State House candidates Peterson, McPheeters far apart on issues

Allen McPheeters is a senior consultant for a firm that makes business software for law firms.

Strom Peterson owns a deli and wine bar in downtown Edmonds.

Although they both are involved with running businesses, the two men competing for a 21st District state House seat have clear disagreements on issues such as the minimum wage and taxes. The district includes Mukilteo and parts of Lynnwood, Edmonds, and Everett.

Peterson favors an increase in the minimum wage. If someone making $9.32 an hour got a $1-an-hour raise, he said, “the money they get they’ll put back into the economy.”

McPheeters disagrees, saying an increase in the minimum wage could cause some business to cut hours and jobs. “If we push one family into poverty because of an action that government took” to increase the minimum wage, “if someone I met fell victim to that, I would be ashamed and embarrassed,” McPheeters said.

“I would leave it alone,” McPheeters said. “It’s scheduled to go up every year to adjust for inflation. That’s probably all I would do with it.”

Peterson beat out three other Democrats vying for the seat formerly held by retiring Democratic state Rep. Mary Helen Roberts.

McPheeters, the Republican district chairman the 21st Legislative District, said he decided to run because he saw four Democrats file for the primary. “I wanted to make sure voters had a conservative choice, as well,” he said.

McPheeters said he thinks that the Democrats in Olympia aren’t listening enough to the public. Four years ago, voters in the district voted against imposing a state income tax by 63 percent, he said.

Imposition of a state income tax is one idea that’s been floated to help increase funding for public education.

In September, the state Supreme Court found the Legislature in contempt for violating an order to produce a detailed plan for funding basic education for Washington public school students.

The state constitution is very clear on the importance of funding public education — it’s the paramount duty of state, McPheeters said. “We’ve got a total budget of $80 billion for the biennium,” he said. “You’d think we could find enough money to fund the schools.”

Peterson, who serves on the Edmonds City Council, said he’s been impressed with the number of people who have asked him about instituting a state income tax as one solution. He said he’s concerned with the regressiveness of the sales tax — meaning that although the amount of the tax is the same for everyone, it takes a bigger percentage of income of low-income households. But Peterson said he doesn’t think there will be push to adopt an state income tax any time soon.

Some smaller tax increases could be considered, but only a big change, such as major prison reform, could create significant amounts of money for the state to use for other purposes, Peterson said.

With the district including two major ferry hubs, in Mukilteo and Edmonds, transportation funding is a concern to many voters.

Fares nearly cover the costs of running the Edmonds-Kingston ferry, but they only cover 39 percent of the costs of the Port Townsend-Coupeville route, McPheeters said. “That doesn’t make sense to me. Why aren’t we charging people what it costs? We should be trying to recover those operating costs and plug that hole in funding,” he said.

Peterson said the ferries play a key role in the state transportation system, and some of the state’s taxes goes to support it. “It’s crucial to get people back and forth to work. We can’t get it all back in the fare box,” he said.

The candidates

Name: Allen McPheeters

Party: Republican

Age: 47

Experience: Chairman, 21st Legislative District Republicans; board member of homeowners association.

Website: allenmcpheeters.com

Name: Strom Peterson

Party: Democratic

Age: 46

Experience: Edmonds City Council member; past president, Downtown Edmonds Merchant Association; owner of The Cheesemonger’s Table in Edmonds.

Website: www.votestrom.com

Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486 or salyer@heraldnet.com.