During his seven years representing Shoreline and North Seattle, state Sen. Jesse Salomon, a Democrat, has sought to improve public safety, refine faulty juvenile justice laws and make government more transparent.
Many of his positions buck party orthodoxy, and that independence is a major reason The Times editorial board endorsed Salomon during the primaries, recommending voters return him to Olympia for another term.
Now comes an additional thumb on the scale: Salomon’s opponent, the longtime Rep. Cindy Ryu, supports changing the threshold for Washington’s new income tax. In a recent debate, she advocated lowering the 9.9% charge on households with paychecks above $1 million to one that would tap earnings over $250,000 (albeit at a lower rate).
Gov. Bob Ferguson has vowed to veto any such adjustment to the so-called “millionaires tax” — which is already facing a repeal at the ballot box — so Ryu’s position may be only symbolic. But that kind of bait-and-switch is exactly what has sowed distrust of the Legislature among much of the electorate.
Ryu touts expertise in fiscal matters through her work on the Legislature’s many “money committees,” as she puts it, including Finance and Appropriations. But with the state in a multibillion-dollar budget hole that was years in the making, Ryu’s work on state finances is not necessarily something to herald.
In addition, where Salomon is a fierce supporter of open government — even proposing a constitutional amendment that would make lawmakers’ written correspondence available for anyone to see — Ryu is the legislator who most often claims a right to shield her communications. (Sadly, Salomon’s bill did not advance.)
His experience before becoming a lawmaker is also worth noting. An attorney, Salomon spent years working on family law and dependency cases, which is valuable expertise as the Legislature confronts an avalanche of legal settlements stemming primarily from the state’s child welfare system.
For all these reasons — his real-world experience, willingness to be scrutinized and efforts to close loopholes in faulty legislation — The Times recommends Salomon for state Senate.
