of the 1990 Growth Management Act, as well as legislation to prevent oil spills in Puget Sound. He also fought successfully for smaller class sizes in public schools and adequate funding for K-12 education. King County Council After serving two terms in the legislature, Phillips won his seat on the Metropolitan King County Council to represent District Four. On the Council, Phillips has been a leader on such issues as, land use and water quality, salmon protection, parks and open space, fiscal management, transportation and clean energy, and jobs and the economy. In 2004, during his tenure as Council Chair, Phillips drew attention when he discovered that his absentee ballot had not been counted, along with 572 others, in the 2004 Washington gubernatorial election, which was decided by a margin of only 129 votes. As a result of his noticing the mistake, the ballots were counted, ultimately swinging the race in favor of Democratic candidate Christine Gregoire. As a founding member of Water Resource Inventory Area (WRIA) 8, Phillips helped coordinate a local response to the federal listing of Chinook salmon as endangered. Phillips has played a role in preserving over 165,000 acres of farm and forest land and salmon habitat as open space in King County during his time on the Council. As the Council's Budget Chair for three years during King County's budget crisis, Phillips presided over $170 million in cuts to stabilize the budget while protecting King County's AAA bond rating and prioritizing public safety, public health, and the human services safety net. Phillips was named the 2001 Public Official of the Year by the Municipal League of Seattle for his leadership in protecting and enhancing our quality of life through his work on land preservation and growth management in King County, and the 2010 Public Official of the Year by the 43rd District Democrats. In recent years, Phillips has turned his attention to transportation, clean energy, and jobs. As a Sound Transit Boardmember, he served as Chair of the Central Link Oversight Committee overseeing the on time, under budget construction of Link light rail from Downtown Seattle to Tukwila. Phillips also led successful efforts to pass a regional mass transit expansion package that includes building 36 additional miles of light rail throughout the region. In response to Metro Transit's budget shortfall, Phillips called for a performance audit that identified over $200 million of savings or additional