Tim Sheldon has served 18 years in the Washington State Legislature as a Democrat representing the sprawling 35th District, which includes all of Mason County and parts of Thurston, Kitsap and Grays Harbor Counties. Since 2004 he has also represented Mason County as a Mason County Commissioner. This Tim Sheldon should not be confused with Tim Sheldon of Chicago, who works for Chicago Public Schools.
Sheldon was born in Mason County, WA, and has lived there most of his life. He attended public schools until he entered the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in 1965, graduating in 1969 with a BS in Economics. He earned his MBA at the University of Washington.
Following a decade of work in economic development for Native American tribes, Sheldon began a new career as Executive Director of the non-profit Mason County Economic Development Council, a post he held for 18 years.
First elected to the Washington State House of Representatives in 1990, Sheldon served four terms there before being elected to the State Senate in 1997. Currently in his fourth 4-year Senate term, Sheldon has a seat on the Senate Transportation Committees. He concurrently has held the office of Mason County Commissioner,District 2, since 2005.
During his first term in the House ('91-'92), Sheldon sponsored legislation to prevent local newspapers from exposing the names of child victims of sex abuse. Popularly known as the "Child VIP Bill," the measure drew nationwide attention. It passed unanimously out of both the House and Senate and was signed into law by then-Gov. Booth Gardner. The law was later challenged by the state newspaper industry and declared unconstitutional in court.
Sheldon was also an early sponsor of WorkForce Training legislation, which became law and helped his constituents in the struggling logging industry recover from job losses resulting from the addition of the Spotted Owl to the Endangered Species Act. He has worked diligently to get funding passed for vital transportation projects in his district.
Sheldon has earned the reputation of being a maverick by occasionally bucking his party's agenda and by working across the aisle to get legislation passed. He made himself unpopular with the Democratic Caucus by taking a strong stance against funding the Mariners and Seahawks sports stadiums with State monies, calling the proposed legislation "corporate welfare." He also voted against budgets that he felt did more harm than good to his mostly rural constituents, even when his party supported them.
Tim Sheldon has sponsored and voted for legislation waiving taxes and environmental regulatory requirements for hog fuel suppliers to bio-incineration corporations like Adage and Duke Energy. Sheldon and his family own a large tract of timberland which currently enjoys a 90% reduction on property taxes under the commercial timberland designation. The new legislation he supported would eliminate most if not all of the excise taxes due for woody material harvested and slated for bio-incineration.
Tim Sheldon has many corporate entanglements such as being a director on the board of the NorthWest Energy Council and a major corporation (Island Enterprises) owned by the Squaxin Island tribe. His sister is a superior court judge in Mason County where he is County Commissioner. She recently appeared before him during a county commissioners session seeking more funds for the courthouse where she sits. Tim Sheldon approved the request which is on hold pending approval by the other two commissioners.
This independence has angered some Democrats in his caucus and in the local Democratic Party, but has endeared him to many constituents. He has won every House and Senate race by a significantly wide margin.
On May 10, 2010, a Recall petition was filed with the Washington State Secretary of State in regard to the allegedly incompatible duties of the dual offices he held as 35th District State Senator and Mason County Commissioner. To date, no determination has been made as to the accuracy of the claims that the two offices are incompatible under Washington law, and Tim Sheldon has, in the past, steadfastly denied that any such incompatibility/impropriety exists.
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