It may only be February, but a member of the Issaquah City Council is already aiming for Olympia in this November’s election.

Bill Ramos, who has sat on the council for two years, is running for 5th Legislative District representative, and challenging incumbent Jay Rodne (R-Snoqualmie).

“There’s been a lot of long-term problems [in the 5th District] and I can bring a fresh, new perspective,” Ramos said.

Ramos joked that the state Legislature would be “a little different” from the Issaquah City Council, but noted that he has a significant amount of governmental experience; he traveled up the chain of governmental bodies, beginning his political career on Issaquah’s Economic Vitality, Planning Policy and Human Services commissions.

For Ramos, post-McCleary education is one of the most important issues facing local residents.

“We need to get out from under McCleary and work for good long-term solutions that are not under a court order,” he said.

Additionally, Ramos is concerned about finding transportation solutions for the traffic-clogged region “so we’re not wasting our time in our cars and we can get back to our family and the things we enjoy.”

As both a current small business owner and a former employee of the federal government, Ramos said he “knows both sides of that equation.” He owns Issaquah-based transportation consulting firm The Common Good, and from 1996-2013 owned dance studio Dance All Night in North Bend, Snoqualmie and Preston.

On the governmental side, Ramos has worked with the U.S. Forest Service in North Bend, as well as with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration, through which he managed the Tribal Transit Program to bring better public transit to tribal lands in the Pacific Northwest.

In the week after Ramos announced his candidacy, he said he was publicly endorsed by King County Executive Dow Constantine, 5th District Sen. Mark Mullet (D-Issaquah), King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci, 41st District Rep. Tana Senn (D-Mercer Island) and former Issaquah Mayor Fred Butler.

For more information, visit http://voteramos.org.