Effective legislating is about more than listening to various stakeholders, making decisions and taking votes. The most effective lawmakers also lead. They come up with new approaches to old problems, and inspire others to support new solutions they never knew were possible.
The Legislature is in desperate need of elected officials with such qualities.
In the 38th District, which includes most of Everett and Marysville and the Tulalip Reservation, this year’s Senate race includes a first-time candidate, Democrat Nick Harper, with the potential to be that kind of legislator. We endorse him over the incumbent, fellow Democrat Jean Berkey, and conservative Rod Rieger.
Harper is just 31 years old, but has made a name for himself as Snohomish County conservation director of the Cascade Land Conservancy, one of the most innovative environmental nonprofits around. He earned a law degree from Seattle University, and previously served as legislative director for the Snohomish County-Camano Island Association of Realtors.
The Cascade Land Conservancy’s core belief is that “a broad coalition can achieve fundamental change.” It has a 20-year record of bringing land-owners, environmentalists, governments and private enterprise together, using market forces to protect precious rural landscapes and invest in vibrant cities.
Harper had a hand in one of the organization’s biggest recent successes, in Index. The CLC worked with local residents, Snohomish County, a timber company and a generous donor to purchase and save Heybrook Ridge, a 130-acre forested area that could have been clear-cut. Such innovative public-private partnerships could go a long way toward reducing spending in Olympia without compromising vital services.
Berkey has hardly been ineffective. She joined with fellow moderate Democrats last year to provide leverage that may have kept tax increases lower than they otherwise would have been. As chair of the Financial Institutions, Housing &Insurance Committee, she says she makes sure all sides get a fair hearing before decisions are made. She works hard.
Our endorsement of Harper isn’t a rebuke of Berkey; it’s a recommendation of a candidate with the set of skills and talent to accomplish more.
Rieger is a business owner and deeply principled conservative, so much so that he didn’t choose to run under the Republican label. (He’s running officially as a “conservative.”) Much of what he says rings true intuitively — unions hold too much political sway in Olympia (he’s a union member himself), unconventional approaches are needed to improve the education system, over-regulation is limiting small-business growth — but he’s short on realistic solutions.
Harper is supported by a coalition of labor, environmentalists and other progressives that plans to target Berkey with tens of thousands of dollars in independent expenditures. That raises an obvious concern that Harper would be beholden to such interests as a senator, and vote as they dictate.
His answer: Look at my record of collaboration and forging partnerships. He vows that if elected, he’d be an independent thinker. He’ll have to show that, of course. We’d like to see him get the chance.
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