Name: Thomas Clark
Running For: 31st Legislative District State Representative Position 2
Party: Democrat
Current Position: Boeing Experimental Flight Test Engineer
City: Lake Tapps
Contact: TRClark.WA.LD31@gmail.com
Website: https://www.electtomclark.com/
Social Media: Facebook Twitter Instagram
PDC Page: Campaign Contributions
Education:
Endorsements: pending
Statements:
Statement to Auburn voters (primary): “Introduction and background in the district/ professionally.
I would like people to see me as a person who genuinely cares about others, who wants to see others have opportunities to fulfill their potential, to enjoy the feeling of belonging, of contributing, of being valued and loved. I settled in Washington after joining the Navy, 2 days after my 19th birthday from my childhood home in Framingham, Massachusetts a suburb on the outskirts of Boston. I grew up in a middle class setting, with a fairly diverse population, race, gender, religious beliefs, and economic strata.
The area is rich in American history, being a few minutes from Lexington and Concord, the cradle of the American Revolution. Patriotic roots run deep in my family, my father and uncles were WWII veterans who served in the European theater. My mother, a war bride from England still lives independently in my childhood home and will turn 100 in August. She’s in great health, both body and spirit. I thoroughly enjoy sharing long, thoughtful conversations with her. Her perspective and experiences guide me as do the conversations with my 11-year-old granddaughter, whom my wife, her daughters, and I raise as our own after the sudden passing of my daughter 10 years ago.
I have lived in Lake Tapps since 2005, and prior to that Auburn and Kent. I am running for elected office for the first time because I want to do whatever I can, so that others can have the same opportunities this country provided me, to have the best lives possible.
What sets me apart from my opponents?
We face so many challenges today, but in truth every generation has challenges. The question, as I see it, “What are we going to do about it?”
When I first hired on with Boeing in 1985 as an analyst, the wages were adequate, but not enough where I could simply buy a home. I did not come from means but both my parents were very intelligent and hardworking. My father was a second-generation Dartmouth graduate but chose a career as an artist, and my mother a voracious reader. I developed a strong work ethic at a very young age. As elementary school age children my friends and I would form teams to shovel the snow-filled driveways for whatever fee we could negotiate; in the Summer it was lawn and garden care. I have essentially worked my entire life. After over 33 years in various engineering functions, I earned my way into the Boeing Experimental Flight Test group and have had the privilege of collaborating with people of all types and cultures to accomplish common objectives, overcoming all the inherent unique differences, from race to language to culture. As a Test Engineer, specifically a “System Test Engineer”, by definition I have learned to understand exactly “how” systems actually work and when they don’t work the way they were intended, I learned the “why”. After learning “why”, you learn “where” and “when”. Which brings us back to the original question, “What are you going to do about it?” The answer always starts the same way, gather a team. I can do that anywhere I go, with anyone who needs to be on the team.”