Pearman to seek re-election to City Council

Published 4:53 pm Monday, November 24, 2008

By Ruth Longoria

On the heels of last week’s announcement that Mayor Alan Merkle won’t be running for re-election to his seat, another councilmember has stepped up to declare his candidacy.

Councilman Jim Pearman said Thursday he’ll run in the November election to retain his council seat, Position No. 4.

“I’m cornered, now I’ve got to declare,” Pearman joked after reading last week’s announcements in the Reporter. Merkle, who occupies Pos. 6 on the council, is supporting candidate Mike Grady for an open seat on the City Council.

Pearman, 47, was elected to the council in 2001. He said he wasn’t looking to run for public office four years ago when the council sought him out. However, he agreed to run for office when several councilmembers lobbied him to replace now-state Rep. Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, for her City Council seat.

Pearman, who has a history of corporate hotel management and sales, ran his own data management business for 13 years and is on the advisory board for Washington State University’s hotel and restaurant administration program.

Prior to being elected to the council, Pearman was chairman of the Mercer Island Park and Recreation Board from 1993 to 1996 and co-chair of the Mercer Island Community Center Task Force from 1996 to 1998.

While on the council, he serves on the executive committee, Suburban City Association, Puget Sound Regional Council, National League of Cities, Energy Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Advocacy Committee, and is a board member of the Economic Development District.

With the exception of six years while he was starting his business career, the Island has been home to Pearman since his family moved here in 1969. He attended Lakeridge Elementary School, where his 10-year-old daughter, Charlotte, now attends. He graduated from Mercer Island High School in 1976.

After graduation, Pearman went on to study hotel and restaurant management at the University of Washington. After receiving a scholarship from Westin Hotels, he transferred to Seattle University, and later earned his bachelor’s degree from Washington State University. He is currently studying for a master in public administration degree at the University of Washington’s Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs and will graduate in June.

Pearman has been married 20 years to wife Katalin, who is originally from Hungary. The couple met in the hotel industry in Chicago 21 years ago. They were married in Budapest. Pearman brought his wife home to the Island in 1987. They are expecting their second child Oct. 17.

In addition to spending time with his family, bicycling around the Island with his daughter and attending school functions, Pearman, who has had a love of the water since childhood when his father introduced him to sailing, also enjoys team competitive rowing.

“Rowing is the ultimate team sport. It blends exercise and competition with camaraderie. I’ve been doing it for a year and I love rowing. I practice five days a week — it’s a passion of mine,” he said.

He also has a passion for teaching, which is part of why he went back to school for a master’s degree. He’s planning to eventually teach higher education, he said.

One of the many things Pearman enjoys about being on the council is the opportunity to share his love of community service with young people, through activities such as a recent City Hall tour he led with Island second-graders. For an hour Thursday morning, Pearman led two tours of the facility and shared his knowledge of city government with the children through play acting a much shortened version of a council meeting and helping the youths understand each participant’s role from mayor to councilmember and audience member.

Teaching children to understand local government and their place in the community is important, Pearman said. “It’s all about community service and improving life. You’ve got to leave the community a little better than you found it.”

However, he said, he’s not out to change the world.

“I’m not coming to the council with an agenda to change everything. I’m not positional and I’m not driven by ideology. Sometimes a strong fiscal solution is better and sometimes investment in the community is better,” he said.

Pearman said it’s his ability to listen, mediate and understand both the public and private sector that makes him a good councilman.

“I’m not positional. I’m not one of those people who comes in with an opinion and isn’t willing to change,” Pearman said. “I respectfully listen to people and, a lot of times, I can be influenced by a really good argument and that can make me change my opinion.”

Councilman Dan Grausz’s seat on the council, Position No. 2, will also be up for grabs in the November election. Grausz, who has been on the council since 1999, said he isn’t yet ready to declare his candidacy.