Published by Tom Paulu of The Daily News on September 17, 2015

JD Rossetti says he’s the best candidate to become the 19th District’s next representative because he’s been actively involved in state politics for years.

Rossetti’s resume includes interning for former state Sen. Brian Hatfield. Since 2012, Rossetti’s principal employment has been working as an aide to Rep. Brian Blake, who’s also in the 19th District.

Hatfield’s departure from the Senate has set off a round of politicking. Rep. Dean Takko, D-Longview, is the only candidate actively seeking appointment to fill Hatfield’s Senate seat. Along with Rossetti, Tiffany Turner and Jim Sayce, who both live on the Long Beach Peninsula, also have announced their candidacy for Takko’s seat.

Some observers have suggested that the decision is being made behind closed doors to reward an insider like Rossetti.

“It’s easy to have that perception,” he acknowledged Thursday. But he said only those who are involved in the Democratic party are going to make the cut through Democratic precinct committee officers who pick three candidates. “Traditionally, the one they approve put in the most work” for the party, he said.

It will be a different matter going before county commissioners in the five counties, who make the final decision. Those are about equally divided between Democrats and Republicans, and Rossetti said they’ll look for the person best able to help counties at the state level.

Rossetti, 34, said his interest in politics started at Rainier High School, where as president of the student body he challenged the rule that only football players could be on the homecoming court. “I thought I was going to be mayor of the City of Rainier by the time I was 17,” he said.

While he was president of the Associated Students of Lower Columbia College, Rossetti said he pushed through a controversial campuswide ban on tobacco products. He graduated from WSU Vancouver with a degree in public affairs.

“In about 2010 is when I got the itch” to become a state legislator, he said.

But first, he got himself elected to the Longview School Board in 2013, beating three other candidates for the seat. He said he wouldn’t be required to resign from the school board if he were a legislator and he hasn’t decided whether he would do so.

Rossetti said as a legislator, he would focus on education. “I’m right in the thick of it every day,” both as a school board member and father of four sons in a blended family. He supports a levy swap for schools, a system to shift the funding of schools to the state level which has drawn bipartisan support.

Last year, Rossetti drew criticism as chairman of the Cowlitz-Wahkiakum United Way board when an annual audit discovered accounting irregularities. Thursday, he pointed out that the financial mismanagement occurred before he came on the United Way board.

During coverage of that issue, The Daily News reported that Rossetti went through personal bankruptcy in 2009 to absolve himself of $108,000 of debt owed to 51 creditors.

“No one should have to declare bankrupcy because of health care expenses, and my case isn’t unique,” Rossetti said. He said the experience made him more sympathetic to others in the district who have economic challenges.