Four candidates are running for State Representative from the 34th Legislative District, Position 2. They are Democrats Michael Heavey, Joe Fitzgibbon, Marcee Stone, and Independent Geoffrey “Mac” McElroy. Democrat Sabra Schneider withdrew following a serious knee injury but plans to work for her party.

“Number one, we need jobs,” said Marcee Stone, who grew up in White Center and Highland Park. She now lives by Fairmount Park. “We need to get funding for those shovel-ready transportation projects.

“I’m pro-choice, and pro family planning,” said Stone, who works in legal administration. “That’s one of the reasons I am a Democrat. We need to protect our freedom of choice at any cost. It’s slowly being chipped away. I’m of a generation that is aware of what happened before (pro-choice.)

“I have real life experience, and I’ve obviously had a longer life than the other two Democrat candidates,” she said. Fitzgibbon is 23 and Heavey is 30.

After graduating UW, Stone became a professional actress and performed theater in the Seattle/Tacoma area. She moved to New York City and said modestly that she did not have the voice for musicals, but did appear in McDonalds, and other TV commercials.

She was a member of AEA, AFTRA, and SAG unions during her acting career.

“I benefited from labor unions for 10 years, collective bargaining negotiating, workplace safety and living wages,” she said. “I see the benefits of union membership. They look out for you.

“We need a progressive state income tax,” she said, “graduated, based on income. This will offset the sales tax. This is a fairness issue. A person in the lower economic pool spends 17 percent of their income on sales tax, while a person in the upper income region spends just two to three percent.”

Stone said her interest in campaign reform also sets her apart from the other candidates.
In her website she states she will not accept PAC or corporate contributions.

“I’m not wealthy, and I’m not well-connected, and I didn’t think I had the wherewithal to ever really run, but I continued to work in the Democratic Party and in my community and that’s when I became interested in working to bring about campaign finance reform.

“I’ve spent a lifetime pulling myself up by my bootstraps,” said Stone. I educated myself, and made sure my daughter had a good education.” Her daughter is 22.

Marcee’s father passed away when she was young. Her stepfather, Bill Hayden, was a King County Deputy Sheriff.

“He patrolled the streets of White Center, and tried to help kids out. Then he went to Boeing.

I’m in the ‘sandwich generation,’ those taking care of their kids and aging parents,” she said. “I was taking care of my mother until she died of cancer in 2008. Caring for a sick parent is not an easy thing to do. The people at Providence Mount St. Vincent did a fabulous job helping me with my mother.”