[via email]

For release: February 20, 2009

OLYMPIA – Olympia resident Tony Sermonti announced his candidacy for the Olympia City Council’s position seven today.

“For too long, many issues in Olympia have been framed as one way or the other – we need a new style of working together across differences, and with many issues, we can’t afford to wait,” Sermonti says.

Sermonti says one of his main goals is to clean up downtown and to make sure the city is a partner with business owners and developers.

“We need to strike a balance for downtown. If we change what Olympia is and what we stand for, we won’t have a downtown, but if we refuse to change at all, we may well not have a downtown either," he said.

He also said the city council should spend less time on issues they can’t control and more time on city business.

“I appreciate the principles behind the “nuclear free” ordinance, but that was city staff time and a lot of council time eaten up with something that I think most people would agree was ineffective at best and bad public policy at worst,” he said, “we are looking at significant budget reductions, so we should be spending our time on things that will help us protect city priorities.”

In the next few weeks, Sermonti says he will be filing with the state Public Disclosure Commission and formalizing his campaign committee. “I’ve already seen significant support from the downtown community and beyond for this, so I’m very grateful. I’m looking forward to talking with the broad range of Olympians throughout the campaign. I'm looking forward to meeting with people.”

Sermonti is known for his community involvement, serving as president of Capital City Pride for the past two years. He currently works at the state Senate with the democratic caucus. Prior to that, he served as communications manager at The Evergreen State College. He graduated from Evergreen in 2004 with emphasis in business administration and pre-law. In 2007, he was awarded the Puget Sound Business Examiner’s Forty Under 40 Award for professional excellence. During the 2007 presidential primary campaign, he was a traveling press advance staffer with Sen. John Edwards' campaign.

Contact:
Tony Sermonti
360-259-2330
sermonti20@yahoo.com