All three of our state legislators appeared at our meeting Saturday. They told us of some of the highlights of legislation that was passed. There will be more detailed presentations later on. Below is the link to a recording of most of our meeting; it starts about a half hour into the meeting and just before the legislators arrive. The main portion of interest would be from just after the start for about the first 45 minutes, as that is the time during which we had our state legislators presenting and answering questions. Especially important to us is that there will be four new ferries coming out of the transportation package to go along with the one that was already funded, so that’s five ferries total to be added. They are all hybrid diesel/electric, and we will get one of them. There will also be a huge recruitment effort to fill the ferry job openings. We can thank Senator Lovelett especially for advocating tirelessly for ferries.
The other very important thing our legislators spoke of today is the upcoming campaign. Debra Lekanoff, Alex Ramel, and Liz Lovelett are all wonderful legislators who advocate for all the things we want, and they are likely to be re-elected fairly easily. But they can only accomplish what they do if they have a solid Democratic majority in both houses of the legislature. To that end, a number of their Democratic colleagues have challenging races coming up this fall, and all three of our legislators want to do everything they can to assure re-election of their vulnerable colleagues. To that end, they are asking us to donate whatever we can to help in this manner. They know who needs the extra campaign boost, so they are asking us to donate to them, and they will redirect that money to their Democratic colleagues. Here are the links to use:
Rep. Debra Lekanoff – https://debralekanoff.com/donate/
Rep. Alex Ramel – https://www.alexramel.com/donate
Senator Liz Lovelett – https://secure.actblue.com/donate/liz-lovelett-for-state-senate-1
New Chair of the 40th Sharon Abreu spoke to us about the LD caucus on Saturday, March 26, at 10:00. This event will be used to elect delegates to the state convention that takes place June 24-26 in Tacoma. However, it will also be on Zoom, so you don’t have to travel to Tacoma to participate. Please think about running for delegate to attend the convention.
David Dehlendorf presented our budget for this year. Most of our spending will be focused on the fall election.
Amy Vira, who has been attending our meetings and who heads up our Facebook presence, spoke to us about the role of the prosecuting attorney. The PA prosecutes crimes, acts as the coroner, and gives civil advice. The latter included defending the county, doing the legal end of the county’s business, and advising elected officials and county departments. Her office takes a victim-focused approach. This was very educational, as the role of the PA is not widely understood. By the way, you may have heard that current PA Randy Gaylord is retiring, and Amy is running to take over upon his retirement.