Connie and I served on the Lakewood Sister Cities Association Board of Directors together. I found Connie to be very committed to her position. She was very supportive of hosting students from Okinawa, Japan, who became Lakewood’s first sister city, in the school district. This led to her greater interest in providing opportunities for Clover Park School District students to experience a student exchange in Okinawa. Connie traveled to Okinawa City with Claudia Thomas, Deputy Mayor at the time, representatives from Pierce and Clover Park Technical colleges, and a representative from the Chamber of Commerce, as well as other members of the board to begin conversations about economic development in Lakewood and broader student exchanges. Connie was involved in all spectrums of discussions with Okinawa City Mayor and his staff, business owners, and the School Board. She brought her experiences back to the school district to lay the groundwork for our students to participate in an exchange with Okinawa City. She continued to participate as a board member in economic development conversations with Lakewood’s economic development manager. Through Connie’s efforts eight of our middle school students were able to travel to Okinawa City for ten days. The citizens of Lakewood should look at the candidates for Position 2 and see that Connie is their best choice. She knows Lakewood and its issues and she is willing to work with other Council members to get things done. Lakewood needs a hard working council member who will listen to all of Lakewood, study the issues at hand and make the right decisions for this community. Join me in voting for Connie Coleman Lacadie on November 3rd.
Lua Pritchard
Chair of the Pierce County Asian Pacific Island Coalition
President of the Asia Pacific Cultural Center headquarters in Pierce County
Lakewood