Reuven Carlyle

Reuven Carlyle
Member of the Washington Senate
from the 36th district
Assumed office
2016
Preceded by Jeanne Kohl-Welles
Personal details
Political party Democratic

Reuven Carlyle is a Democratic member of the Washington State Senate[1] representing the Washington's 36th legislative district since 2009. Carlyle is a technology entrepreneur and business development consultant in the wireless, software and clean energy sectors.

Legislative background

Carlyle was first elected to the Washington House of Representatives in 2008,[2] representing the 36th legislative district as a Democrat. The district spans the Seattle neighborhoods of South Lake Union, Belltown, Queen Anne, Magnolia, Greenwood, Crown Hill, Blue Ridge. It is home of the iconic Space Needle in the Seattle Center, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and PATH as well as globally impactful companies including Amazon, F5 Networks, Expedia, Trident Seafoods, Juno Therapeutics and more. He was appointed[3] to the state Senate in 2016 to succeed veteran Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles who was elected in 2015 to the King County Council.

During Carlyle’s seven years in the House he focused on a range of policy areas including budget, tax,[4] higher education, transportation, health care, open data and election issues. He sponsored major legislation to reform higher education finance and improve the educational success of foster youth. Carlyle has been the prime sponsor of legislation[5] in each year to abolish the death penalty[6] and replace the policy with life in prison without the possibility of parole. Carlyle has been a critic[7] of efforts to expand[8] coal and oil trains and exports throughout the Pacific Northwest. He has been a vocal[9] legal[10] and political opponent[11] of initiative promoter Tim Eyman's efforts to alter the state constitution to require a supermajority to raise taxes.

In 2013 Carlyle was appointed chair of the House Finance Committee[12] and as a budget writer. During his three years as Finance chair, Carlyle sponsored legislation to provide transparency into Washington’s tax structure.[13] He also passed major legislation to reinstate Washington’s estate tax[14] as well reform the state’s telecommunications taxation. In the Finance role, he was a prime sponsor[15] and a supporter of the accountability[16] and transparency provisions[17][18] of the Boeing tax package,[19] widely considered the largest state tax incentive package in U.S. history.[20] Carlyle was publicly critical[21] of the abbreviated process of the special session.

Carlyle was named in 2012 as “one of 12 legislators in the nation to watch” by Governing Magazine.[22] He was named one of the most “tech savvy” legislators in the nation by GovTech.[23] He was named by the progressive organization Fuse as a champion of tax reform.[24] In 2016 he was awarded the Ballard/Thompson Award by the Washington State Coalition for Open Government,[25] the state’s premier organization for open government and public access to government information.

Personal

Carlyle resides in Seattle with his wife Dr. Wendy Carlyle an anesthesiologist practicing at Swedish Medical Center in Ballard. They have four school-age children: Adi, Liat, Zev and Nava. Carlyle grew up in Bellingham, Washington and developed his interest in government while serving as a teenage page in Congress. He served as a page for two years in the U.S. Senate for Senators Warren Magnuson[26] and Henry “Scoop” Jackson, and one year in the House of Representatives where he served briefly as personal page to Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, Jr. Carlyle’s mother, Joan Hadiyah Carlyle,[27] self-published her autobiography “A Torch in the Dark, one woman’s journey.”

Prior to his election, Carlyle was appointed by Governor Chris Gregoire in 2004 as a member of the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges.[28] He crafted legislation in 2007 as a citizen activist for foster youth, Passport to College Promise,[29] a scholarship program. Carlyle was a citizen co-founder of the Seattle/King County Chapter of City Year, a national AmeriCorps program.

Education

Carlyle received a bachelor's degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a MPA from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

References

  1. "Sen. Reuven Carlyle – Washington State Senate Democrats". sdc.wastateleg.org. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  2. "Results - King County Elections". King County Elections, Department of Executive Services. 2008-11-25. Retrieved 2010-02-07.
  3. "Carlyle appointed, sworn in as 36th District senator - City Living Seattle". citylivingseattle.com. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  4. "Capital-gains tax in, Inslee's carbon tax out in Dems' budget plan". The Seattle Times. 2015-03-27. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  5. "Magnolia VoiceRep. Reuven Carlyle weighs in on state's 2-year coal train environmental study | Magnolia Voice". Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  6. "Bill to abolish death penalty gets hearing". The Seattle Times. 2013-03-06. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  7. "Queen Anne & Magnolia News: Reuven Carlyle on the coal trains". queenannenews.com. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  8. "'Green' strategists hired by coal companies to push train proposals". The Seattle Times. 2013-02-25. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  9. "Eyman's Initiative 1053 undermines the principle of majority rule". The Seattle Times. 2010-09-26. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  10. "Tim Eyman's anti-tax measure unconstitutional, judge rules". The Seattle Times. 2016-01-21. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  11. "Rep. Carlyle Gets All 1787 on Tim Eyman". www.seattlemet.com. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  12. "Call Him Reuven-ue Carlyle – Rising Lawmaker to Chair Newly Revived Finance Committee - Washington State Wire". Washington State Wire. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  13. "State gave Boeing a free pass on $19.5M in sales tax". The Seattle Times. 2015-11-29. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  14. "The Politics Blog". Tacoma News Tribune. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  15. "'Opening the books' on Boeing tax breaks: Millions last year | The Herald Business Journal". The Herald Business Journal. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  16. "State is right to shed light on Boeing's tax breaks". theolympian. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  17. "Boeing must disclose tax-break savings, state Department of Revenue rules". The Seattle Times. 2016-01-07. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  18. Jenkins, Austin. "State Secret: Why You Can't See Boeing's Tax Bill". nwnewsnetwork.org. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  19. Garofalo, Pat (2013-11-13). "Boeing's Corporate Tax Blackmail". US News & World Report. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  20. "Boeing: Biggest state subsidy in U.S. history". Strange Bedfellows -- Politics News. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  21. "State lawmaker: Boeing tax-break process 'seriously flawed'". Q13 FOX News. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  22. "12 State Legislators to Watch in 2012".
  23. "Meet the Tech-Savviest Legislators in the U.S. (Interactive Map)". www.govtech.com. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  24. "Fuse Washington: Sizzle Archives". fusewashington.org. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  25. "State Rep. Reuven Carlyle honored with Ballard/Thompson Award". Washington Coalition for Open Government. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  26. "HistoryLink.org- the Free Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History". www.historylink.org. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  27. "Hadiyah Carlyle, Writer". Hadiyah Carlyle, Writer. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  28. Governor, Office of the. "Office of the Governor". www.digitalarchives.wa.gov. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
  29. "Washington State's Passport Keeps Foster Youth In College - The Chronicle of Social Change". The Chronicle of Social Change. Retrieved 2016-02-06.
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