She filed her paperwork, thinking Simpson would not run again, then left for a vacation in Germany. When she returned, she learned that charges against Simpson had been dropped and that he had, indeed, filed for re-election.

“I honestly thought Geoff Simpson’s career was dead after the domestic violence charge,” she said. “I thought it would be an easier road to go down. I thought I would have Democratic Party support, which hasn’t happened. It’s kind of an uphill battle.”

Simpson, D-Covington, a Kent firefighter, has raised $140,000 in his bid for a fifth two-year term, in contrast to Hamada’s $5,000 in campaign contributions.

Republican Mark Hargrove, a pilot who teaches other pilots how to fly Boeing aircraft, is the third candidate in the Aug. 19 primary election. The top two vote-getters will advance to the Nov. 4 general election.

If not for Simpson’s arrest, this might have been an uneventful race. Although it’s still regarded as a swing district, the 47th has Democrats in all three of its posts in the Legislature.

The 47th Legislative District encompasses Covington, Black Diamond and parts of Auburn, Kent, Maple Valley and the unincorporated communities on each side of Highway 167 east of Federal Way.

Simpson said he was arrested because his ex-wife said he hurt her hand while retrieving his cell phone, grabbing it from her hand. The incident occurred in April, three days after their 25-year marriage ended in divorce, while his wife was collecting items from their home.

In dismissing the case, the Covington prosecutor said there was nothing to substantiate the initial charges of fourth-degree assault and interfering with the reporting of domestic violence. But Simpson did spend a day in jail.

“Once that call is made, somebody is going to jail because that’s how our laws are written,” Simpson said. “The fact is, the charges were dropped because I didn’t do anything wrong. It all worked out how it was supposed to: I got arrested. I got charged. And after the prosecutor reviewed the case, all the charges were dropped.”

This is Hamada’s first venture into politics. She graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in political science and had at first hoped to seek elective office in the City of Covington, but she lives just outside the city limits.

Hamada, 60, is a retired sales and marketing manager. She has been a volunteer in South King County for many of the past 17 years. She was director of Shared Bread, a program for Kent United Methodist Church that provides help to people who are facing eviction or whose utilities are about to be shut off.

Annual donations for that program have risen from $8,000 seven years ago to $27,000 now, she said.

Hamada said she also works with felons who are getting out of prison. She’s a member of the community accountability board, which advises the state Department of Corrections on offenders’ plans to turn their lives around.

She wrote a children’s book, “Pee Wee’s Adventure in the Woods,” which was published in 2006.

She is most critical of Simpson for his vote against restoring the tax limitations of Initiative 747, which limited the growth in local government property tax collections to no more than 1 percent a year. The Supreme Court overturned I-747 last year, but the Legislature and governor reinstated it during a special session last fall.

Simpson was among a handful of lawmakers who voted against the reinstatement.

“It was a poorly written initiative that offered false hope to people,” Simpson said. “It doesn’t help the people who need help.”

He also said he favored a limit pegged to the rate of inflation rather than a flat 1 percent so local governments can take in enough money to pay for important public safety programs.

Hargrove, the lone Republican, is a 1979 graduate of the Air Force Academy and an Eagle Scout. At Boeing he teaches pilots how to fly the company’s 777s and 747s.

His priorities for the district are traffic congestion relief, fair property taxes, restrained government spending and more efficient use of money spent on public schools.

He contends that Simpson is out of step with constituents of southeast King County and votes far too often with the downtown Seattle special interests. He also points to Simpson’s vote against reinstating the 1 percent property tax cap.

“There were only eight votes against it, and six were downtown Seattle (legislators), who are a little different in the way they think,” Hargrove said. Simpson was one of the other two votes against the tax lid. Hargrove said Simpson’s votes for both recent gas tax increases also “are the kinds of things that are out of touch with our local community.”

Joseph Turner: 253-597-8436

blogs.thenewstribune.com/politics

Candidates for state house seat in district 47

Leslie Hamada

Age: 60

Home: Covington

Occupation: Account manager for mass merchandisers

Political party: Democrat

Campaign: 253-631-3895 or leslie.hamada@yahoo.com

Money raised: $5,000

Geoff Simpson

Age: 45

Home: Covington

Occupation: Kent firefighter, state representative

Political party: Democrat

Campaign: 253-630-3498 or geoff@ votesimpson.com

Money raised: $140,000

Mark Hargrove

Age: 51

Home: Covington

Occupation: Boeing pilot instructor

Political party: Republican

Campaign: 253-630-3064 or hargrovemd@aol.com

Money raised: $25,070