ED MURRAY
Seattle Mayoral Candidate

State Senator Ed Murray has represented Seattle’s 43rd Legislative District in the legislature since 1995 and currently serves as the Senate Majority Leader.

Murray, who lives in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood with his partner of 22 years, Michael Shiosaki, has long been a civil rights champion. He was the prime sponsor of Washington State’s historic marriage equality law as well as the 2002 Safe Schools bill, which protects sexual minority youth in schools. Murray was also the prime sponsor of a landmark bill banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation signed into law in 2006. If elected, Ed would be Seattle’s first openly gay mayor.

One of the most respected and accomplished elected officials in Washington State, Murray has led on a wide range of issues. During his time in the House, he was chair of the Capital Budget Committee, where he drove legislation that doubled funding for low-income housing.

Murray was also chair of the House Transportation Committee, negotiating an end to gridlock on transportation reforms, creating the first new revenue package in 13 years. He followed two years later with another statewide package, including the replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle. Murray also sponsored landmark legislation matching Washington’s car emission standards to the highest in the nation.

Murray’s honors include the 2002 Human Rights Campaign Leadership Equality Award; the 2005 Anti-Defamation League’s Cal Anderson Award; the 2006 Distinguished Public Service Award from the Washington State Psychological Association; the 2009 Legislator of the Year Award from the Washington Council of Police & Sheriffs; and the 2012 Warren G. Magnuson Award.

ANDY BENNETT
KPFF Consulting Engineers

Since graduating from MIT with a degree in naval architecture, Andy Bennett has gained over 25 years of experience in the design and construction of boats, ships, and shoreside support facilities. As a project manager, he focuses on ensuring the key decision makers have access to and understand the highly technical design elements that are critical to the success of waterfront projects. He combines his academic background in coastal zone management with real-world experience to address and solve the complex environmental and policy issues facing shoreline developments. Andy has managed several shoreline and vessel design projects with construction values ranging from $10,000 to $125 million in ten states, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. He currently leads the waterfront planning and design team in the Seattle Division of KPFF Consulting Engineers.

CARY BOZEMAN
City of Bremerton

CAPT. GEORGE A. CAPACCI
WSDOT Ferries Division

Captain Capacci was appointed to his current position as deputy chief, operations and construction for Washington State Ferries in August 2010. In this position, Captain Capacci serves on the Ferries Division management team and provides strategic leadership to ensure safe, cost-effective, customer-oriented, reliable and efficient transportation for nearly 23 million passengers annually. He oversees the Operations Department; Vessel Preservation, Maintenance and Engineering Department; and the Terminal Engineering Department providing a safe working environment for Ferries Division employees, strict fiscal accountability and management of employee labor contracts.

Captain Capacci joined Washington State Ferries in April 2009 as a Regional Port Captain overseeing day to day operations of the ferry fleet involving supervision of the Licensed Deck Officers and Deck Department. Prior to joining WSF, Captain Capacci was vice president, Fleet Operations of BC Ferries in Victoria, British Columbia for five years. He previously served as Port Captain and then general manager of the Alaska Marine Highway System in Juneau, Alaska for a total of seven years. This ferry experience is built upon a seagoing career in the US Coast Guard serving on a variety of vessels, predominately in Alaskan waters.

He graduated from the US Coast Guard Academy with a BS in Engineering, and the George Washington University with a Masters in public administration. Captain Capacci holds an Unlimited Masters license and lives in Seattle, WA.

GREG DRONKERT
HMS Global Maritime

Greg Dronkert is vice president of West Coast Operations of HMS Global Maritime. Mr. Dronkert is responsible for HMSGM’s West Coast operations with management oversight of various special projects and the Pierce County Ferry service operated by HMS-Pac Nav, Inc. Mr. Dronkert also provides management and support of corporate-wide programs and initiatives with a particular emphasis on business development, management systems, technical programs and project management.  Mr. Dronkert is an engineering graduate of California Maritime Academy who sailed in licensed positions on commercial vessels in both the deck and engineering departments before moving ashore as a manager. Over the years, Mr. Dronkert has progressed through senior marine engineering and marine operational management positions in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. 

He served as marine engineering superintendent and system director (assistant commissioner of transportation) of the Alaska State Ferry System, president and CEO of Glacier Bay Cruiseline and, most recently, as president of Pacific Marine Group.

