Faces Around Campus: Tyler Smith, political activist and campaigner
Constantine is also a longtime friend of Smith's family.
"I've known Dow for all my life. He's actually known me longer than I've known him since I was an infant at the time. He is a family friend," he said.
"He's been in elected office since I was six years old. I've seen his career advance at the same time I've grown up. I deeply respect his commitment to social justice and the environment."
He said that he thinks his experience with Dow did help get the internship with the campaign.
"I worked with Dow on a number of issues through the party. He knew me and I knew him," Smith said.
"I still submitted a formal application, I still met with his staff. They probably had to be brought on board."
"I think that my experience with Dow especially helped," he said.
"I don't mean to say getting the internship was easy because of that. I don't think my relationship with Dow was that close but he was aware of my work and I was aware of his, so it worked out."
The biggest issue in the campaign, in which Constantine ran against Susan Hutchinson, a Republican, was how King County would adapt to the recession.
"The biggest issue is probably something that no one here would be concerned about and that is the state of the county budget, balancing the county budget during an economic downturn." Smith said.
"But there are broader issues at stake too and that is how do we deal with an economic downturn, what are the trade-offs we need to make to deal with that. That's something we're dealing with at all levels of government throughout the country. How do we preserve human services or do we preserve human services in an economic downturn?" he asked.
Smith believes that many students at Hopkins are uninterested in politics, or apathetic. "I think the political life of a university is shaped by the interests of the people involved," Smith said.
"If you have a group of students whose primary interest is entering graduate school or entering a particular career, here typically in medicine or some type of research or engineering."
"I've known Dow for all my life. He's actually known me longer than I've known him since I was an infant at the time. He is a family friend," he said.
"He's been in elected office since I was six years old. I've seen his career advance at the same time I've grown up. I deeply respect his commitment to social justice and the environment."
He said that he thinks his experience with Dow did help get the internship with the campaign.
"I worked with Dow on a number of issues through the party. He knew me and I knew him," Smith said.
"I still submitted a formal application, I still met with his staff. They probably had to be brought on board."
"I think that my experience with Dow especially helped," he said.
"I don't mean to say getting the internship was easy because of that. I don't think my relationship with Dow was that close but he was aware of my work and I was aware of his, so it worked out."
The biggest issue in the campaign, in which Constantine ran against Susan Hutchinson, a Republican, was how King County would adapt to the recession.
"The biggest issue is probably something that no one here would be concerned about and that is the state of the county budget, balancing the county budget during an economic downturn." Smith said.
"But there are broader issues at stake too and that is how do we deal with an economic downturn, what are the trade-offs we need to make to deal with that. That's something we're dealing with at all levels of government throughout the country. How do we preserve human services or do we preserve human services in an economic downturn?" he asked.
Smith believes that many students at Hopkins are uninterested in politics, or apathetic. "I think the political life of a university is shaped by the interests of the people involved," Smith said.
"If you have a group of students whose primary interest is entering graduate school or entering a particular career, here typically in medicine or some type of research or engineering."
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