'Humble beginnings' lend political devotion

Friends counseled Reuven Carlyle to make his political debut elsewhere -- perhaps in a race for Congress or for a seat on the Seattle City Council.

But Carlyle, a Queen Anne resident and wireless entrepreneur, wasn't buying it. He had his sight set on a seat in the state House of Representatives, specifically the one filled for the last 35 years by retiring Democratic Rep. Helen Sommers.

Now, with the state's top-two primary likely to advance two Democratic candidates from the 36th District, Carlyle could be locked in a close, intraparty battle for months before November's general election.

Up until this point, politics has mostly been a hobby for Carlyle, who makes a living working with tech startups around the country. Although an aggressive regimen of doorbell-ringing and sign-waving has kept him busy this summer, he says serving in the part-time Legislature will allow him to remain a family man and entrepreneur -- parts of an identity he doesn't want to lose.

He just wants to add citizen legislator to the mix.

Carlyle, who authored a recently enacted bill to help fund the college education of foster-care youth, says he wants to be in a place where he can instigate significant changes. He cites education reform and funding as the most pressing issues facing the state and supports regional road tolls along with a surface-street alternative to the viaduct.

The time for an incremental approach to public policy is over, Carlyle said.

"I'm not putting my family through this so I can go down to Olympia to tinker and issue little press releases," he added.

Carlyle will likely face fellow Democrat and long-time politico John Burbank in the general election. Republican Leslie Bloss has registered her candidacy with the Secretary of State's office but has yet to raise more than $150 in cash contributions to finance her campaign.

While he hasn't run for office before, Carlyle isn't a stranger to government. He worked and campaigned for Democrats in the 1980s, and he sits on the Washington State Board of Community and Technical Colleges.

Carlyle, a 42-year-old who gets around town on a motorcycle, cites presidential hopeful Barack Obama as a source of inspiration for him -- a political role model who gave him the kick in the pants he needed to declare his candidacy earlier this year.

Those who know Carlyle well say they're optimistic that he'll end up in the Legislature and that he'll accomplish his policy goals once there.

"What this guy wants, he just keeps there on the horizon until he gets it done," said longtime friend Cathy Allen, a Seattle-based political consultant. "That's how he married his wife; that's how he got into Harvard. ... When he decides to do something, I have not ever seen him fail."

'Humble beginnings'

Carlyle doesn't beat around the bush when it comes to the first years of his life. He calls himself a love child of the '60s, born in 1964 to a mother who wasn't able to be a full-time caregiver until he was 5.

For the first years of his life, he was passed from one friend to another, until he moved with his mother to Bellingham at the end of the tumultuous decade.

In an essay his mother, Hadiyah Carlyle, wrote for his campaign earlier this year, she recalls they relied on public assistance for much of the time he was growing up. But she writes that her son had business savvy early on; he started a lawn-mowing business at age 9 and threatened to unionize his fellow paperboys at age 13.

In sixth grade, Carlyle orchestrated a student protest, claiming it was unfair and humiliating that he and his other low-income classmates should have to line up in front of the class every day to claim their subsidized meal tickets.

He calls the protest his "first act of political rebellion."

When he was 15, Carlyle moved to Washington, D.C., to work as a page for Sen. Warren Magnusson. Eventually, he would page for Sen. Henry "Scoop" Jackson and Rep. Thomas "Tip" O'Neill before enrolling in the University of Massachusetts.

"I think the thing that people don't always know about Reuven is that written on his bones is his humble beginnings," said friend Maura O'Neill, chief of staff for Sen. Maria Cantwell. "And that, I think, gives him a ground for which his commitment to public service, to business success, to family is built on. I think you never forget that."

His mother wrote: "Reuven carries this journey with him everyday. It's in his being. It makes him a wonderful person -- husband, father and son. It will make him a tremendous legislator."

So far dialogue in the race for the 36th often circles back around to one defining characteristic -- money and what it says about a candidate.

So far, Burbank has raised more than $110,000 in cash contributions -- Carlyle has upward of $123,000.

The candidates and political analysis agree the race seems to be heading toward $500,000 in campaign expenditures -- meaning it's becoming one of the most expensive contests in state House history.

But beyond campaign spending, Burbank, the executive director of the policy think tank the Economic Opportunity Institute, has pointed to money to illustrate a distinction between himself and Carlyle.

"While I do not impugn [Carlyle's] life decisions, they are different than the ones I choose," Burbank wrote in a statement to the King County Democrats. "He has chosen to work in the private sector to create private and personal wealth while I have chosen to work in the public sector working for the public good and for Democratic ideals."

Limited information about a candidate's finances is available through the state. Carlyle disclosed that both he and his wife, a physician for Virginia Mason Medical Center, have an annual income of more than $100,000 each -- the highest bracket on the state's mandatory financial statement.

Burbank disclosed that his own annual income is between $40,000 and $100,000. But his wife, an executive vice president for Group Health Cooperative, is in the higher salary bracket.

Carlyle also has defended himself for accepting campaign donations from corporations such as Qwest and Bank of America. He says he hasn't accepted donations from any business or organization that hasn't also contributed to other Democrats in the 36th District.

"I'm proud to be a progressive Democrat that is pro-business," Carlyle said. "Those two values are consistent and necessary."

O'Neill, who also entered politics after a career in business, defended her friend by saying a firsthand understanding of how business and the economy work can be an asset to a politician and constituents.

"He has a special understanding that he'll bring to Olympia about what makes the economy work, what causes people to hire people, lay people off, what kind of skill sets you need," she said. "And I think we can benefit enormously from having that skill set in Olympia."

Peter Jackson, son of "Scoop" Jackson and a lifelong friend of Carlyle's, named just one possible downside to a successful Carlyle campaign. Jackson thinks there's a chance his highly determined friend might grow frustrated with the sometimes-sluggish back-and-forth of Olympia.

"But if he gets elected, I think he's going to take the House by the horns," Jackson said.

REUVEN CARLYLE