She feels it's important to get out there and talk with voters, she told the News in a brief break from campaigning before the Nov. 5 election.
Dickerson is running as an incumbent for her fourth term as one of the District 36 representatives in the state Legislature. Her opponent, Rudy McCoy-Pantoja Jr., a Republican, hasn't put up much of a fight, she said.
"He must've seen the early election numbers and decided it wasn't worth it," Dickerson said.
McCoy-Pantoja Jr. did not return the News' phone calls.
In a way, Dickerson's inspiration for politics came during the era of the Kennedy presidency. She was moved by John Kennedy to give back to the community.
"I've always thought I was obligated to give back," she said.
Dickerson's biggest reason for switching from journalism to social work to politics is her concern for the well-being of children and families.
"Even in journalism, you do social work," she said.
Dickerson entered politics because she "wanted to make a difference on policies that affected hundreds and thousands of people."
After working in social work for several years, Dickerson realized the only way to make a difference in that field was to "go to Olympia to make a larger change."
Right now, Dickerson is on committees that deal with her passion. She chairs the Legislature's Juvenile Justice committee and sits on the Judiciary, and Children and Family Services committees. Working on all of those committees can make for some long days, she said.
"I'm not doing this crazy job for the tremendous salary!" she quipped.
The Legislature has some large items on its plate when it reconvenes in January, according to Dickerson, among them the budget deficit to the tune of $2 billion.
"The deficit is the biggest thing on everyone's plate right now."
A variety of factors have contributed to that budgetary hole, Dickerson said. The economic downturn, the state's security response after Sept. 11 and voter initiatives that reduced revenue but required spending have drained the state's coffers, she noted. Dickerson pointed to skyrocketing medical costs as contributing further to the budget gap.
Dickerson contends the Legislature is going to look for short- and long-term solutions to the budget problem. A long-term solution is about to be unveiled by a task force led by Bill Gates Sr., which is looking at ways of redrawing the tax tables.
"That will put us on a more sure foot-ing for the long term," Dickerson said.
A short-term solution to close the gap is a combination of cutting costs and raising revenue. There might also be additional tapping into the state's tobacco settlement funds, she added.
Dickerson warned that some legislators might go for the short-term solution of cutting programs while neglecting the need to also raise new revenues.
"That's very shortsighted, especially if it means pain to people in this state," she said.
Dickerson feels her job is to try to minimize those cuts - especially in education.
The representative is also planning on tackling an issue near and dear to voters in the Puget Sound area: transportation. Transportation, she said, profoundly affects people and the economy here.
"We need to face the fact that we have to put in money to build transportation. Otherwise, we'll be losing money."
The fate of Referendum 51, the hotly contested transportation improvement ballot measure, is too close to call, she said. However, Dickerson has asked to be on the state's transportation committee when the new Legislature session opens in January 2003.
Only one representative from Seattle is on that committee, Dickerson said. That's surprising, given Seattle's enormous transportation issues, she said.
"It's time Seattle had at least two [representatives on the transportation committee], considering our tremendous need over here," she said.
Dickerson has been involved with several family groups. In 1995, she helped found the Ballard Family Support Center, and is a past chair of the Washington Coalition of Public Schools Foundation.
Last year, despite her busy schedule, she wrote "Small Victories," a book about the life stories of prematurely born babies. Being a prematurely born baby gave her the push to write the book and to pursue her careers.
"I felt a purpose for my life after being born early and coming close to dying. It gave me push to do something meaningful with my life."
Freelance writer Bill Putnam is a Seattle resident.
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