Washington. Upon graduation, Dunn was hired on at the Seattle law firm Inslee, Best, Doezie & Ryder, P.S.

[edit] Justice Department

In January, 2001, Reagan Dunn was appointed by President George W. Bush to the Justice Department. Reagan worked as a Senior Counsel under United States Attorney General John Ashcroft, serving as the first National Coordinator for Project Safe Neighborhoods, the Bush administration's national effort to reduce gun violence. From this post, Dunn served on the Executive Committee of the Attorney General's Task Force on Gun Violence and chaired the Justice Department's Firearms Enforcement Assistance Team (FEAT). This program was credited across the nation for reducing incidents of gun violence, including in Western Washington. In 2003, Reagan was recognized by Ashcroft for significant contribution to the fight against gun violence in America.

Following September 11, 2001, Dunn worked as a Justice Department representative on the President's Task Force on Citizen Preparedness and was actively involved in the formulation of USA Freedom Corps and Citizen Corps. He helped to design and implement the V.I.P.S. Program (Volunteers in Police Service) and led the Bush administration's efforts to expand the National Neighborhood Watch Program to include the fight against terrorism. Dunn also participated in the investigation and prosecution of Zacharias Moussaoui in the Eastern District of [Virginia], commonly referred to as the 20th highjacker.

[edit] King County Council

In 2005, at the age of 33, Reagan Dunn was appointed to fill the rest of the term for outgoing District 6 Councilmember Rob McKenna, who had been elected Washington State's Attorney General the previous November. Upon his appointment, he was assigned to six committees: Transportation; Regional Transit; Law, Justice & Human Services; and Regional Water Quality. He quickly became one of the Council's most vocal critics of King County Records, Elections, and Licensing Services (REALS) director, Dean Logan, who oversaw many of the inconsistencies of the 2004 Washington gubernatorial race. On April 4, 2005, Dunn was the first member of the Council to call for the resignation of Dean Logan. Dean Logan eventually resigned in July of 2006.

[edit] Legislation

Reagan Dunn has sponsored or co-sponsored over 80 pieces of legislation since he has taken office in 2005. These ordinances cover the areas of government reform, methamphetamine, and transportation, and property rights and land use.

[edit] Government Reform

When Dunn was appointed in February of 2005, the King County Elections Department was mired in controversy over the 2004 gubernatorial election. Dino Rossi won the first two vote counts, only to lose to opponent Christine Gregoire in the third and final hand recount. During this process, King County Elections committed errors that disenfranchised voters, including King County Councilmember Larry Phillips. On May 4th, 2005, Reagan Dunn called for the resignation of Dean Logan, the director of Records, Elections, and Licensing Services (REALS), a move supported by the all of the Republicans on the Council. On June 13th, 2006, Dean Logan submitted his letter of resignation to take a position with the elections department in Los Angeles County. Dunn took this opportunity to team up with fellow Councilmember, Bob Ferguson, in proposing a charter amendment to change the position of elections director from appointed to elected. This proposal was supported by the Council in a motion to put this to King County voters in 2009.

In June of 2006, Reagan Dunn introduced legislation that would remove all deed of trust documents from the King County Recorder's online website. After a tipoff from a constituent, Dunn's staff had been able to recover over 250 social security numbers from online images of deed of trust documents. In a letter to REALS director, Dean Logan, Dunn asked for the documents to be removed from online access until a plan could be formulated to protect citizens' personal information. REALS took the position that they were required by state law to provide access of unaltered public records to the public at little to no cost. Dunn took the position that you could remove online access to these documents without altering them, and they would still be available at the courthouse. On October 9th, 2006, the Council unanimously passed legislation taking down deed of trust documents from the Recorder's website. This legislation also required the Executive to submit a plan for the creation of the Public Records Committee by March 1st, 2007. This legislation has been submitted and is sponsored by Reagan Dunn.

[edit] Property Rights & Growth Management

On September 5th, 2005, Dunn introduced his Property Owners' Bill of Rights. This was a package of ordinances intended to ease the land use restrictions on homeowners in unincorporated King County. The first piece of this package was passed in Full Council on November 22, 2005. The ordinance created the position of the rural ombudsman. The rural ombudsman is now part of King County's Ombudsman Office, an independent agency within the legislative branch of King County government that responds to citizen complaints concerning King County Government Agencies. David Spohr was eventually selected to fill this role.

Dunn's second part of the Property Owners' Bill of Rights passed on October 2nd, 2005 with an amendment to the King County Comprehensive Plan update. His amendment eased restrictions on home ordinances by:

  • Increasing the number of employees who can work both on and off site.
  • Expanding the area that can be used for the storage of equipment and vehicles.
  • Adjusting the limits on the number of vehicles that can be kept on-site.

[edit] Methamphetamine

On September 1st, 2005, Dunn created and implemented King County's Meth Watch Fugitive Program. This program is a public-private partnership between government, non-profits and the media. It works by profiling a local fugitive wanted for a methamphetamine-related crime on TV and in newspapers. Dunn gained headlines when the first individual profiled was caught in less than 36 hours. The program has been very successful, with eleven out of the twelve suspects profiled being apprehended.

[edit] Transportation

During his first budget in November of 2005, Reagan Dunn was able to secure $1 million from King County's road funds to complete construction on Coal Creek Parkway, a vital 9th District road corridor that starts in Renton, travels through Newcastle, and ends in Bellevue. The next year, he was able to secure funding for construction near the Four Corners Intersection in Maple Valley. As a member of the Executive Board for the Regional Transportation Investment District (RTID), he was able to pass an amendment to the 2007 ballot proposal securing an additional $300 million for the SR-520 Bridge, bringing the total funding in the proposal to $1.1 billion.

[edit] Political Campaign

Reagan Dunn was appointed to the 6th District to fill the remaining term for newly-elected Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna. Due to redistricting and downsizing of the King County Council in 2005, Dunn ran against fellow Republican incumbent, Steve Hammond, for the right to represent the newly-formed 9th District of King County. Dunn defeated Hammond with 56% of the vote. The following November, Dunn defeated his Democratic opponent, Shirley A. Gaunt-Smith in a landslide victory with over 62% of the vote.

Dunn shattered King County Council fund-raising records by raising over $400,000 in political contributions from donors in King County and around the United States.

[edit] Community Service

Reagan Dunn has been actively involved with a number of charitable causes, including service as Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Eastside Business Alliance; the Board of the Eastside Legal Assistance Program (ELAP) - providing pro bono representation to victims of Domestic Violence; and on the Board of Lawyers Helping Hungry Children (LHHC) - an emergency feeding program located in Seattle.