IN what promises to be a heated race for Position No. 5 on Bellevue’s City Council, Vandana Slatterhas the edge over challengers Michelle Hillhorst and Sherry Grindeland as the best choice for the council.
Slatter brings data-driven analytical skills stemming from her career as a clinical pharmacist for Amgen, as well as organizational knowledge from her master’s degree in public administration from the University of Washington. She is a married mother of a teenage son and lives in northeast Bellevue.
Slatter’s broad vision for Bellevue and distinct perspective make her the best candidate to challenge the status quo and take creative risks in governing Bellevue. …”
She serves on the Overlake Hospital Foundation’s board of trustees and has served on the Washington State Board of Pharmacy, the foundation board of NARAL Pro-Choice Washington and the board of the Children’s Institute for Learning Differences.
Bellevue faces many challenges: housing affordability, traffic congestion, serving a diverse population, and significant commercial and residential development. Slatter would bring a thoughtful regional approach to those problems, recognizing that Bellevue could do a better job collaborating with its neighbors. She lacks experience in serving in elected office or on a city commission, so she will have to prove her analytical skills translate into effective decisions and policies.
Bellevue’s outgoing mayor, Claudia Balducci, has endorsed Slatter — as have current City Councilmember John Stokes, state Sens. Cyrus Habib, D-Kirkland, and Pramila Jayapal, D-Seattle, and state Rep. Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island.
Her impressive challengers, Hillhorst and Grindeland, both have deep community roots, extensive volunteer work and experience serving on local boards and committees. But Slatter’s broad vision for Bellevue and distinct perspective make her the best candidate to challenge the status quo and take creative risks in governing Bellevue.