About Reuven
Howdy!
Thanks for checking in, engaging in the real issues facing our community, and for being involved in building our state’s quality of life.
As your senator, my job is to fully engage in the tough public policy issues facing our community and try and make a genuine and meaningful difference as your voice in Olympia.
As a husband, father, entrepreneur and citizen legislator, I’m passionate about unleashing the spirit and possibilities of our state’s quality of life. I see my fundamental obligation as helping our kids and economy thrive in a 21st Century global community. I believe we must have the moral courage to invest in our human capital as well as public infrastructure. It is time to appreciate and measure the value of an educated and enlightened society and not simply the cost of the taxes to support it. I am a passionate, progressive advocate for access to opportunity so young people can achieve the dream of an education. I treasure our privacy and constitutional rights.
On a professional level, I provide business development, financing, sales, marketing and public policy consulting services to early and mid stage technology companies in the wireless, software and clean energy sectors. That front-line experience as an entrepreneur keeps me engaged in real life!
With one of the most educated, engaged and progressive legislative districts in the state, I feel a responsibility to tackle serious policy issues at a systems level and attempt to move beyond tired excuses and rationalizations.
If you need help navigating your way through the institutional bureaucracy of state government, I hope you’ll reach out to me for help. If you want to share your views about legislation, policies and issues, I hope you’ll reach out to me in a thoughtful way.
Stay tuned for real-time news updates, videos and photos. I’ll be blogging regularly and I hope you’ll actively reach out to me on the issues that inspire your own citizen engagement.
I challenge you to believe in the idealism and dignity of public service and to join me in a genuine, thoughtful and passionate dialogue about our state’s future.
Your partner in service,
Sincerely,
Reuven Carlyle
Official Reuven Carlyle Blog 
Dear Rep. Carlyle,
I completely agree with you as to the need for zero-based budgeting [ZBB]. I worked in state budgeting for most of my 25-year career in state government before retiring in 1998. I long argued the merits of ZBB. The only arguments against ZBB are that it is a lot of work and that it reopens battle lines long ago decided and thus leads to stalemate. The former was solved by the invention of the computer; the latter is specious, since a fight over $50,000,000 need be no worse than over $500,000. The argument in favor of ZBB is that expenditures cannot be properly managed if you don’t know how much you’re spending on what down to a reasonable level of detail. The biggest problem with implementing ZBB is institutional inertia. Too many bureaucrats and even some politicians have a stake in the existing system or just dislike the idea of radical change. Perhaps the current fiscal crisis is sufficiently serious to prompt revisiting of the idea of ZBB. Alas, the costs of implementing ZBB will come immediately; the benefits, only later. If the idea gets any traction, however, I would be pleased to offer my thoughts and advice.
After I retired I moved from Olympia to Ballard, where I lived until 2008. I’m giving some thought to returning. I’m glad to know my old district is so well represented.
Jim VanderMeer
3025 S. Cook St., #9
Spokane, WA 99223-3518
503-446-8223 < Note that this is not a local Spokane call.
jhvandermeer@yahoo.com
It looks like this is from 2010? You might want to update if if you are running for re-election since most informed voters might glance at your about me section? Nice announcing via twitter though!