MAYOR DAVE EARLING
City of Edmonds

Dave Earling was elected mayor of Edmonds in November 2011. Before becoming mayor, Mr. Earling held a position on the Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board, an appointment made by Governor Chris Gregoire. Prior to the governor’s appointment he was a senior fellow at the Cascadia Center, a Seattle-based think tank.

Dave did his undergraduate studies at Washington State University then attended graduate school at Eastern Washington State University. At 23 he started teaching music at Shoreline Community College. Following his time at Shoreline Community College, Earling went into real estate as owner of Edmonds Realty and was active in civic affairs through the Edmonds Chamber of Commerce. He is a former three-term councilman and has held board positions with Sound Transit, Community Transit, the Edmonds Public School Foundation, Senior Services of Snohomish County and Washington Conservation Voters. He is currently on the boards of Community Transit and Sound Transit, a Trustee for the Economic Alliance of Snohomish County, and recently was appointed to the AWC Legislative Committee. Dave and his wife Susan raised their three children in Edmonds and currently live in the Perrinville area.

RICK HUGHES
San Juan County

MAYOR PATTY LENT
City of Bremerton

Mayor Patty Lent began serving a four year term in January of 2010. From 2003 thru 2006 she served as a Kitsap County commissioner. She holds leadership positions on many boards including the American Red Cross West Sound, Kitsap Mental Health Services, Bremerton Central Lions Club, Kitsap Community Foundation and is a life member of the United States Navy League. In the private sector her careers spanned mortgage banking, public relations, marketing and sales and an instructor at Edmonds Community College. Mayor Lent was a business owner in travel and tourism for more than 14 years in King and Kitsap Counties. She has lived in Bremerton with her husband Doug for 24 years and they have five children, eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

MAYOR JOE MARINE
City of Mukilteo

Joe Marine is serving his second term as the mayor of the City of Mukilteo, having first been elected in 2005. Previously he served on the City Council from January 1998 until January 2001 when he was appointed to the Washington State House of Representatives 21st Legislative District.

Marine is an active member of the Mukilteo/South Everett Rotary and Mukilteo Chamber of Commerce. He also participates and/or holds office on the following associations, boards and committees: past president -Snohomish County Association of Cities and Towns; chair - Community Transit Board; executive board member - PSRC (Puget Sound Regional Council); vice president -AWC (Association of Washington Cities) Board of Directors; member - NLC (National League of Cities ) Leadership Training Council; member - NLC Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy Committee

MATT NICHOLS
Nichols Bros. Boat Building

PETER PHILIPS
Philips Publishing Group

Peter is thepresident of Philips Publishing Group, publishers of trade journals for the maritime and transportation industries. In the twenty-seven years since Philips Publishing was founded by Peter’s father in 1983, the company has grown to become the largest maritime and transportation publishing house on the West Coast. Titles include Pacific Maritime Magazine, aimed at West Coast commercial vessel and terminal operators, FOGHORN, the official publication of the Passenger Vessel Association, Clipper Vacations Magazine, published for Seattle’s Clipper Navigation and Fishermen's News, the oldest commercial fishing publication on the Pacific Coast. In addition to publishing trade journals, Philips Publishing also specializes in creative design services for the maritime and transportation industries, with clients across the country. Peter serves as President of the Seattle Marine Business Coalition, which represents the interests of marine industrial land users.

Peter is past president of the Port of Seattle Chapter of the Propeller Club, and past regional vice president, West Coast, of the International Propeller Club. Peter has a BA in history from Whitman College, and has been employed in the maritime publishing field since 1985.

SENATOR CHRISTINE ROLFES
Washington State

REPRESENTATIVE NORMA SMITH
Washington State

ED WELCH
Passenger Vessel Association (PVA)

Edmund B. Welch has been legislative director for the Passenger Vessel Association since 1997. PVA is the national trade association representing owners and operators of commercial U.S.-flagged passenger vessels of all types, including ferries. Others for whom Ed currently provides or previously performed legislative services include the Union of Greek Shipowners; the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association; Dare County, NC; and other maritime and agricultural organizations.

From 1975 to 1994, Ed served on the staff of the U.S. House of Representatives, including 12 years as staff director and Chief Counsel of the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries. This committee had jurisdiction over shipping, the Coast Guard, the Panama Canal, numerous coastal and marine environmental laws, and offshore energy resources. Ed was extremely involved in the debates on and drafting of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. He is a member of the North Carolina State Bar, a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a long-time trustee for the North Carolina Chapter of the Nature Conservancy.