A Mill Creek city councilman and an Everett high school teacher are engaged in a high-stakes contest for an open seat in the state House of Representatives.
Republican Mark Harmsworth, the councilman, and Democrat Mike Wilson, the instructor, are competing to succeed Mike Hope, who chose not to seek re-election and then resigned in July.
The winner in the Nov. 4 election will serve a two-year term representing residents of the 44th Legislative District that includes Mill Creek, Lake Stevens and Snohomish.
Both political parties consider it an important race. Republicans want to hold onto the seat they won in a brutal battle in 2008, when Hope ousted Democratic Rep. Liz Loomis.
In all, $730,000 was spent on behalf of the two candidates and a recount was required. The candidates continually lobbed accusations at one another while independent political committees supporting them sent out reams of hit pieces.
This year’s contest is quieter and cheaper, so far.
Harmsworth and Wilson seem focused on their own messages rather than each other’s. And both are getting financial help from their respective parties.
Harmsworth, who won the primary by 868 votes, had raised $138,294 as of Oct. 9. That total included $78,500 from the political operation of the House Republican Caucus.
Wilson reported $152,105 in contributions, of which roughly $71,000 came from the political arm of the House Democratic Caucus and other party operations in the district and the state.
Also, in the past week, the Washington Education Association entered the race by sending out mailers in support of Wilson, who is one of their longtime union members.
Harmsworth was elected to the Mill Creek City Council in 2007 and re-elected in 2011. This will be his second try for the Legislature. He lost in 2012 to state Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish.
Harmsworth, 45, and his wife are natives of England. They moved to Washington in 1995 and became citizens about a decade later, he said.
He is a director with Blueprint Consulting Services in Bellevue and formerly worked for Amazon and Microsoft Corp. He said he will use what he’s learned in the tech sector to devise fresh approaches to wasteful spending in state government and freeing money for education and other public services.
“I think residents want to see great schools, they want to have good roads, they want to feel safe in their homes and they want to see their money spent wisely,” he said. “I believe I have the background in the private and public sector to help achieve that through the process.”
Wilson, 57, is making his first run for elected office. A native of Selah, he’s spent his career working in Snohomish County public schools, the past 20 years teaching government and U.S. history at Cascade High School. He’s also coached football and wrestling.
He said his experience in the classroom and as a negotiator for the local teachers union will help him find solutions for funding schools and improving transportation in the difficult give-and-take of the legislative process.
“I really want to do what’s right for our kids, what’s right for our schools and what’s right for our businesses,” he said. “This is a practical application of my knowledge.”
The biggest challenge in 2015 is meeting the order of the state Supreme Court to fully fund public schools, as required by the state constitution.
Harmsworth supports creation of a separate budget for education and funding it first with available revenue. Then decisions can be made on the rest of the state budget, he said. He opposes cuts to social services.
Wilson said he’s open to eliminating some tax breaks to generate money. He’d also consider new tax proposals to ensure social service programs aren’t reduced to divert dollars to public schools.
Both see a need for a transportation funding package, though neither specifically endorsed a big hike in the gas tax to cover the costs. Wilson said he backed unspecified user fees and didn’t rule out an increase in the gas tax. Harmsworth said that if a gas tax is included, he wants the proposal to go to voters.
The two candidates agreed that Initiative 1351 to reduce class sizes by 2018 will be costly to carry out. For Harmsworth, it is too expensive, and he’s opposing it.
Wilson said he will support it. If it passes, he thinks lawmakers will need to rewrite it to give the state more time to carry it out.
“We need to reduce class sizes. We need to find funds,” he said. “I am a little bit leery of our ability to pay for it.”
On the dueling gun measures, Initiatives 594 and 591, there’s a clear difference between the candidates.
Wilson, who said he is a gun owner and member of the NRA, is leaning toward opposing both. He said he wants to see more regulation of private sales of guns, but the background check measure, I-594, seems to go too far.
Harmsworth said he will support the gun-rights measure, I-591, because he “can’t see any down side to it.” As for I-594, he said it creates a potential for criminalizing actions of law-abiding citizens with its rules on loaning weapons to others.
Ballots will be mailed Thursday for the Nov. 4 election.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
The candidates
The job is a two-year term as a state representative in the 44th Legislative District in Snohomish County. The district includes the cities of Lake Stevens, Snohomish and Mill Creek and part of Marysville. The annual salary is $42,106.
Mark Harmsworth
Party: Republican
Age: 45
Residence: Mill Creek
Experience: Mill Creek Councilman, 2007-present; director, Blueprint Consulting Services
Website: www.markharmsworth.com
Mike Wilson
Party: Democrat
Age: 57
Residence: Everett
Experience: High school teacher and coach, Everett School District
Website: www.wilsonforhouse.org
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