Jeff Scherrer said he started his own computer reselling business with $1,000 and built it into an enterprise that seven years later was making $5 million in annual sales and had 17 employees.
Scherrer said he thinks that business background, as well as living in the Puget Sound region for more than 50 years, have been good preparation for what he hopes will be his next challenge, serving in the Legislature.
Scherrer, a Republican, is opposed by Lillian Ortiz-Self, a Democrat who was appointed in January to the 21st District House seat. She took over from State Rep. Marko Liias, who was appointed to replace State Sen. Paull Shin, who left office in January for health reasons.
Ortiz-Self said she thinks her experience as a middle-school counselor gives her valuable insight that will shape her positions as she votes on issues in Olympia.
Both candidates say that finding ways to put additional money in public education, as required by a state Supreme Court decision, will be one of the most important issues facing lawmakers during the upcoming session.
“It’s got to be job one,” Scherrer said. “Education is very important to job creation. When we’re educating our young people, we’re educating our future workers.”
Scherrer said he hasn’t yet seen a good estimate of how much money it will take to fulfill the court’s requirement to adequately fund public education. “I’ve seen $2 billion and I’ve seen $3 billion,” he said. “How much money do we really need to respond to the Supreme Court mandate?”
Limited sources of additional income would have to come either from taxpayers or cuts in state services, he said.
Scherrer said he would have to carefully weigh the alternatives for funding public education but is leaning against any sort of tax increase. “The best way to raise revenue, instead of imposing a new tax, is having a strong economy,” he said.
Ortiz-Self said she would look for budget efficiencies and examine current tax loopholes. “We only have so many choices to raise revenues, but we have a lot of tax loopholes we’ve given out,” she said. Lawmakers have to see “if we’re getting the benefits we want,” she said.
If those steps don’t provide enough money, Ortiz-Self said, she doesn’t support an increase in the state sales tax. A tax on bottled water might be part of the answer to raising state revenue “that won’t have a harmful effect on our families,” she said.
Ortiz-Self said she’s able to continue to work as a school counselor by taking a leave of absence from that job during the legislative session. Through her work in the schools, she said, she’s seen students whose families are homeless, or whose parents have lost jobs, and students who don’t have enough to eat. Those experiences have demonstrated the importance of balancing the needs to fully fund public education while not “stripping away the safety net our children need,” Ortiz-Self said.
Scherrer said he wants the government to help people who need to be helped. “My opponent wants to protect the safety net, which I fear would increase more dependency on the government,” he said.
Scherrer said he worries that the message coming from Olympia is that the state is not business friendly. Talk of having a $15 minimum wage could lead small business owners to “go into protection mode and tend not to hire,” he said.
“When the government sends the message that we’re not very job-friendly, we need to change that,” he said. “I think that would go a long way toward solving a lot of people’s problems.”
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.
The candidates
Name: Jeff Scherrer
Age: 60
Party: Republican
Experience: Owns rental properties and hosts students who attend Edmonds Community College.
Website: Jeff4State.com
Name: Lillian Ortiz-Self
Age: 54
Party: Democratic
Experience: School counselor at North and Gateway middle schools in the Everett School District.
Website: electlillian.com
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