Former County Councilmember Gossett, Rep. Taylor and Broad Support Kim-Khanh Van for KC District 9
Former County Councilmember Gossett, Rep. Taylor and Broad Support Kim-Khanh Van for King County Council District 9
As a longtime County Councilmember, I’ll tell you from experience that driving progress at the local level requires engaged and representative leaders who put community first and who have the lived and professional experience to address pressing issues affecting our BIPOC, immigrant, and refugees communities. That’s why I’m supporting Kim-Khanh Van for County Council Position 9 –a leader with a proven track record whose thoughtful organizing and community leadership get results time and again.
This is a critical moment for King County as the County Council takes new oversight of the Sheriff’s Office, plays a key role in our region’s homelessness response, and leads the way on recovery from COVID.
On homelessness, Kim-Khanh will collaborate regionally and follow evidence-based solutions to get results; we know this because she’s already doing it as a Renton Councilmember. Her efforts and work with community led to real conversations on growing Black homeownership, similar to the Evanston, Illinois model, and created the Equity and Empowerment Commission, which gives community more say in hiring and contracting of minority owned businesses and making city services more equitable. This itself was a catalyst for Renton to create a new department called Equity, Housing, and Human Services, emphasizing on equity, housing and human services. We need that effort at the county level.
Being a prominent immigration lawyer – she knows firsthand about helping "disparate people" with nowhere to go. During the initial COVID outbreak, King County moved 230 unhoused community members, predominately homeless men, to the Red Lion Hotel in Renton, working to move them out of the overcrowded emergency shelter as quickly as possible to prevent spread. Kim-Khanh was one of the first city council members (if not the only councilmember) to visit the Red Lion and brought masks to support those in need. And, she voted to protect them from being evicted during the pandemic in December 2020.
On policing, she’ll push for needed transparency and accountability – from body cameras to civilian oversight. And, on recovery from this devastating virus, Kim-Khanh has a plan to respond by building equity and opportunity for our most affected, so everyone can succeed and thrive in King County.
Over the past year the number of Asian based hate crimes in King County and across the nation have risen dramatically. Kim-Khanh, hearing this, grabbed the bull by the horn and quickly organized human rights activists from across the county in just five days to put together a big "anti-Asian hate crime" rally where an estimated 500 people attended in a show of solidarity. Kim-Khanh also organized community members to comment against the incumbent’s proposal of hiring four new sheriff deputies to expand the power of policing. Thankfully, the proposal did not pass, which would have been unwise and detrimental to our Black and minority communities.
Kim-Khanh has the endorsements of other elected and community leaders: Representatives Sharon Tomiko Santos, Jamila Taylor, Debra Entenman, and Steve Berquist, King County Executive Dow Constantine, State Senators Lisa Wellman, Joe Nguyen, Karen Keiser, and Mona Das; State Treasurer Mike Pellicciotti; Reverend Dr. Linda Smith, Renton-King County Alliance for Justice; Dr. Tracy M. Hilliard, Community Leader; Erin Jones, Community Leader; Williard Jimerson Jr., Community Leader, and more on her website www.electkimkhanhvan.com.
We need Kim-Khanh at the table because she brings community to the table too – she listens to all and acts for everyone, especially those most often left out. Please join me in supporting Kim-Khanh Van for County Council.
Sincerely,
Larry Gossett, former King County Councilmember
