To the editor:

We are writing to express our strong support for Patricia Terry for the office of Island County clerk.

This past December, Patricia was unanimously appointed to this position by Island County commissioners. She was selected over the internal candidate (now her opponent) for county clerk in large measure because of her expertise in performance management and evaluation.

This, together with her master’s degree in public administration from Seattle University, makes her an ideal candidate to help bring about much needed changes in the county clerk’s office.

Real changes are seldom easy, but Patricia Terry hit the ground running as our Island County clerk. She immediately asked clerks from other Washington counties to conduct a performance audit (at no cost to taxpayers) which revealed specific areas for improvement pertaining to productivity, workflow and financial management.

The changes she’s implemented have already yielded important successes, including cleaning up a backlog of more than 600 case files and following through on the clerk’s responsibilities relating to in-house collections. She is committed to transparency and accountability.

Finally, we want to specifically address Patricia’s background in nursing, an area that some from the opposition have disparaged, as if this somehow deems her unqualified as county clerk. Through her 15 years as an intensive care nurse, Patricia developed skills — in a high-pressure environment — that only serve to make her a better public servant and administrator. These managerial skills include advocacy, teamwork, delegation and accountability.

Also of great relevance, she served as a deputy health officer for Los Angeles County, a position in which she worked with federal and state law enforcement agencies in investigations involving Medicare and Medicaid fraud. This type of work further enhanced her qualifications as it required her to write detailed reports as well as to appear in court as an expert witness. Nursing helped her develop greater insight into the human condition; her compassion and desire to help others led to her immersion in public policy and to obtain her graduate degree in public administration.

We invite you to visit Patricia Terry’s Web site (www.patriciaterry.org) to learn more about her education, qualifications and experience. And we hope that you will join us in voting for Patricia Terry to continue as our Island County clerk.

Mary K. Sandford

Eileen M. Jackson

Langley