Melanie Bacon (Island County Commissioner Board District 1, Washington, candidate 2024)

Melanie Bacon

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Democratic Party

Candidate, Island County Commissioner Board District 1

Elections and appointments

Last election

August 6, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

University of Minnesota, Morris, 1982

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Army

Years of service

1974 - 1977

Personal

Profession

Commissioner

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Melanie Bacon (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Island County Commissioner Board District 1 in Washington. She was on the ballot in the general election on November 5, 2024.^[source]

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

Biography

Melanie Bacon provided the following biographical information via Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey on July 8, 2024:

• Birth date: August 25, 1955
• Birth place: North Hollywood, California
• High school: Alta Loma High School, Alta Loma, CA
• Bachelor's: University of Minnesota, Morris, 1982
• Military service: United States Army, 1974-1977
• Gender: Female
• Profession: Commissioner
• Prior offices held:
  • Island County Commissioner District 1 (2021-Prsnt)
• Incumbent officeholder: Yes
• Campaign slogan: "Vision is indispensable, and my record proves I am tenacious at implementing my vision."
• Campaign website
• Campaign endorsements
• Campaign Facebook

Elections

General election

General election for Island County Commissioner Board District 1

Melanie Bacon and Marie Shimada ran in the general election for Island County Commissioner Board District 1 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Melanie Bacon (D)
		Marie Shimada (D)

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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 Island County Commissioner Board District 1

Melanie Bacon, Marie Shimada, Wanda J. Grone, and Steven Myres ran in the primary for Island County Commissioner Board District 1 on August 6, 2024.

		Candidate
	Submit photo	Melanie Bacon (D)
		Marie Shimada (D)
	Submit photo	Wanda J. Grone (R)
	Submit photo	Steven Myres (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

To view Bacon's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Bacon in this election.

Campaign themes

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Melanie Bacon completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Bacon'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.

I feel blessed to be an Island County Commissioner, responsible for ensuring a high quality of life for our human residents and healthy ecosystems for our wildlife, sea life, and plant life.

My life experiences have been essential to my success as a County Commissioner. I’ve been an impoverished single mother and can personally relate to the issues of affordable housing and food insecurity. I’ve been a farmer worried about water pollution and soil erosion, so can relate to farm family issues. I’ve been a small business owner, I held an important position in the corporate offices of a Fortune 500 company, I served on the board of a battered women’s shelter, I’m an Army veteran, I chaired a planning commission and zoning board, I founded an educational endowment foundation, I’ve been a prison chaplain, I’ve worked closely with tribal governments—I can personally relate to issues important to almost every one of our residents. I know and work well with the elected officials in our other jurisdictions. I know every elected official and department head in the County and understand how their offices and departments work.

But success as a County Commissioner is not just about experience. It’s also about vision, adaptability, empathy, critical thinking, tenacity, and holding high standards and expectations for the services we provide to our citizens. I have demonstrated, over and over, that I have all of those qualities.

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?

• The most pressing issue facing island County is ensuring protection of the magical places we treasure on Whidbey and Camano--the forests and wetlands, our shorelines and open spaces, our bird, marine, and mammal ecosystems--while we plan for increased housing density over the next twenty years. An example: we need to plant and steward more trees on our islands for water recharge and to increase our cooling canopy. But an increase in population will mean pressure to cut down trees and increase impervious surface area (which prevents water recharge) in order to put up more houses. The County will need to be more assertive about protecting our open areas and forested corridors than we’ve been in the past.
• We must continue our work on providing affordable housing, from homeless to workforce housing. We have seen some success, since I began my first term in 2021, in providing homeless housing and subsidized housing for people making less than 80% of average median income (AMI). But we have a long way to go with short-term transitional housing, permanent supportive housing, and especially workforce housing. We need to think about the needs of the populations who will be served by these housing solutions. Many of them will be children, and we must ensure that they have all of the opportunities for enrichment and success that their futures demand. We also need to safely house our seniors, with access to medical and social resources.
• Transportation, from bike paths to ferries to boat launches to aviation, from safety issues to island bottlenecks to recreation, remains a critical concern. Today, if we have doctors or jobs on the other side, we have to plan around potential ferry service failures. If we want to ride our bikes to our beautiful parks, we have to ride along the highway on limited bike lanes. We don’t have walking trails connecting our communities. If we drive an electric vehicle, we have few options for EV charging. As County Commissioner, I am actively working on every one of these issues.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I pay a lot of attention to three areas in particular: transparency in government, emergency preparation, and our Comprehensive Plan update.

Transparency: Every week that the Commissioners meet, I write a newsletter that tells subscribers what the Board worked on that week and what we're working on in the coming weeks, with links and details on how to access specific discussion topics.

Emergency Preparation: I focus a lot of attention on County and citizen preparation for disasters such as earthquakes and wildfires.

Comprehensive Planning: our 2025 Comprehensive Plan update will be the blueprint for how our county prepares for the future. This is extremely important to me, ensuring climate resiliency, equity, and public health.

What qualities does this office possess that makes it a unique and important part of the state government and legal system?

We are the local government. We are the arm of the State and the Feds, the ones responsible for administering the laws passed by these other two areas of government. We pay for the Sheriff. We administer the funds for Human Services projects. We design and pave the roads. We are the government that people deal with every day.

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

The Dalai Lama and Ruth Bader Ginsberg. I think it's extremely important to have a moral compass, and remain true to it.

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

An effective elected official is a person of integrity with a public servant's heart. They recognize the honor they are given in holding their position, and work every day to be worthy of that honor by listening to what the people want and discerning what will be in the electorate's best interest. They are transparent. They avoid drama. They genuinely care. They put the needs of the citizens ahead of their own desires for political or financial gain.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Being a County Commissioner is about ensuring public safety and the public benefit through the well-thought-out design of our most important policy document: the annual County budget. This means being on top of every department's issues and focus, and working to find solutions when priorities are in conflict or monies are tight.

What legacy would you like to leave?

My legacy will be the continued protection of the forests, wetlands, and open spaces in Island County, even after 15,000 new people have moved there over the next twenty years.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

When I was seven years old John Glenn orbited the Earth. My second grade teacher brought in a television set so that we could watch the news--which was an extremely unusual thing to do in 1962. And when I was eight years old, President John Kennedy was assassinated while I was at a school event. I remember both of those things--the excitement of the first, and the sorrowful disbelief of the second--very well.

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

I was a waitress, a job I kept until I graduated from high school. As a result, I always tip generously.

Are there any little-known powers or responsibilities held by this office that you believe more people should be aware of?

I think most people in Island County have no idea what their County Commissioners do. We are, in effect, the CEOs of a $138 Million public service company that their taxes pay for. I don't think they know how important or complex the job is.

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

I think it's extremely beneficial for the people who run the government to have worked in government enough to know what that means.

What kind of skills or expertise do you believe would be the most helpful for the holders of this office to possess?

Honesty, integrity, energy, flexibility, kindness, thick skin, intelligence, patience, and a sense of humor. A background in finance or human resources is a plus.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

The Island County Democratic Party and the National Women's Political Caucus of Washington.

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

Financial transparency and government accountability are deeply important to me. I spend up to eight hours each week writing a newsletter that tells subscribers what their county government has done, is doing, and is planning to do. I also prioritized moving the County to a new budgeting software that will now allow citizens a complete and easy look at where their tax dollars are being spent. An engaged and informed electorate is imperative in a democracy.

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

Island County Commissioner Board District 1

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