Good

morning! You just saw one of our members, Terri McCullough, whom I have had the privilege of teaming with in our ght to save Fort Worden. I am Jeanine Livingston, ContracHng Compliance Manager for AFSCME Council 28 and it has been a great honor for me to have even the smallest part in this campaign. Terri and other members have been criHcal to the campaign to save Fort Worden. I would like to recognize Brian Yearout, president of Local 1466, Carmyn Shute, Terri McCullough and the other Parks members here today. We wouldnt have had a campaign to save Fort Worden without them.

In our council, as in many other places across the country, we know that in order to make signicant change we must work together. The campaign to save Fort Worden is a good example of when we use ALL of the tools in our toolbox, together we can make big change happen.

For those of you who remember the movie, it was lmed enHrely at Fort Worden

But Fort Worden is not just a movie set, it was once a real military fort from the late 1800s all through WWII

It is not a stand alone fort, it is part of a trio of forts strategically placed to defend all of Puget Sound from enemy intrusion

The federal government gave this piece of our states military history to State Parks in 1978 for RecreaHonal, Cultural & Historical purposes and to remain accessible to the public forever.

But the local community, in a 100-year struggle with how to build an economy in this remote part of the state, had other ideas for our fort. Using classic re-phrasing techniques that would have general appeal & mulHple meanings, they decided our state park would be a great place for a college for the local community Ocers Row would be turned into Animal House.

This movement in the community was underway for more than a year before we learned about the plot to seize our fort. We used our right to bargain over the decision to remove our work to gain a foothold to ght the wholesale give-away of Fort Worden

Our members, Local board members & ocers and WFSE sta adended numerous public & commission meeHngs and through that eort, we sent a clear message to all who were trying to fast-track their agenda that we were on watch and prepared to ght while building a coaliHon of like-minded supporters in the community.

Aeer a couple of years, it was clear to our opponents that they couldnt overcome all of the obstacles, including the downturn of the economy, so they changed their tacHcs. We had to adjust our strategy but they went quiet on us, informaHon that had been owing stopped. Learning what they were really up to was a challenge.

When we learned of plans to build a new hotel and add restaurants & bars our members in the local community connected us with the local businesses who were barely making it in the recession. They saw that the plot at hand would add unnecessary compeHHon to an already depressed market & joined our cause

Our members and community supporters helped us team with local ciHzens who want to preserve public access & value historical preservaHon. They knew who the key players in our opposiHon were & helped guide our approach in dealing with these people.

Members were essenHal in prevenHng the sweetheart deals and backroom agreements that would sidestep the public process and allow full transfer of the park. When the resoluHon for a full transfer of the park was coming before the Parks Commission, we sent out a call to acHon and boy, did you all respond!! Our members blew up the commissioners email! They had to set up a special email address to handle the volume!

Hearing rumors from our members about low rents & other giveaways, we researched why the park was operaHng at a decit & learned that conHnuing to oer below market leases & giving away reservaHon revenue to tenants was at the heart of the movement to transfer the park to this PDA they wanted in on it too!!!

The ght got ugly when our credibility and our members were adacked. Terri McCullough was verbally adacked by a commissioner for her appearance in the video that we showed earlier. We knew our data was solid so we asked for independent back up. We knew the Governor wouldnt tolerate abusive behavior by Commissioners. We made our pleas public. Aeer that, our opponents fell back in line. Alas, aeer exposing why the park was operaHng in a decit and showing the agency how to IMMEDIATELY turn that around without giving away the park, the commission sHll decided to proceed with negoHaHng an agreement with this PDA who admidedly needs the states money to even exist. We were stunned! But not done

Aeer a charade of a public process, disregard for beder alternaHves and delaying the mandatory negoHaHon process, we turned to the poliHcal process and hung an amendment on to agency request legislaHon prevenHng the giveaway of Fort Worden. They never saw that one coming!!! They didnt know they were messing with the Green Machine!

Our members took to the legislature to expose the huge subsidies being given at a Hme when the agency is begging for dollars they brought the ght even more out into the open.

We used the agencys 100th birthday to emphasize the need to preserve the State Parks for future generaHons. We lee no stone unturned!

 Need to be prepared for management gotchas what are they trying to achieve that we are unaware of Need to understand who & what youre up against who or what is behind it Must be able to nd a beder way to address the concern the agency is trying to x so an alternaHve can be found. Dene your objecHve; You must know what it is youre trying to achieve keep your eye on the ball at all Hmes.

If its clear youre in for a longer term badle, building a posiHon that will be supported by broad base of internal and external supporters builds more power Never underesHmate your opponent & keep advised of what theyre up to by whatever means you have available including social media etc. Keeping our members & community supports informed is essenHal You will need to know, and be reminded of, all the tools you have to work with. Campaigns change and evolve as you conHnue to learn you need to know what tools you have to make the best use of them when you need them Most importantly DO NOT GIVE UP!!!

We denitely faced our share of challenges: cronyism is alive & well in this small community and the public was saHsed with the assurance the park would not be transferred. They believed the ght was over. What we came to learn was that our opposiHon had been working with high powered supporters to nd another way a 50-year lease with 3 10-year extensions Whats the dierence??

PrevenHng a full Htle transfer was a huge victory they thought they had that in the bag. The legislaHve proviso hasnt made it into law yet but we made them realize they were not the only ones with the power. We need to be at the table. The Green Machine exed its muscle and made them start including us in ongoing legislaHon

The long term impacts of this campaign are not insignicant. Seeing what kind of sweetheart deal was happening at Fort Worden, other local municipaliHes were eyeing their local parks to do the same. Some were even in early negoHaHons. As a result of our campaign to save Ft Worden, the City of Issaquah is now working in a partnership with the agency, much like what we proposed for Ft Worden, at Lake Sammamish

 Aeer 4 frustraHng negoHaHon sessions on the decision to remove our members work, its clear there are sHll games afoot. Since at least 1 key commissioner and a few in execuHve management are spearheading the movement to the PDA, we have to go over their heads Again! To the Gov and the legislature and the public. Today my message to you is this: It took members, starHng with one small voice crying foul. Every member statewide - who adended a Parks Commission meeHng, bought a Discover Pass, lobbied for Parks or provided informaHon is what made this campaign. When Terri McCullough cried foul and was willing to take it on - this union used all the resources at its disposal - created a badle plan and the enHre team of sta: Greg Devereux, Our Leg team; Alia & Dennis in parHcular, our Public Aairs team: Tim Welch & Laura our legal team and representaHon sta LAs & CRs alike worked hard together as a team with the local community and statewide stakeholders each with their own role working towards a common goal. It took EVERY one to get this far.

Many badles have been won on even the smallest turn in events; in the darkest of hours. Morale of the story is: Member ac)vism is central & vital. Exis)ng leaders are strengthened, new leaders emerge and together we make the dierence. This story is proof, among many others, that one person can make a dierence YOU can make a dierence! NEVER GIVE UP, use ALL the tools in your toolbox and s)ck together there is no limit to what we can accomplish!!