By The Herald Editorial Board
Continuing the editorial board’s endorsements for the Nov. 5 general election:
38th LD, House, Pos. 2
The 38th Legislative District encompasses all of Everett and much of Marysville and Tulalip.
The race for the second of two House seats pits first-term Rep. Mary Fosse, D-Everett, against Republican challenger Marnie Claywell, an Everett resident since 1998.
Claywell is semi-retired with professional experience in finance. She volunteers through her church and has previously worked with a nonprofit that houses developmentally disabled adults.
Claywell said her chief concerns as a legislator would focus on issues of cost of living for goods, services, housing and transportation; lowering state taxes; poor scores in K-12 standardized tests and the quality of school curricula; and public safety.
“I bring love, kindness, compassion and a strong work work ethic, a collaborative spirit and an ability to work with my colleagues to produce results,” Claywell said in an interview.
Regarding lowering costs for state residents, Claywell said she supports removing red tape on home construction and remodeling, lowering taxes, and eliminating restrictions on choices for home heating. As well she supports Initiative 2117, which would invalidate the state’s Climate Commitment Act and its carbon credit market that some believe has increased energy costs. Claywell had no immediate suggestions for revenue sources that could replace taxes and the CCA for transportation needs.
She notes that the state’s teachers are some of the highest-paid in the nation, yet academic results are “horrific.” She wants to see accountability for educators and an investigation and review of curricula.
To increase staffing among police departments and sheriff offices, Claywell said she supports state and local governments offering more hiring incentives. She also supports encouragement of neighborhood associations’ use of watch groups.
Fosse, formerly a small business owner in Everett, with past work at the local and legislative level, also serves on the Everett City Council, with past efforts with the Delta Neighborhood Association, the effort to establish districts for the city council and as a volunteer teacher at the Denney Juvenile Justice Center.
Fosse’s first two years in the House were productive; of 14 bills for which she was the primary sponsor, five of them passed House and Senate and were signed into law. With a focus on workforce issues as vice chair of the labor committee, one of her bills was legislation that established an oversight committee to improve the pathways to trades apprenticeships for incarcerated individuals, an effort she launched after visiting the Monroe reformatory and learning its trades program had not been in operation for years. Fosse sees such programs as crucial to reducing recidivism and improving lives.
Another bill, which garnered 62 bipartisan co-sponsors, and unanimously passed the House, waives the work requirement for a child care program for those participating in state-registered apprenticeships and expanded access to the child care tax credit for those workers.
“In diversifying the trades, child care was a barrier; extending that for their first year of apprenticeships helps them ease into those careers,” Fosse said in an interview.
Yet such access provides only half the solution, she said, noting that more child care providers are necessary to meet workers’ and employers’ needs, advocating for federal support of child care.
Regarding housing affordability, Fosse said legislators should again address the high costs of rent in the state but find a solution that respects the concerns of “mom and pop” landlords.
Fosse also wants to see health care costs addressed further. While federal legislation was adopted to end “surprise billing,” Fosse noted a personal experience that left her with unexpected costs when her family went to an in-network emergency room, but only an out-of-network provider was available to see her child, which she didn’t learn until receiving the bill.
Asked about her dual roles at the Everett City Council and as a state lawmaker, Fosse echoed others in similar situations locally, answering that she’s been able to handle the workload and believes that each position helps inform the other.
In her first term, Fosse has proved herself as an accomplished and effective lawmaker who can advance legislation among both parties and both chambers. She does so with an eye toward the range of needs of constituents in her district and the state.
In recent years, Everett and Snohomish County have produced some of the Legislature’s most effective leaders. F
Fosse’s efforts conitinue that legacy. Voters should return her for a second term.
38th LD House, Pos. 1
Prior to the August primary election, the editorial board endorsed Rep. Julio Cortes, D-Everett.
44th LD, House, Pos. 2
The 44th Legislative District’s base includes Mill Creek and Snohomish as well as North Creek, Maltby, Clearview and Cathcart as well as the region between Echo Lake Road and High Bridge Road.
Rep. April Berg, D-Mill Creek is seeking re-election to a third two-year term. Previously she has served on school boards for Everett and Edmonds school districts, and also served on the Mill Creek planning commission. She has worked for local tech companies and Boeing.
She is challenged by Bothell Republican Sam Sim, who has professional experience in digital marketing and advertising, has started several businesses and currently runs a software company. A 20-year resident of Bothell, Sim emigrated from South Korea as a child. Sim, noting his love of country as an immigrant, said he is running for office out of a desire to serve, work that continues from service in his church and among the Korea community in the region.
Sim said he identifies closely with traditional GOP values, including personal liberties, strong national defense, reduced government and limited taxes.
“I truly desire to be a cause for more balance, locally and in our state,” he said in a joint interview.
Sim, citing his entrepreneurial background, said he would approach issues before the Legislature from a performance-based perspective, judging programs and efforts by goals and measurements, auditing performance and allocating revenue based on that data, setting regular reviews to judge effectiveness.
Applying such metrics to K-12 education, Sim noted the lackluster test scores in many schools as well as what he feels is an exodus of families from public schools. Sim noted legislation, sponsored by Republicans that would have placed more tutors and para-educators in schools. The bill got no further than a first reading.
Sim said he would look for ways to increase parental participation in schools, including by increasing availability of foreign language translators for immigrant communities. He also would like to see more partnerships between school districts and private tutoring groups.
Sim noted the Democratic leadership’s lack of action on a Republican-sponsored bill that would have reduced the state’s portion of the sales tax and dedicated a portion of sales tax revenue to performance audits.
Noting concerns for public safety, Sim said he would support bonuses and other hiring incentives for law enforcement, but again would seek ways to measure the effectiveness of hiring efforts as well as the performance of law enforcement.
Berg in her two terms has quickly risen to a key leadership position. As well as serving on local government and appropriations committees, she is chair of the House finance committee, the first Black fiscal chair in the state’s history, and in that role serves on the state’s economic and revenue forecast council and on the joint legislative audit committee. As well, she serves as co-chair of the budget and revenue committee for the National Council of State Legislatures, which reviews common concerns among states’ lawmakers.
Berg’s work on fiscal concerns has, she said, prepared her for expected discussions over a review of the Legislature past reforms to K-12 school funding, including a new look at the funding model based on a “prototypical school” that was set as part of the McCleary reforms seven years ago. When you take that model and apply it to 295 districts, large and small, noting several districts that are struggling, “it simply doesn’t work,” she said.
“We really do need to start thinking about a McCleary 2.0,” she said.
At the same time, Berg is concerned what passage of Initiative 2109, which would repeal the capital gains tax on the state’s most wealthy individuals could do to early childhood and K-12 education. She has confidence voters will reject the ballot measure, but says passage would result in significant and severe cuts to the education system.
Like Fosse, Berg has seen legislative success, winning passage of four bills of the 14 for which she was prime sponsor in the last two sessions. But also notable are works in progress that Berg has pursued to provide a residential property tax exemption for primary residences to reduce the tax burden on homeowners and provide a credit to renters.
Among Snohomish County’s legislative leaders, Berg is a skilled and productive lawmaker who approaches issues with reason and consideration.
Voters should eagerly return her for a third term.
44th LD House, Pos. 1
Rep. Brandy Donaghy, D-Everett is running unopposed for reelection.
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