Editorial: Looking past the presidency at the other Washington’s election

By The Herald Editorial Board

Meanwhile, in Washington state …

It’s not surprising that Tuesday night’s and Wednesday morning’s vote tally awarding the presidency to Republican Donald Trump held the monopoly on voters’ attention. The result was — is — engrossing to nearly all Americans who are either immensely satisfied or deeply disillusioned.

There will be plenty of time between now and Jan. 20 to dissect the results, speculate on the next four years and wonder if FiveThirtyEight’s Nate Silver might ditch political polling for a more predictable life as a sports bookie.

How candidates and issues fared at the state and county level deserves some attention, too.

While disruptive change apparently was many Americans’ desire for the White House, Washington state appears to have stuck with the status quo. Most incumbents, including Democrats Gov. Jay Inslee, U.S. Sen. Patty Murray and Congress members Rick Larsen and Suzan Delbene, along with Democratic and Republican members of the county’s legislative delegation were returned to office, most by comfortable margins. Even the election of new legislators held mostly along each district’s typical party preferences.

While both parties were hoping to gain majorities in both House and Senate, it appears that the House will retain its Democratic majority and the Senate will continue to be led by the Republican-controlled majority coalition. That result may actually serve the state best.

The Legislature, along with typically contentious debates over the operating and capital budgets next session, also are on the hook to make significant progress — if not fully resolve — a state Supreme Court mandate to amply fund K-12 education and end an over-reliance on local school levies to fund teacher salaries and other basic education needs.

That might have come quicker had one party or the other controlled both House and Senate, but a divided Legislature might lead to solutions that find better consensus between the parties and fairness and educational opportunity for all children.

Elsewhere on the ballot:

The approval of Proposition 1, the tax package for ST3, Sound Transit’s extension of light rail service to Everett, Tacoma and King County communities, was an encouraging sign that residents in Sound Transit’s taxing district understood the need to make a commitment to transportation and the economic future of their communities.

For Everett in particular, which isn’t likely to see light rail service to the manufacturing jobs near Paine Field or downtown Everett until 2036, the 52 percent approval in the county is a vote of confidence in the region’s continued importance as a leading center for aerospace, technology and manufacturing jobs in the state.

Initiative 1464, which was opposed by about 53 percent of voters statewide — a result we recommended — shouldn’t be the last word on the issues it presented. While we objected to the initiative’s creation of a taxpayer funded campaign financing system, it also contained measures regarding campaign finance and lobbying that deserve their own initiative or legislation.

For example, it would have required campaign ads and mailers to list their top five funding sources, and had one or more been a political action committee, it would have required the top five donors to the PAC to be named. Penalties would have been increased for campaign finance violations, with the revenue going to the underfunded state Public Disclosure Commission for its investigations of campaign finance complaints. And former state officials and employees would have been barred for three years from lobbying their former offices on any issues in which they played a decision-making role.

Initiative 732, which would have established a carbon tax and used that revenue to offset a 1 percentage point reduction in the state sales tax, also failed to pass, opposed by about 58 percent statewide. We opposed I-732 as well, on the grounds that we believe it threatened revenue stability for the state, but we are supportive of both of its goals of capping carbon emissions and reducing the state sales tax.

The vote against the initiative shouldn’t be read as lack of support for statewide solutions to limit carbon emissions and other causes of climate change, nor of the need for reform of the state’s tax system, the most regressive in the nation.

Initiative 1433, which raises the minimum wage and requires employers to provide paid sick leave, is expected to pass, now with about 59 percent approval. We opposed it, concerned that it fails to recognize the economic and cost-of-living differences among the state’s urban and rural areas, though we fully supported the paid sick leave provisions.

The Legislature is allowed to amend or even repeal initiatives after two years by a simple majority. Since the initiative phases in its eventual increase to $13.50 an hour by 2020, the Legislature has time after 2018 to consider wage rates that are based on regional differences, as Oregon’s recently passed minimum wage law provides.

Regardless of your opinion of the results of the presidential campaign, Washington state’s electorate has again demonstrated its history of informed and reasoned voting.