By The Herald Editorial Board
While the election is still about two months away, ballots are scheduled to be mailed Oct. 17 to Washington voters, meaning it’s time to start considering your options for the full list of local, state and federal candidates and ballot measures.
Starting today with the 12th Legislative District, the editorial board offers readers its recommendations as one resource to aid in making those decisions. In the coming days and weeks, we’ll follow with endorsements in races for the state Legislature, statewide offices, Congress and local and statewide ballot issues.
Redistricting after the 2020 census brought the 12th District into Snohomish County, and those boundaries again changed slightly this year following a court case.
Those changes prompted a shift among the three incumbent Republicans in the district: Sen. Brad Hawkins, R-East Wenatchee, and Reps. Keith Goehner, R-Dryden, and Mike Steele, R-Chelan. Hawkins, because of the boundary change, decided not to seek reelection and instead is running for the Chelan County Commission. Steele is seeking a fifth term for the district’s Position 2 House seat, while Goehner vacates his Position 1 seat to run for Senate. Prior to the primary, the editorial board endorsed Democrat Heather Koellen, a North Bend nurse, for the Position 1 House seat.
Senate
Goehner, who has served in the House since 2019, served as ranking member of its Local Government Committee, and had previously served 16 years on the Chelan County Commission and as a school board member for his local school board. He owns and manages a 100-acre pear orchard and has previously worked as an elementary school teacher.
He is challenged by Jim Mayhew, a Snoqualmie Democrat, who served on Snoqualmie’s city council for six years until 2023. Mayhew has a 30-year career in business finance, including time with an accounting firm and as chief financial officer with a multinational company. As it did for Goehner, the district’s boundary change prompted his run for office. Previously, he lived in the 5th Legislative District, which currently is represented by three Democrats.
“I woke up one morning in April, and I was represented by three Republicans,” he said. While Mayhew says he finds some agreement with Goehner on certain issues, there are a fair number of things on which he disagrees, “so that’s why I’m running.”
Mayhew said he was most concerned for issues of affordability for families, communities and local governments. In particular, he noted the inability of many school districts in the region who have been unable to pass school construction bonds, which require a 60 percent supermajority of voters to win approval. Mayhew said he supports an effort to approve those bonds on a majority vote.
Regarding access to abortion and reproductive rights Mayhew said he supports an amendment to the state’s constitution to protect those rights. With Democratic control of the House and Senate, a change in current state law is unlikely, but that right can’t be left to which party controls the Legislature. As well he supports a shield law in the state that would protect the anonymity of women who come here for those services from states where the practice is banned.
Goehner opposes a constitutional amendment to protect abortion access, noting that law already is in place and isn’t threatened. He said he does believe more discussion is necessary around some related issues, especially around parental notification of a minor child’s pregnancy.
With both candidates having experience in local government, there is shared concern for the state’s unfunded mandates and an imbalance in revenue and expenses for local and county governments, but differences on solutions.
Mayhew noted expectations related to the Growth Management Act, staffing of local law enforcement, courts and more, yet local revenues are capped at 1 percent increases of the property tax. Mayhew is in favor of allowing local governments to increase those taxes at a rate closer to the inflation rate.
Goehner says the state does need to be more responsive toward local government needs, but because that 1 percent limit was set by citizen initiative he hesitates to support changing a cap that still allows local governments to ask voters for increases of more than 1 percent.
While both men expressed partisan positions on issues, both also come from nonpartisan roles in local government, showing an understanding for working on issues from that cooperative perspective. And both expressed frustration at the lack of adequate funding for the operation and maintenance of roads, bridges and other transportation needs by the Legislature. As Mayhew noted, “potholes aren’t partisan.”
With Goehner and Mayhew closely matched in past experience, temperament and desire to serve their communities and the state, Goehner has an edge based on his record from three prior terms in the House and the respect he’s earned there as ample preparation for the Senate post. Goehner merits the support of district voters.
House, Position 2
Seeking a fifth term in the House, Mike Steele, is chief financial officer for his family’s apple and cherry orchard business. Previously he served as an intern for the second Bush administration, worked for House Republicans in the Legislature, served two terms on the Chelan City Council and has worked as executive director of the Chelan Chamber for 20 years.
He is challenged by Daniel Scott, a Cashmere Republican, who was born in Everett and raised in Chelan County. Scott has a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and is employed by Chelan PUD as a transmission and distribution engineer. He has served one term on the Cashmere City Council. Scott said he intends to focus on education, public safety (including substance abuse and behavioral health) and jobs as a state lawmaker.
As with the Senate candidates in the district, Scott and Steele’s local government experience provides an understanding of their budget constraints. Yet, neither saw enough reason to change the current limit. Steele said there wasn’t an appetite to consider a 3 percent increase for county governments, and Scott said he thought it best to leave that decision to local taxpayers and voters.
School district funding is a concern for both.
Scott, whose wife works in early childhood education with the Cashmere School District, noted a continuing problem in funding for rural and other districts with lower property tax bases. Cashmere, he said, has a good record of passing levies and bonds, but other districts are struggling and will need the attention of the Legislature in the next session.
Steele, who has served all four terms on the education committee, said he met with school superintendents in his district to get their perspective. This year, he said, adjustments were made to the per-student funding provided districts, stressing those funds couldn’t be used to increase teacher salaries, but he said lawmakers may consider another boost next session. Additionally, Steele said, the Legislature’s reforms and formulas for the McCleary lawsuit also need to be reviewed, with an eye toward disparities among districts.
Steele, who serves as deputy leader for the House Republicans and as assistant ranking member on the capital budget committee, said he hopes to continue a focus on community needs throughout the state for behavioral health and drug treatment facilities, noting the recent opening of a substance use disorder clinic in Wenatchee.
Even for a largely rural district, the 12th, Scott noted, faces affordable housing pressures similar to more urban areas of the state. Scott said the best way to address the issue is to increase the supply of housing by easing restrictions on property and permitting. But, he said, the state has to create conditions where businesses can better provide well-paid jobs that can afford available housing.
Housing issues are likely to be addressed again next session, but Steele pointed to work this year to address affordability. One bill signed into law this year for which he was the prime sponsor with Rep. Carolyn Eslick, R-Sultan, reformed a low-income home rehabilitation loan program into a grant program and forgave outstanding loan balances for previous applicants. The bill earned unanimous support in the House and near-unanimous passage in the Senate.
Both men spoke to commitments to working across the aisle, but Steele, in four terms can point to its practice.
Steele’s leadership position with House Republicans demonstrates the respect he’s earned there. Voters should return Steele to the House for a fifth term.
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