Randy Revelle
Politician · Advocate
Randy Revelle was a Seattle politician who served on the Seattle City Council and as King County Executive from 1981 to 1985. After his political career, he became a prominent advocate for health-care reform and greater insurance coverage for mental-health treatment. [1]
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Career and work
Revelle was elected to the Seattle City Council in 1973 and served two terms, working on public safety, health, utilities, and energy policy. In 1981, he was elected King County Executive. During his four-year term, his administration completed a county comprehensive plan, expanded farmland preservation, created Cougar Mountain Wilderness Park, increased highway funding, and made changes to mental-health care at Harborview Medical Center. [1]
After leaving elected office, Revelle focused much of his career on health-care policy. He led Washington state health-care reform bodies in the early 1990s, later joined the Washington State Hospital Association, and helped lead a long campaign for mental-health insurance parity that resulted in legislation signed into law in 2005. [1]
What has been publicly discussed
“It took me two months to get over my mental illness, and it took four years to get over the stigma.”
— Randy Revelle [4]
