We endorse: In Tacoma, five steady leaders best bet for Legislature in unsteady times
Little by little, Tacoma has built up so much clout in the Washington Legislature, voters would do well not to take it for granted. As Joni Mitchell once sang on your FM radio: “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone.”
Lawmakers from Tacoma have climbed the leadership ladder on transportation, human services and consumer protection. A Tacoman this year became Speaker of the House for the first time since 1994. A local legislator also serves as deputy floor leader.
Because they’re good at what they do and local influence can be fleeting, we recommend reelection of all five Tacoma Democratic incumbents on the Nov. 3 ballot: Sen. Jeannie Darneille, and Reps. Laurie Jinkins, Jake Fey, Steve Kirby and Melanie Morgan.
It’s unfortunate that none faces real competition. Most of the opponents are campaign-trail phantoms. All but one either declined or didn’t respond to our interview request — a non-negotiable term for us to consider endorsement.
That’s unhealthy for democracy, and local Republicans must do a better job developing serious candidates.
Running for her third term in the 27th District Senate seat, Darneille stands out for her passion on human services issues. The retired nonprofit leader is driven by a heart for at-risk youth; she sponsored a new law that phases out court orders that detain juveniles for noncriminal behavior.
Darneille, 72, wants to end racial disproportionality in criminal justice, eliminate poverty and protect Tacoma area institutions — an ambitious but laudable mission statement.
Republican Kyle Paskewitz is trying again after a failed bid for House in 2018. His website describes him as a US Army Ranger veteran, champion of parental custody rights and operations manager at a family security business.
He can’t measure up to Darneille’s two decades of legislative service, which includes writing budgets on the powerful Ways & Means Committee. With Washington facing a multi-billion dollar revenue crunch caused by the economic shutdown, her experience from the last recession will be crucial.
The same goes for Jinkins, who holds House Position 1 and arrived in Olympia for the recession mopup 10 years ago. Also beneficial is her background as a Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department manager. There’s nothing like a pandemic to put a reliable public health system into perspective.
Jinkins, 56, is a calm leader in a storm; she excelled as Judiciary Committee chair before being handed the Speaker gavel this year. She’s the first woman and openly gay legislator to fill the No. 1 job in the House. She earned it through hard work, savvy negotiating skills and bold initiatives, such as a new employee-funded trust account for long-term care.
With COVID headwinds raging and bad Boeing news mounting, Jinkins told us she’s determined to “minimize harm to vulnerable populations and working families” — a formidable challenge for which she’s well suited.
Her challenger is Ryan Talen, a Democrat with no visible campaign presence. He told us in an email that he filed to run so he could write a voter’s pamphlet statement.
For House Position 2, Fey should be reelected to a fifth term. The former Tacoma City Council member has carved a behind-the-scenes niche as chair of the House Transportation Committee. He’s nailed down big projects for Pierce County, such as accelerating completion of State Route 167 connector to the Port of Tacoma.
Fey, 71, led a bipartisan rebalance of the transportation budget this year without counting on car tab fees, which are now tied up in Supreme Court review of Initiative 976. More hard decisions will be needed in the face of COVID challenges and steadily sliding gas tax revenues.
Fey knows his lane and stays in it; he doesn’t pretend to be an expert on health care or other non-transportation issues. Tacoma is well served having him in Olympia.
Challenger Barry Knowles is an anti-tax independent who lost two prior bids for the House in King County.
Further south in the 29th Legislative District, Rep. Steve Kirby draws from a well of institutional knowledge as deep as nearly anyone in the House. Everything about this lunchbucket Democrat and 20-year House veteran says “stability,” including that he’s lived in the same South Tacoma home for 40-plus years.
As long-time chair of the Consumer Protection and Business Committee, Kirby, 68, is poised to shape important COVID-19 policy; expect to find him at the forefront of landlord-tenant issues, trying to prevent a wave of evictions.
Peel back Kirby’s folksy sense of humor and voters will find a serious champion for working-class neighborhoods in South Tacoma and parts of Lakewood, Parkland and Spanaway.
Republican Terry Harder keeps running for legislative office every few years with no success. We commend his perseverance, and for meeting with us, but his anti-tax platform would slash revenue on which so many needy households in the 29th depend.
For House Position 2, Rep. Melanie Morgan made a splash in her first term and is more than ready for a second. A no-nonsense advocate for racial justice, Morgan was a lead sponsor this year for a new office of State Equity, though Gov. Jay Inslee later gutted the funding as part of $445 million in pandemic budget cuts.
Morgan, 52, fought successfully for a hairstyle discrimination bill. She fell a little short on a proposal pitched by local fourth-graders to name an official state dinosaur. Whatever she’s working on, the Army veteran tackles it with intensity.
The majority caucus must have big plans for Morgan or they wouldn’t have given the freshman a seat at the leadership table. She was named deputy floor leader, helping manage the flow of bills and speechmaking on the House floor -- another sign that women and people of color are “busting up those glass ceilings,” she told us.
Morgan’s Republican challenger is Koshin Fidaar. He’s a former US Army combat engineer and led a nonprofit that supports African immigrants and refugees, according to his website. It sounds like life-changing work, though not a natural stepping stone to the Washington Legislature.
ABOUT OUR ENDORSEMENTS
The News Tribune Editorial Board interviewed candidates and did other research before making our picks for the 2020 election. Endorsements are intended to promote civic discourse and encourage voters to dig deeper. Board members who sat in on legislative endorsement sessions include: Stephanie Pedersen, TNT president and publisher; Matt Misterek, editorial page editor; Karen Irwin, editorial writer; Matt Driscoll, local news columnist; and Pamela Transue, community representative and former president of Tacoma Community College.
This story was originally published October 3, 2020 at 7:30 AM.