Rick Larsen earns re-election
Published 6:36 pm Saturday, September 6, 2014
Rep. Rick Larsen has been a conscientious, problem-solving lawmaker. Like former Rep. Norm Dicks, Larsen concentrates on long-term goals that demand years of brain-numbing hearings, sweat equity and coalition building. It’s tedious work, as unglamorous as it is exhausting. It also defines what public service — especially in the era of Congressional gridlock — needs to be.
The Herald Editorial Board recommends Larsen’s reelection.
Larsen has been a tireless advocate of the Export Import Bank, the 80-year institution that benefits small and medium-sized exporters (along with big dogs such as Boeing) and doesn’t whack taxpayers. Like everything except grandmother-related resolutions, the bank has become a political football and may fall away.
Larsen, a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, also exhibits farsighted leadership on the challenge of crude-by-rail and unsafe DOT-111 tank cars. There’s warranted concern with the transport of highly flammable Bakken crude oil from North Dakota through Washington.
Real-time information about routes and shipments is the best method to hasten emergency response and preparedness in the event of a catastrophic derailment. Larsen also supports lowering the too-high, one-million gallon threshold for notifying states about oil trains lumbering through.
Larsen, seeking an 8th term, works at a fascinating juncture in Northwest politics. He infuriated Boeing Machinists by recommending a yes vote on the second take-it-or-else contract. But he’s aligned with organized labor on the Gateway Pacific coal export facility at Cherry Point, alienating environmentalists and residents from Edmonds to Bellingham. It’s an old-school conundrum: Can the public sector stimulate job growth? Whatcom County needs a boost, but it’s also home to a population skeptical of 18 more trains a day and a 19th century development model. On coal trains, Larsen is wrong. He’s prudent, however, advancing freight mobility and targeted transportation funding. Ignoring infrastructure, Larsen warns, blunts economic growth.
Another hat tip to Larsen’s leadership on the Congressional Arctic Working Group, teaming with Alaska Republican Don Young, to explore long-term governance and resource questions.
Larsen’s Republican opponent, BJ Guillot, is a centrist Republican and coal train skeptic with a promising future in politics, presupposing his party has room for free thinkers. We hope Guillot remains involved and develops a solid record of community service.
Re-elect Rick Larsen.
