Know your county chairs: Kristiné Reeves, Spokane County Democrats

Now that June has arrived, even if summer weather is lagging far behind on the west side, PolitickerWA.com, will begin a series of weekly interviews with county party chairs. The series begins today with Spokane County Democratic Chair Kristiné Reeves, a 27 year old Democrat originally from Moses Lake.

PolitickerWA.com: How long have you been chair?

Kristiné Reeves: This month will be a year and a half.

PolitickerWA.com: What has been your favorite part of the job?

Reeves: I would have to say it comes in two parts, the first part being seeing people come together for a common purpose. It is probably the largest organization I have ever belonged to where there is one common mission and everybody understands that mission. That's our objective, that's what we do, and seeing people come together to try to accomplish that mission is really cool.

The second part of that is, because there are so many diverse people coming together for such a common mission, it gives me the opportunity to really meet a wide variety of people, and I think that is really cool.

PolitickerWA.com: Why did you seek this job in the first place?

Reeves: I have always been interested in politics, and I wouldn't even say politics. I have always had an interest in promoting the values of the party. I didn't always know they were the values of the party, but I have come to understand that, both through my education and my life experience, that the values that I hold personally happen to be the values of the Democratic Party, and happen to be the values of the majority of Americans regardless of their party. Because I tend to be a social liberal and a fiscal conservative, it makes sense for me to be a Democrat.

I kind of came to this because I've always had an interest in finding a way to contribute. I have lived in communities that have really helped me grow and develop as a person and I wanted to find a way to contribute back to the community that I was living in in such a way that could help get people into office that cared about people, that cared about helping make our communities bigger, better, stronger and helping people who are less fortunate. And we are all less fortunate in some way or another, whether you make a million dollars a year or you make nothing, we all have something inside of us that makes us less fortunate than someone else. I kind of came into it because I felt like it was a good opportunity to experience a way to give back.

PolitickerWA.com: What have you found are the issues that are the most important to the Spokane County Democrats?

Reeves: Obviously I think a lot of people try to convince you that they sway in a given an election cycle, depending on who is running. I don't necessarily think that's the case. I think our issues as people who live in Spokane and Eastern Washington are all the same.

Everybody has a little bit of a different priority on those issues, but definitely the last two years it has been health care, education, the economy, with the economy meaning jobs, the price of gas, how the government manages our money, how we manage our money.

Then there are peripheral issues that people place up there in terms of priority, but I would say that those are probably the top three that come out the most often as things that people care about.

PolitickerWA.com: What are the biggest challenges you have to face in your role as chair?

Reeves: I think the biggest issue probably is the struggle to balance the needs of everybody in the party with the wants of everybody in the party, and the perception of how best to accomplish our goals. You hear about how the Democratic party is the party of the big tent and we love everybody and we want everybody and that's true, and that's amazing. It is an amazing blessing that our party can be that, but at the same time when you are running an all volunteer non-profit organization with so many diverse people and so many diverse opinions about what should be the priority and how we should get to accomplishing our goal it is sometimes really hard to balance the needs vs. the wants.

PolitickerWA.com: Are you the youngest party chair in the state, and how do you think that has affected the way that you've done things? Have people reacted positively or negatively?

Reeves: I am the youngest party chair. It has been a combination of both, obviously. I think there have definitely been a lot of people who have been super excited about it and have been very supportive, not only of my growth as a person, but of my growth as a leader in the party. I think a lot of people come to the misconception that, because of my age, I don't have a lot of experience; I don't have a lot of knowledge. Which wouldn't be true it you know me and you knew my background, I come with a fair amount of understanding, a fair amount of experience, and even more education.

But it's the same with any issue. People judge people at face value whether it's the color of my skin, whether it's the fact that I am a woman, whether it is because I am under 30. There is always going to be some reason that people think to take issue with me. It is like that for everybody, it's not just me. I think it has been an interesting learning curve, it has been a good confidence builder, it has been a good opportunity for me to learn and to apply the ability to not take things personally, to not prescribe certain feelings or opinions about me to how I do my job, and that has been really beneficial.

But at the same time, yeah, that thought runs through my head all the time. I work on a board, most of the people on the board are over 45 or 50, who have twice as much life experience as I do, twice as much party experience as I do, but if I let that get inside my head I constantly doubt who I am as a person, who I am as a leader. There is not a lot of room for doubt in the party, there is just not. So, like I said, it has kind of gotten to the point where I say, ‘yeah I'm the youngest chair in the state and I'm darn proud of it.' I've lasted a year and a half and if I wasn't good at what I did or people didn't feel that what I was doing contributed to the greater good of the party or the community, they would have gotten someone else, so I think it's okay.

PolitickerWA.com: What's next?

Well my term ends in 6 months, I don't really know. At this point my head is really focused on the convention coming up in two weeks, on the elections in November. We're very excited that for the first time in a while Spokane County has a candidate running in every open seat as a Democrat. We've got a congressional candidate that we are excited to put forward. There is a lot going on in Spokane, and we have been really successful the last three years, under Sharon's term as well. I am trying to stay really focused on the moment, what is going on right now.

I definitely have had people starting that conversation, ‘where are we going, what are we doing, are you going to stick around?' When I'm done in January, I will be the first chair to actually finish my term in Spokane in like ten years. One the one hand I don't feel bad leaving since I have done something that no other chair has done for a while. On the other hand if I stay that only adds to the potential growth for our party. I don't know. I've got a lot of options.

PolitickerWA.com: Huskies or Cougars?

Reeves: That's just a given right there, I don't even need to dignify that with a response, except to say, ‘Go Cougs!'

PolitickerWA.com: Who is your favorite elected official who is not running for president and not from Washington?

Good question, it depends on what you mean by favorite. I have to say I have really developed an affection for Brian Schweitzer, the governor of Montana. Just having met the guy and had the opportunity to talk to him and to meet his staff, and to me he really exemplifies a lot of the personal characteristics and integrity that I look for in people. Not just politicians, but people. He just strikes me as someone who is a really good person. I like to hear he is doing well, and I like to hear that things are going well for him in Montana.