The two candidates for 5th Legislative District Representative, Position 1, agreed on several points when they met at the Snoqualmie Valley Chamber of Commerce’s second candidate forum last Wednesday. Both the incumbent Jay Rodne (R) and challenger Jason Ritchie (D) concurred, to varying degrees, that small businesses need state regulation reforms, that school districts need the local control that local levy authority gives them, that the state’s Growth Management Act is outdated, and that a state income tax is not a good solution.
Where they disagreed — mainly on a proposed statewide increase in the minimum wage and a $54 billion Sound Transit 3 levy, both on the November ballot – they took entirely different approaches.
“I’m a vehement opponent of ST3,” said Rodne. “This is the largest municipal tax increase in the history of the United States… The average homeowner in the Sound Transit taxing district, their property taxes will go up $1,000 a year, and that’s not even including the sales tax and all of the other use fees… and by ST3’s projection it will only increase ridership 1 percent in 25 years.
“This needs to be put down in November by the voters and never surface again, because it is a horrible idea.”
He added that the system would be obsolete before it’s built and “it’s 19th century technology to deal with the 21st century problem of congestion, which makes no sense.”
Instead, he said he supported bus rapid transit, which he said would be adaptable to changes in demographics and housing patterns. “Bus rapid transit is the way to go.”
Ritchie said he, like Rodne, wanted to see more park-and-rides in the area, to get people out of their cars and onto buses or yes, light rail.
“If you give people transportation options, businesses would reimburse them for using those transportation options… If you have transportation options businesses tend to invest in those transportation options to get folks out of their cars.
“I support ST3 because it provides an alternative. Do I like the price tag? No, that’s part of the negotiation. I think we need to find a way to get transportation options that include high speed bus routes, but we need to make those capital investments now.”
He then listed several large cities that had a form of light rail, saying, “If we have something like that in our communities, we are going to grow and prosper. Our businesses are going to grow and prosper, and that’s the kind of investment we need.”
On the question of a minimum wage increase, Ritchie was in favor, not of Seattle’s $15 per hour minimum wage, but of I-1433, proposing to increase the minimum wage statewide to $13.50 per hour in increments over several years.
It’s important he said, in his work as a construction manager adapting homes for people who have handicaps, because it’s important to the people he works with.
They don’t deal with stock splits or dividends, he said. “What they deal with are hourly rates, hourly jobs, project jobs, and those folks don’t have a champion…in Olympia. Just trying to be able to afford to buy a house on an hourly salary around here is darn near impossible.
“I do support the minimum wage, I think it makes sense.”
Rodne said “I think a minimum wage that is tied to the cost of living is appropriate,” adding that the concept of a minimum wage “was never designed as a living, sustainable wage. It was designed to get people into the work force where they can, through their own initiative and motivation, acquire the skills and experience they need to move up the economic ladder.”
“Neutral economists,” he said, have found that Seattle’s $15 minimum wage, approved by voters in 2014, “is hurting job growth, it’s hurting the exact segment of the community, low-skilled, entry-level workers, it’s hurting that job sector, so it’s reducing employment…. We don’t need to replicate that throughout the state. Tying it to inflation is appropriate.”
The two also fielded questions from moderator and Valley Record Publisher William Shaw on how they would respond to industry incentive proposals. Ritchie said yes, if they would create more living wage jobs and Rodne defended his vote for the state’s controversial 2013 subsidy package for Boeing’s 777 construction.
Asked about what it means to “fully fund education,” Rodne noted that in the past two budget cycles, education funding has increased without a tax increase, and that the McCleary decision, a 2012 state Supreme Court ruling that the legislature was failing to fund basic education, called for both revenue and reforms. He said he would not support any additional education funding, unless it was accompanied by reforms, specifically, making teacher promotions dependent on merit.
Ritchie said the state needed to find new revenue sources to meet the needs, although he added that he did not support an income tax or increasing a tax burden on the middle class. He wanted teachers to have a seat at the table when the definition of the term was settled, because, he said, both sides will have to give something up.
On the transportation package passed by the legislature last year, which allocated about $150 million to safety improvements on the I-90 interchange with S.R. 18 near Snoqualmie and increased the state gas tax by 12 cents per gallon, Ritchie said “It makes sense, but it was negotiated really poorly.”
He criticized how little of the funding was going to improving safety projects in the 5th District, calling it a “missed opportunity.”
Rodne, who voted for the package, compared the gas tax to a user fee. “I had no problem supporting that package and I bucked my party on that… because of what it brought to my district.”
The two agreed again that the most critical issue facing the state is education funding, and both promised to be good listeners, if elected.
“My values are your values,” Rodne told the audience. “I pride myself on my integrity and my handshake is my bond. I don’t pretend to have all the answers, but I will listen.”
Ritchie said “I will listen. If you’re not listening in this position, I don’t think you’re doing a very good job.
The general election is Nov. 8. Ballots will be mailed to all King County voters starting Oct. 19.
