This might seem like a hard choice. Six people and a Republican are running to replace Mary Lou Dickerson, who is retiring at the end of the year, and all six of those people have very, very similar positions (they like gays, pot, transit, women’s choice, funding education, creating jobs, etc.). But which one of them can capably turn those positions into effective policy? Noel Frame.
She’s zeroed in on the number-one issue our legislature needs to prioritize: fixing our state’s tax structure. In January, the state supreme court ruled that we’re failing our constitutional duty to fund K–12 education, which will cost an additional $1 billion to $3 billion a year, and we’ll have to solve that problem by 2018. That future budget shortfall will come on top of previous shortfalls that have already gutted college funding and social programs critical to ensuring that poor kids get a fair shot. And for the f****** record, it’s not that the state has a spending problem, we just have a tax structure that falls disproportionately on the poor (relying heavily on sales tax instead of income tax) and simply can’t meet the demands of our growing, aging, and schooling populations.
“I want to lead a statewide conversation about an income tax,” Frame unabashedly said at a League of Women Voters forum on July 12. “I think it’s time, and we have a window of opportunity because of the supreme court ruling.” She also points out that investing in schools creates jobs—in the short term and long term.
Yes, every one of the other people in the race (Gael Tarleton, Sahar Fathi, Brett Phillips, and the rest) supports education funding and tax reform, too, but none is tackling this issue so aggressively. As the Washington State director of Progressive Majority, which recruits progressive candidates for office, Frame is already a movement-builder. We believe that Frame can combine forces with tax-finance gurus (like Sarajane Siegfriedt, who we endorse in the 46th District) to develop strong policy and leverage pressure on the legislature to pass it. We want to see her in Olympia. See: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/vote-or-well-kill-you/Content?oid=14208972