2 Democrats hope to retain seats in House

Two Democratic state representatives in the 44th Legislative District are taking on their Republican challengers in the Nov. 7 general election.

For Position 1, Mike Hope, a Lake Stevens Republican, is trying to unseat incumbent Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish.

“This is just a rerun,” said Dunshee, who defeated Hope in the 2004 election.

Hope, 31, a Seattle police detective, said he started ringing doorbells in January and he has gained more name recognition since 2004.

Hope said he wants to bring in money for traffic improvements, and he supports smaller class sizes for children. He also says he thinks the state needs to control the rapid increase of property taxes.

“I’d like a cap for senior citizens” on fixed incomes, he said.

Dunshee, 52, said one of his major goals is to bring a four-year university to Snohomish County. He’s running for his seventh two-year term, he said.

“If we are going to get a university, it’s going to take someone with experience and skills,” he said.

Dunshee, chairman of the House Capital Budget Committee, said he has helped to secure money to improve roads, especially Highway 9.

Hope countered by saying that people have waited too long for Dunshee to improve traffic and education.

Dunshee said he opposes the proposed expansion of Harvey Field just south of Snohomish.

The expansion will harm the area’s agriculture and worsen flooding around the airport, which is in a flood plain, he said.

Hope said he hasn’t decided his stance on the expansion proposal. The airport is a private, family-owned business.

In the race for Position 2, Republican challenger Robert Legg said he didn’t know his opponent’s name until early this year.

“A lot of people don’t know who John Lovick is,” said Legg, who calls himself a “reluctant candidate.”

Not knowing Lovick’s name is a sign that the incumbent has done little for the people of the district, Legg said.

Legg, a Methodist pastor with 28 years of service in the U.S. Air Force under his belt, said he’s fed up with lots of talk but little change for residents who live east of the Snohomish River.

Legg says he thinks state transportation officials should expand Highway 9. He also points to a Web site, www.truthabouttraffic.org, that he says offers answers for the region’s traffic woes. The site was created by Bellevue developer Kemper Freeman.

“Right now, at best, we have a shotgun approach to fixing our transportation,” Legg said. “We have all our eggs in the basket of mass transit, but even our buses need to have roads adequately prepared.”

Massive transportation improvements don’t require new taxes, Legg said.

“The natural growth of our region brings in tax dollars,” he said. “It’s creating a tax base that provides an increase of millions of dollars every year. You don’t have to keep taxing people.”

Lovick, an eight-year veteran and current Speaker Pro Tem of the Legislature, argues that he’s perhaps the most involved representative in Olympia.

In January, he wore a Global Positioning System ankle bracelet for 18 days to test the device’s effectiveness. Sex offenders in the state will wear the bracelets as a result of a bill he sponsored earlier this year.

“Legislators should have an idea of things they’re proposing,” he said.

Lovick was a state trooper for 31 years. If he returns to Olympia, he plans to address a common headache for law enforcement officials: auto theft.

He’ll call it the Washington Auto Theft Prevention Authority, and it would fight car theft with, among other tactics, devices that monitor license plates as vehicles travel beneath overpasses.

“(People) are ready for us to do something, and to take some bold steps,” Lovick said.

Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.

Representative, Pos. 1

HANS DUNSHEE

Age: 52

Party: Democrat

Residence: Snohomish

Occupation: Full-time legislator

MIKE HOPE

Age: 31

Party: Republican

Residence: Lake Stevens