Lawrence R. Phillips (born March 15, 1951) is an American politician who served as a member of the

King County Council The Metropolitan King County Council, the legislative body of King County, Washington, consists of nine members elected by district. The Council adopts laws, sets policy, and holds final approval over the budget. Its current name and structure i ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

state. Phillips served on the Council from 1992 to 2016, representing the fourth district, which includes the

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

neighborhoods of Queen Anne,

Magnolia ''Magnolia'' is a large genus of about 210 to 340The number of species in the genus ''Magnolia'' depends on the taxonomic view that one takes up. Recent molecular and morphological research shows that former genera ''Talauma'', ''Dugandiodendro ...

, Ballard, Fremont, Belltown,

South Lake Union South Lake Union (sometimes SLU) is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, so named because it is at the southern tip of Lake Union. The official boundaries of the City of Seattle Urban Center are Denny Way on the south, beyond which is Den ...

, and

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

. He served as Chair of the Council from 2004 to 2006 and again in 2014. He was unopposed in his 2011 re-election. Phillips also serves on the

Board of Directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

Sound Transit Sound Transit (ST), officially the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, is a public transit agency serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It operates the Link light rail system in Seattle and Tacoma, r ...

, a regional transit organization serving the

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

area. A hallmark of Phillips's tenure has been his work to preserve forests and farmland by buying land, development rights, or conservation easements. Phillips is a self-identified Democrat, although his position on the King County Council was officially nonpartisan. On April 1, 2015, Phillips announced he would not seek reelection to the King County Council that November.

Early life

Larry Phillips was born in 1951 in King County to Margery and John Phillips. His father was an architect and United States Naval Officer, serving in the Pacific in WWII, and his mother wrote for the

Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is a daily newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, United States. It was founded in 1891 and has been owned by the Blethen family since 1896. ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in Washington st ...

, creating their "Home of the Month" feature called "Northwest Living." Phillips grew up in Mount Baker and Magnolia with his two sisters and graduated from Queen Anne High School.

Education

Phillips earned a Bachelor's degree from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from

Willamette University College of Law Willamette University College of Law is the law school of Willamette University. Located in Salem, Oregon, and founded in 1883, Willamette is the oldest law school in the Pacific Northwest. It has approximately 24 full-time law professors and ...

, graduating with honors and finishing in the top ten percent of his class. He also earned a Masters of Law degree with emphasis in Labor Law from the

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

National Law Center.

Early career

After graduating from law school, Phillips entered public service, moving to Washington, D.C. to work for Senator Henry M. "Scoop"Jackson. His primary staffing responsibilities were labor and tax issues. Phillips returned to

to run

Randy Revelle Randall Revelle (April 26, 1941- June 3, 2018) was the third King County Executive, having served from his election in November 1981 until January 1, 1986. He also served on the Seattle City Council from 1974 to 1981. Revelle received some nati ...

's campaign for King County Executive. Revelle won the election, and Phillips served as his chief of staff. After Revelle left office, Phillips served as executive director of a 55-member Seattle law firm, Shidler McBroom Gates & Lucas. In 1988 he won election to the Washington State House of Representatives. He went to Olympia to represent the 36th Legislative District, where he was a member of the House Education, Local Government, Environmental Affairs, and Revenue Committees. He was an author and a prime sponsor of the 1990

Growth Management Act The Washington State Growth Management Act (GMA) is a Washington state law that requires state and local governments to manage Washington's growth by identifying and protecting critical areas and natural resource lands, designating urban growth area ...

, as well as legislation to prevent oil spills in

. He also fought successfully for smaller class sizes in public schools and adequate funding for K-12 education.

King County Council

After serving two terms in the legislature, Phillips won his seat on the Metropolitan

to represent District Four. On the Council, Phillips has been a leader on such issues as, land use and water quality, salmon protection, parks and open space, fiscal management, transportation and clean energy, and jobs and the economy. In 2004, during his tenure as Council Chair, Phillips drew attention when he discovered that his

absentee ballot An absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable or unwilling to attend the official polling station to which the voter is normally allocated. Methods include voting at a different location, postal voting, proxy voting and online votin ...

had not been counted, along with 572 others, in the

2004 Washington gubernatorial election The 2004 Washington gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2004. The race gained national attention for its legal twists and extremely close finish, among the closest political races in United States election history. Republican Dino Ros ...

, which was decided by a margin of only 129 votes. As a result of his noticing the mistake, the

ballot A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election and may be found as a piece of paper or a small ball used in secret voting. It was originally a small ball (see blackballing) used to record decisions made by voters in Italy around the 16t ...

s were counted, ultimately swinging the race in favor of Democratic candidate

Christine Gregoire Christine Gregoire (; née O'Grady; born March 24, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 22nd governor of Washington from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she defeated Republican candidate Dino Rossi in 2004, and again ...

. As a founding member of Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 8, Phillips helped coordinate a local response to the federal listing of Chinook salmon as endangered. Phillips has played a role in preserving over 165,000 acres of farm and forest land and salmon habitat as open space in King County during his time on the Council. As the Council's Budget Chair for three years during King County's budget crisis, Phillips presided over $170 million in cuts to stabilize the budget while protecting King County's AAA

bond rating In investment, the bond credit rating represents the credit worthiness of corporate or government bonds. It is not the same as an individual's credit score. The ratings are published by credit rating agencies and used by investment professiona ...

and prioritizing public safety, public health, and the human services safety net. Phillips was named the 2001 Public Official of the Year by the Municipal League of Seattle for his leadership in protecting and enhancing our quality of life through his work on land preservation and growth management in King County, and the 2010 Public Official of the Year by the 43rd District Democrats. In recent years, Phillips has turned his attention to transportation, clean energy, and jobs. As a

Boardmember, he served as Chair of the Central Link Oversight Committee overseeing the on time, under budget construction of Link light rail from Downtown Seattle to Tukwila. Phillips also led successful efforts to pass a regional mass transit expansion package that includes building 36 additional miles of light rail throughout the region. In response to Metro Transit's budget shortfall, Phillips called for a performance audit that identified over $200 million of savings or additional revenues that could be used to preserve service. He also called for the successful creation of the Regional Transit Task Force which made recommendations for improving Metro's future. At the end of the 2013 Council session, Phillips was unanimously elected as Council Chair for 2014, taking over that duty from Councilmember

Larry Gossett Lawrence Edward Gossett (born February 21, 1945) is an American politician and activist who served as a member of the nonpartisan King County Council, representing District 10 from 1994 to 2006 and District 2 from 2006 to 2020.

Footnotes

External links

Official Council site

Official Larry Phillips Biography
Larry Phillips.com
Official Larry Phillips for King County campaign website {{DEFAULTSORT:Phillips, Larry Living people 1951 births Democratic Party members of the Washington House of Representatives King County Councillors