Got your ballot(s) yet? King County Elections mailed them Wednesday. Ours arrived on Friday. (If you don’t get yours by tomorrow, call KCE at 206-296-VOTE.) Meantime, we have one more look at the marquee race on ballots in this area – the 34th District State Senate race to fill the seat from which Sen. Sharon Nelson is retiring.
(WSB photo: Chamber board chair Pete Spalding, candidates Joe Nguyen and Shannon Braddock, Chamber CEO Lynn Dennis)
The West Seattle Chamber of Commerce hosted the last scheduled WS forum with Joe Nguyen and Shannon Braddock on Thursday night at the DAV Hall in North Delridge. Here’s our unedited video:
The Chamber billed this as a “modified Lincoln-Douglas format.” No audience questions. We did take topline notes (not full transcriptions nor direct quotes outside of anything in quotation marks), if you don’t have time to watch:
After introductions, the first topic: “diversity of the 34th District vs. decisions made in Olympia.”
Nguyen opened by noting that the district’s geographic diversity makes it a challenge, but on the other hand, it’s a very liberal district. He observed that much of what’s called “progressive” is a matter, to him, of basic human rights. He thinks this district’s legislator can be bold and help show other legislators the importance of those rights.
In the format, Braddock then challenged him about his assertion that he would “name and shame” people who stood in the way of a capital-gains tax. He said he felt that he needed to boldly call out people opposing it because the unfairness of the current system helps many community members. While it wouldn’t be his “first course of action,” he said, being “nice” might not work.
Braddock then addressed the topic. She spoke to a diversity of issues she hears about and noted “they come up in different ways in different places.” On a topic such as transportation, for example, many in West Seattle are wondering about the light-rail plan, while on Vashon, ferries are the big topic. And there’s a “big variety” of people in this district. Staying connected to residents rather than just fellow policy-makers is vital, she said.
Nguyen asked her how she would ensure that people in the south end including those on public assistance – which his family had been on – would be engaged. Braddock said she would start by talking with the nonprofits helping those members of the community.
They had more time to address the topic, but didn’t use it. So it was on to second topic – taxation and income equality. Braddock said the current tax system is “appalling … not fair and not right.” She suggested several steps be taken, including a tax on the wealthiest “one to two percent” statewide. She suspects it will be a “heavy lift” to get support for it, so she proposed getting communities involved in a series of town halls, “engaging” and educating in public so that constituents are pressuring their legislators. She also foresaw five or six tax loopholes that could be addressed. She also thought B&O tax reform could be important and eventually an income tax but “I don’t think we have the trust of the public” so far to pursue that.
Nguyen noted that the capital-gains tax had long been proposed and blocked, so how could that be gotten around? Braddock said a “fear factor” is likely in play, with people fearing their “retirement is at risk” or money from the sale of their main residence. In the past, some had seen it as a lost cause but she feels they’re moving closer to a Senate that could make it happen. Nguyen said he’s found more people in support of an income tax than capital-gains tax, and what’s the deal with that – a problem educating people? Maybe, in other districts, Braddock said.
Taking on the topic, Nguyen again stressed that this area’s representative had the opportunity and obligation to be “bold.” And he too addressed the tax exemptions, making his oft-made point that those exemptions – unlike levies – don’t expire.
Which corporate tax exemptions would you close? Braddock asked him.
He said 22 were candidates for that, though he didn’t list them. After a followup question from Braddock about his stated desire to eliminate the B&O tax for some, he said he was mostly referring to mom=and-pop-type businesses.
This topic too ran short. Though the Chamber forum had been announced as focusing on business and transportation issues, the questions didn’t cleave to those topics. Issue #3 was homelessness. Nguyen opened, saying that the different types of homelessness needed to be treated differently. Preventing homelessness, preserving affordable housing, intervening in domestic violence – a top cause of family homelessness, he has said – are all important.
Braddock said there are “complex reasons” for the homelessness crisis. At the state level, the document-recording fee – currently set to sunset next year – needs to continue. Working with case workers and finding out what people need to not lose their homes can be an important state task too. Finding ways “to impact (people) positively so they will not fall into homelessness.”
Nguyen asked on followup how to be sure nonprofits’ lobbyists would have louder voices than other. Braddock said it’s up to the legislators to be sure they’re meeting with those people but also noted that some nonprofits don’t have lobbyists so staying in touch with folks in the district is vital.
Last topic: “Tell us about your prospects to pass initiatives and legislate.” Braddock said she’s seen this from multiple perspectives – her work at the King County Council as well as her volunteer work for advocacy organizations. “A big part of it is having as many stakeholders at the table as you can, even the ones you don’t agree with all the time. … Understanding how to prioritize … and how you work with the stakeholders and other elected officials” also factors into it. She said she’s helped move legislation through the King County Council – which (though officially nonpartisan) has three Republicans and six Democrats.
What are the issues you are most passionate about? Nguyen asked her.
Women’s reproductive-health issues, “issues that impact our working families… LGBTQ issues … access to child care …” were what she listed.
Nguyen said more unites us than divides us, and he has discovered that after talking to “folks on both sides of the mountains.” Immigration is an issue that he says is important in Eastern Washington too because of immigrant agricultural labor. On gun issues, he said he went to gun ranges to see why people felt the way they did and to seek common ground, (“Training” is where he found the latter, he said.)
She asked him what he considers “negative” legislation from last year. The car-tab bill, he mentioned.
The forum wrapped at 8 pm after less than an hour. No fireworks, no sharp points of difference or criticism. Voting deadline is Tuesday, November 6th; West Seattle now has two official ballot dropboxes (High Point Library at 3411 SW Raymond and The Junction on south side of SW Alaska west of California SW), and ballots are now postage-paid if you use the US Postal Service, no stamp needed.
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