More on John W. Aiken

Mr. Aiken is employed with the Field Construction Engineering Division for the City of Spokane and is a Public Works Lead Inspector for municipal and private construction projects for the past eighteen years. He has experience in surveying, material and testing specifications analysis, drafting and designing, as well as construction inspection management from simple to complex civil engineering projects. In his lifetime he has overseen almost a thousand projects approaching a cumulative value of a quarter-billion dollars and has many certificates of training to compliment his knowledge in his fields of expertise. He is a member of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), a division of the AFL-CIO, which incorporates Council 2 of Local 270. AFSCME is the largest union in the nation. He has served as shop steward for ten years and has successfully resolved many employee grievances, as well as winning a case against the City of Spokane at a Civil Service Commission hearing.

Mr. Aiken has extensive knowledge and experiences in corporate law, the securities and exchange act, and industrial toxicology for environmental concerns and legal action. He has owned and operated several small businesses as a sole proprietor and in limited partnerships. He also has personally filed incorporation papers and has served as a corporate director and officer for several processing and mining corporations in Washington and Idaho. He has been involved with every aspect for the development of a mining and processing company from its exploration, mapping, obtaining mineral rights, ore sampling, assaying, drilling programs, writing financial and technical, environmental impact statements, and grants along with obtaining and soliciting sub-contracts to extract, process, and transport materials and ores. He has also represented his companies to federal, state, and local governments for permits and licenses and with other interested corporations for the purpose of sales, mergers and acquisitions of mineral products.

Mr. Aiken has been active in the National Republican Party for over a decade, as a supporter and concerned citizen-lobbyist. He is a life member of the Republican National Committee. In 2006 he was nominated by President Bush, Vice-President Cheney and RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman for life membership and was voted unanimously by all Republican Congressional members to be included with the other 27,000 Republican members of this status in the nation. Since 1998 he has been a member of the National Republican Congressional Committee and has served in their Business Advisory Council and Physician Advisory Council, which in 2002 he was awarded their Republican Gold Medal by Chairman Congressman Tom Davis and again in 2003 by Majority Whip Tom DeLay. In 2003 he also was awarded their Businessman of the Year award by Chairman Congressman Tom Reynolds, and recently awarded their Congressional Order of Merit in 2007 by Chairman Congressman Tom Cole. He also has been nominated in 2007 to serve as a Delegate for Washington State and to become a member of the Republican House Majority Trust. Since 2002 he has been a member of the National Republican Senatorial Committee serving in their Inner Circle and Republican Presidential Task Force, where in 2004 Chairman Senator George Allen awarded him their Medal of Freedom, in 2006 Chairwoman Senator Elizabeth Dole awarded him their American Spirit Medal, and in 2007 he received it again from Chairman Senator John Ensign. He was among one hundred honorees in Washington State to receive their 2005 25th Anniversary Commission and also in 2006 their Commission recognition award by Chairwoman Senator Elizabeth Dole, and received the same recognition award again in 2007 by Chairman Senator John Ensign. Mr. Aiken has also been active with former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich's American Solutions, Senator Trent Lott‘s New Republican Majority Fund, and former Senator Bill Frist‘s VOLPAC organization. He recently was awarded VOLPAC's 2008 Republican of the Year for Washington State and listed with other honorees in US Today.

Mr. Aiken is also a life member of the National Rifle Association and a member of their Golden Eagles, NRA-ILA, and NRA-PVF group. In 2002 he was awarded their Defender of the Constitution Award by Wayne LaPiere and James Baker and in 2004 their National Patriot’s Medal by Chris Cox. He is a member of numerous Christian grassroots and conservative political organizations. He is a Vietnam Era veteran and is a member of the American Legion. His family has served in every war since the Revolutionary War and his nephew continues that tradition by currently serving in the US Army at Fort Lewis, WA. He is also an Eagle Scout with gold palm and holder of their God and Country medal.

Mr. Aiken has lived in Washington State since 1967 when his father was stationed at Fairchild AFB. His father served in WWII, Korea, and in Vietnam where on his fifth tour of duty he met his untimely demise leaving his mother, a 1945 Nagasaki atom bomb survivor, to raise him and his younger brother. They both graduated from Medical Lake High School and were on the varsity wrestling team while their mother received a college degree and went into business for herself. Upon graduation he received a Congressional appointment to attend the USAF Academy Preparatory School from former Speaker of the House Thomas Foley, where he was a member of their elite Red Squadron, but due to the high level of competitiveness he did not graduate. He went to Eastern Washington University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology and is a Master’s of Science in Geology candidate. He would later also receive a Bachelors of Education degree in Earth Science for secondary education.