Jeff J. Smart (Benton County Commissioner Board District 1, Washington, candidate 2024)

Jeff J. Smart

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Republican Party

Candidate, Benton County Commissioner Board District 1

Elections and appointments

Last election

August 6, 2024

Education

High school

Kamiakin High School

Bachelor's

Washington State University, 1989

Personal

Birthplace

Richland, Wash.

Religion

Catholic

Profession

Real Estate Broker

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Jeff J. Smart (Republican Party) ran for election to the Benton County Commissioner Board District 1 in Washington. He was on the ballot in the general election on November 5, 2024.^[source]

Smart completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Jeff J. Smart provided the following biographical information via Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey on October 7, 2024:

• Birth date: October 12, 1966
• Birth place: Richland, Washington
• High school: Kamiakin High School
• Bachelor's: Washington State University, 1989
• Gender: Male
• Religion: Catholic
• Profession: Real Estate Broker
• Prior offices held:
  • President, Washington Association of Realtors (Prsnt-Prsnt)
  • First Vice President, Washington Association of Realtors (2022-2023)
  • Treasurer, Women's Council of Realtors, Washington State (2022-2022)
  • Treasurer, Washington Association of Realtors (2020-2020)
  • President, Tri City Association of Realtors (2018-2018)
• Incumbent officeholder: No
• Campaign slogan: Service over Self
• Campaign website
• Campaign Facebook

Elections

General election

General election for Benton County Commissioner Board District 1

Jerome Delvin and Jeff J. Smart ran in the general election for Benton County Commissioner Board District 1 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Jerome Delvin (R)
	Submit photo	Jeff J. Smart (R)

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	Incumbency information for this election was not available.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Benton County Commissioner Board District 1

Jerome Delvin and Jeff J. Smart ran in the primary for Benton County Commissioner Board District 1 on August 6, 2024.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Jerome Delvin (R)
	Submit photo	Jeff J. Smart (R)

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	Incumbency information for this election was not available.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Smart in this election.

Campaign themes

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Jeff J. Smart completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Smart's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Benton County grapples with pressing issues that demand attention. Strengthening our law enforcement is imperative, along with expanding job opportunities, business opportunities, and access to affordable housing. Essential services must cater to the needs of every citizen, especially seniors, youth, and those with mental health concerns. Drawing from my rich experience, I pledge to listen, learn, lead, and take decisive action to address these challenges.

With deep roots in this community that span over six decades, I intimately understand the dynamics of parenting, living, and working here. As a business owner committed to providing housing opportunities, I offer a fresh perspective from our career politicians. Currently serving as the elected President of the Washington Association of REALTORS, I lead a substantial membership in championing fair and equitable housing along with expanding access to the dream of homeownership.

If elected, my focus will be on ensuring safety, employment, and housing for all residents. I'll advocate for essential services, prioritize affordable and equitable housing initiatives, and scrutinize public safety spending to ensure accountability. With your support, together, we can forge a stronger, safer, and more prosperous Benton County.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• We have a serious lack of affordable housing in our area. Affordable housing is “blue collar”, “workforce” type housing. Affordable housing is not low income housing. Our average price currently is $450,000+ for a home in Benton County. The key indicator or controller of home prices is the value of the land under the home. We have a shortage of buildable lands and we need to allow the cities to expand to incorporate more affordable lands in order to build more affordable homes. I believe in sane growth of our cities and we can accomplish that by working with the State to allow the boundaries of our cities to open up. Current Commissioners are not focused on this and it is hurting our communities.
• The B/F Health Department needs our continued support in service to our community. Their budget is a top priority. After I raised the alarm in 2020 about the growing mental health needs of our community, Benton County purchased the old Kennewick General Hospital buildings for such use. However, they failed in their negotiations with the seller to allow in patient services in the building. Treating mental health from only 8-5 doesn’t help our community. There are currently 10 in-patient beds available for Mental Health. We either need to renegotiate this or sell off the hospital buildings.
• The citizens approved an increase in sales tax to fund public safety. Public safety for the county is the sheriff’s office, fire and other first responders. Benton county receives 60% of the tax collected (the other 40% is divided up to the cities in the county). These funds need to be used to hire deputies, patrol vehicles, attorneys in the prosecutors office and other necessary equipment to support these positions. This is NOT a slush fund to pay for other departments - like new furniture for the Clerk's office.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am passionate about serving the citizens of Benton County and making sure they the essential services they need in order to maintain the quality of life we all enjoy. These include a mental health facility that will serve all and help with the crisis we have in our community currently. This also includes keeping vital services supported and running like Ben Franklin Transit/Dial-a-ride. We need to make sure this is accessible to all and affordable.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

It might seem simple, but I look up to my father and how he lived his life. He was a Realtor like myself and always worked hard to make everyone he talked to or worked with feel important and heard. It was important to him to make sure all felt like they had his time and attention.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

It's very simple - an elected official must be open and available to the citizens that elected them to office. They must listen to those same citizens and communicate. They must be ethical in all actions as well.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

I take the time to listen to all affected parties in a situation. I don't rush into solutions. All have a voice and it's important that everyone has the opportunity to express their opinion. I also believe in full communication and being accountable for decisions made.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I would like to think I'd be remembered as a person who helped foster success in everything I work on. Whether that is a real estate transaction and both parties feel like they succeeded in the transaction or a decision impacting the citizens of the county where they knew about it ahead of time, had the opportunity to react and give feedback and ultimately agreed with what needed to be done. I base most of what I do on open communication and hopefully people will remember that.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My first job was as a janitor for my father's Real Estate brokerage. I had that job for about a year then I worked for Radio Shack as a computer sales person. Had that job for a year before heading to college.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for holders of this office to have previous experience in government or politics?

I do not believe you need prior government or political experience to be elected to and hold this position. This position is a managerial type job, overseeing departments, making policy and personnel decisions and managing a buget. These are all duties that I as a business owner in the county perform. So, no it's not beneficial to have political experience, and I think it's necessary to have elected officials with no political experience so we don't have life long politicians in office.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Western States Carpenters Union, The Tri Cities Association of Realtors, Fair Vote Washington

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

I believe all financial matters of the county should be made available to all citizens of the county. All proposed changes to budget, or any changes that will affect the citizens should be announced, meetings held, feedback collected and discussed prior to implementation of any changes. This has not been done in the past and many citizens of the county have been pushed into a financial crisis based on the actions of the commission. There must be more accountability placed on the commission by the citizens to listen, and learn on how they wish the county to be lead.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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Candidate

Benton County Commissioner Board District 1

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