Name: Ross Hunter

Age: 46

Marital status: Married

Children: Jack 17 and Emily 14

Education: Yale University BS Computer Science 1983

Occupation: Former Microsoft General Manager

Campaign Web site: www.rosshunter.net

Campaign e-mail: ross@rosshunter.net

Top three endorsements: Mayors of Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, Clyde Hill and Medina; Washington Conservation Voters; Judy Bushnell – Bellevue School Board president

What are the two biggest issues you want to address and how do you plan to address them if elected:

I ran for office six years ago to improve funding and management of our public education system and to improve the transportation infrastructure here in Washington, doing both in a financially responsible way. If you look at the cones out this summer you can see that we’ve made some progress on the transportation front – major improvements in progress on I-405, fixes to 202 in Redmond, and the upcoming replacement of the 520 bridge with a new six-lane span with the capability of being expanded in the future.

On the education front we’ve funded class size decreases, teacher cost-of-living increases and made other improvements to the funding system, but have a lot of work to do to finish. We have turned around a decades-long decline in the percentage of the budget going to education, and I plan to continue this change in the future. This year the basic education funding task force will produce a bi-partisan plan to fund an education system for the 21st century, not the 19th. We are upping the rigor of the system, including increases in math and science requirements. I drove a significant increase in the rigor of mathematics standards last year.

All of this only works with a stable budget for Washington. As chairman of the Finance committee and past chair of the Legislature’s performance audit committee I have a commitment to responsible management. I was the prime sponsor of the “Rainy Day Fund” constitutional amendment in the House.