Dual office holding: Puyallup state rep to also keep seat in city council
Puyallup council member Cyndy Jacobsen won a seat in the state legislature, and intends to simultaneously fill both seats.
Jacobsen, 60, was elected this month to represent Puyallup, Fife and South Hill in the 25th Legislative in the Washington House of Representatives.
She holds one of Puyallup’s District 2 seats in the 2018-2021 term. Jacobsen intends to finish her term, meaning she would sit on both the city council and in the state House for a year.
“Voters elected me to serve on the Puyallup City Council and I intend to finish my elected term,” she said in a statement to The News Tribune.
Puyallup Municipal Code does not prohibit any member of the Puyallup City Council from serving in the Washington State Legislature at the same time. There is no state law forbidding it either, but it does prohibit a person from appearing on the same ballot for more than one position.
The state Attorney General’s Office also has determined certain elected positions, such as a mayor and county commissioner, are “incompatible” because the interests of the jurisdictions could conflict.
Whether two positions are “incompatible” is left up to the public to bring a case before the courts. Specific cases have determined a mayor can’t hold a port or county commissioner position and a state legislator can’t hold a Public utility district commissioner position or elected county positions generally.
Between the elected offices, she will collect an estimated $71,345 and health benefits, according to 2020 Puyallup salaries and the salary of a member of the state House of Representatives.
Jacobsen doesn’t see holding the two elected positions as an issue.
“I don’t foresee any conflicts of interest,” she said. “The values of fiscal responsibility, accountable government, and dedicated public service transcend geopolitical lines.”
While unusual, holding two elected seats is not unprecedented.
Mary Schaff with Washington State Library said they do not track how many elected officials have held dual office positions at the same time, but there have been a few in recent years.
Tim Sheldon, a state Senator for more than 23 years from Potlach, simultaneously served as a Mason County commissioner for 11 years from 2005 to 2016.
State Rep. Mia Gregerson, D-SeaTac, held office as the SeaTac mayor for two years, and former 30th Legislative District Rep. Carol Gregory, D-Federal Way, simultaneously served on the Federal Way school board in 2015 for a year.
On the same 2015 ballot that won Republican Pierce County Council member Pam Roach her seat, voters also decided that she could not keep her state Senate position as she had intended.
Charter amendment 44 banned county elected officials from holding almost any other elected office.
As a member of the Charter Review Commission, Martha Lantz proposed the Pierce County amendment. She told The News Tribune in 2015 her concerns about one person collecting two elected salaries, possible conflicts of interest and a full-time elected official trying to do more than one job.
“To me it was just a good idea, a good-government type of thing,” Lantz said ahead of the 2015 vote. “We want to send a message that we want our elected officials to not be conflicted.”
This story was originally published November 16, 2020 at 5:40 AM.
