In many ways, what ails Olympia in this moment is not a partisan problem. Maintaining a state budget that is balanced — where outgoing expenditures match up with incoming revenues — is a basic obligation familiar to anyone who manages their household budget.
But the failure of majority legislative Democrats to achieve this most fundamental of tasks has put the state at great economic risk: drawing Washington’s rainy day reserves to the lowest level in the country and imperiling the state’s bond rating.
That was the motivating factor for independent candidate Michael Rosen to challenge an incumbent in the 41st Legislative District, which includes parts of Renton, Bellevue, Issaquah, Sammamish and Mercer Island. He understands the gravity of this fiscal cliff and is committed to restoring budget sustainability in Olympia. In the district’s Position 2 race — hands down — Rosen is the better choice.
Rosen is admittedly an unusual candidate, eschewing a party label to make his first run for the Legislature. A lawyer, investor and nutritionist, Rosen makes a solid case that the Legislature’s multiple years of unwise budgeting and billions of dollars in new taxes must stop.
“We need to do better with what we have, before we ask the taxpayer for a single cent more,” Rosen told the editorial board.
Calling himself a “pretty reliable” Democratic voter, he pairs his platform of fiscal accountability with progressive social values. That includes supporting the emissions-trading program known as the Climate Commitment Act, though he argues the landmark climate law’s proceeds need greater scrutiny to ensure they’ll actually achieve a clean energy future.
The incumbent Democrat, My-Linh Thai, is a former Bellevue School Board member and Vietnamese immigrant who was the Legislature’s first elected refugee. While she has used her position as a powerful voice for the vulnerable, her fiscal positions could be ruinous for the state’s economy.
In addition to her support for the new income tax on high earners, Thai said she wants to lower its threshold and broadly apply it beyond millionaires in exchange for reducing sales and property taxes. She would also pile on an unproven state wealth tax. The editorial board, while opposing the ballot repeal of the income tax, fundamentally disagrees with Thai that now is the time for a risky, full-tilt tax revolution.
Rosen’s lack of an official political party might make him a longshot candidate in the 41st District, but it shouldn’t. The Legislature should heed Rosen’s loud and clear message: A restoration of sound budget practices can wait no longer.
