by Kay Curry
Northwest Asia Weekly
Lisa Building
“I’ve been with the King County Attorney’s Office for 27 years. My entire career has been devoted to public service and public safety,” said Leesa Manion, who announced in January her intention to run for King County after current Attorney Dan Satterberg retires prosecutor. She currently serves as Sutterberg’s chief of staff.
Along with two other candidates — Jim Ferrell and Stephen Thomas — Manion felt her experience would be the best fit for the position. On the one hand, she was already there. She likened her position to someone tending her garden.
“It’s something I’ve dedicated my entire career to…I’ve been trying to grow this garden [and] Not only is it blooming, but I’m starting to see areas with bare spots that need pruning, new planting, or areas that no longer fit. I don’t want to see work stop. “
During Manion’s tenure as Chief of Staff, she was involved in a number of developments, many related to building community trust and reforming the justice system. She added 10 victim advocate positions and secured funding for a public integrity unit to investigate police-involved shootings. She has partnered with the Seattle Attorney’s Office to combat organized retail theft downtown, and since her current role, the county has reduced juvenile delinquency to its lowest level ever “through a sensible, effective and proven diversion program.” She recognizes that there is still work to be done and wants to be the one to do it.
Manion is very concerned about issues of racism and discrimination. In the fall, she raised money for the Hate Crimes Unit. She has seen firsthand the effects of racism. When she was a child, her Korean mother was kicked out of the house by Manion’s white grandmother. Manion and her brother have not seen their mother in 25 years. The experience made Manion aware of the plight of those without resources and taught her forgiveness. Despite what happened, she still loves her grandmother and realizes that actions are not the sum of her character. This may be why Manion prefers rehabilitation over traditional incarceration.
“People can make bad decisions, but that doesn’t mean they are.”
Growing up, Manion saw her brother disproportionately disciplined at school because of his race. She herself faced prejudice when running for the position.
“As a woman of color, I had to fight certain notions.” On the one hand, people wondered if she was “tough enough,” and on the other, when she spoke up, she was labeled “angry” ” or “sharp” risk. “I have to keep my balance,” she said. “Every female candidate, every leader of color, every woman of color has been in this situation at some point in their life.”
Manion grew up in the conservative Kentucky Bible Belt. She knew her life experience was different from her white family.
“In that part of the country, if you’re not white, then you’re actually black…it’s actually black and white,” she shared. “I remember when my brother and I were little kids, people would drive by, throw Coke bottles on the sidewalk and smash them, yelling ‘Go back to your own country!’ “Because of her background, for her” there,” especially for communities of color. She has vowed to attend more community meetings in person than Satterberg because “you have to be in the room to build relationships.”
She was delighted to “invite our BIPOC and business communities to get involved and have a seat at the negotiating table… We need their leadership, their great ideas. We need their trust.”
Manion hopes to repair the county’s relationship with the legal department by finding “common ground.” She declined to seek approval from the police department because she believed it would demonstrate a conflict of interest.
“I’ve heard someone mischaracterize me as having a problem with the police. My other half is a retired assistant police chief – I think he’ll have a problem with that!” She laughed, then turned serious again. “When we get scared and call 911, we want a response. We also need police officers who know how to de-escalate a situation … We need more police officers, and the abused police officers, we want them to leave the force.”
For the campaign, Manion listed her priorities as protecting public safety, juvenile justice, gun violence, victim services and maintaining public trust. She realizes she’s not quite doing it, and in an interview with The Weekly, she has repeatedly praised others, such as MLK Labour, who “are trying to build pipelines for young people and men and women out of prison. We’ve spoken to them already.” The debt has been paid, but they can’t move on.” She also praised “some jobs not mentioned in the office”, such as the court’s civil division, which is “behind the scenes, keeping our community safe,” and family support.
One of Manion’s proudest moments is being a co-founding partner of the Choice 180 program. A pilot was launched in 2011 to “give the voice of the community as important as the prosecutor’s office…to ensure that the people who are talking to young people are the voices they can hear.” Under Sean Goode, this became a permanent non-profit program.
“It just showed me the power of what happens when we work with the community rather than against it.” For Manion, the program has become a catalyst for “effective youth reform and transfer programs” that “find root cause” and provide opportunities for young people, which, in her opinion, is also one of the reasons we have one of the lowest juvenile delinquency rates ever in King County. She explained that the reduction in interest rates was no coincidence. According to Manion, it’s a “return on investment.”
Manion lives in west Seattle. Her son Christian, who just turned 18, plans to become a union electrician. Her daughter Natalie just turned 15 and attends Summit Sierra High School in the International District of Chinatown. Everyone in the neighborhood knows her two “super friendly” cats and their “epidemic puppy” Timber, who was supposed to be a medium-sized labrador, but was actually a 90 lb. Ryeese mixed breed. Her other half, Perry Tarrant, is the former president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Officers and is now retired and in consulting. In addition to being a metaphorical gardener, Manion enjoys real gardening and “hanging out with the community,” whether it’s walking the dog, entertaining at home, going out for pizza (a favorite), or visiting Alki Beach.
“I want a fair Seattle where my kids grow up,” she said. “…a place where people come together and work together for the benefit of the community.” She wanted to embrace, “not just lived experiences, but different perspectives.”
Manion remembers her former boss, who would quote Martin Luther King Jr.
“Rather than cursing the darkness, light candles…a lot of people are ready to light candles. I want to live in a community where we can experience a difference and a different way of doing things; but rather than seeing it as a challenge or a need It’s better to think of it as something worth embracing.”
Kay can reach info@nwasianweekly.com.
