21st District candidates emphasize support for education

Published 2:30 pm Wednesday, July 13, 2016

By Evan Smith

Incumbent 21st District State Rep. Lillian Ortiz-Self and opponents Bruce Guthrie and Mohammed Riaz Khan recently sent statements about what they think are the most important issues in this year’s election, with all emphasizing state support for public schools. Challenger Jeff Scherrer has not responded to requests for a statement.

Democrat Ortiz-Self, Republican Scherrer, Libertarian Guthrie, and independent candidate Kahn will run on the Aug. 2 primary ballot, with the two leaders in the primary advancing to the November general-election ballot, regardless of party.

The 21st Legislative District includes most of Edmonds, unincorporated areas north of Edmonds and Lynnwood and northeast of Lynnwood, all of Mukilteo and part of south Everett.

Here are issue statements from the four candidates in the order their names will appear on the primary ballot and in the voters’ pamphlet:

Legislative District 21, State Representative Pos. 2, 2-year term

Mohammed Riaz Khan (States No Party Preference) —

The District 21 population is growing rapidly; that is estimated to continue over the next 10 years. Due to the reputation of the schools, many families are moving into the 21st District. As a member of the budget committee for the Mukilteo School District, I have been and always will be a strong supporter of education and safety. My priorities are to make sure that our schools are fully funded, including child-welfare reform, and that class sizes are reduced and employ more teachers. I strongly support a comprehensive mental-health-care system. I also care for seniors, vets, small business and transportation infrastructure.

Bruce Guthrie (Prefers Libertarian Party) —

Sound Transit is proposing to spend almost $2 Billion to extend light rail from Northgate to Lynnwood. I propose deleting this wasteful project and instead building an extra general-purpose lane in each direction on I-405 from Lynnwood to Bellevue, and similar lanes on I-5 from Lynnwood to Seattle. My project would cost 1/7 as much, move three times the commuters, provide four times the mileage, and be done in 1/3 the time.

I support charter schools and cutting middle management in regular K-12 schools, while adding teachers. I strongly oppose all tax increases, especially a state income tax.

Jeff Scherrer (Prefers Republican Party) — No response to requests for a statement.

Lillian Ortiz-Self (Prefers Democratic Party) —

My priority continues to be to fully fund education, while establishing policies that address the district needs while addressing the issues of the whole child. This includes: emotional and social support, health care, mental health, and housing.

Secondly, continual job growth is always a priority. I fought for a transportation package that brought hundreds of jobs to Snohomish County and want to assist in the changes and implementation of that plan. I continue to fight for incentives to address job shortage areas, workers rights, and supporting small businesses. This must be done while protecting our most vulnerable.

Evan Smith can be reached at schsmith@frontier.com.