DeHart, Griffey answer questions

James DeHart

1. What are your top legislative priorities?

My three priorities are:

1. Healthcare and Reproductive care: I am an official sponsor of I-1471 which will usher in universal healthcare. This initiative will ensure that no washingtonian walks away from a doctor’s visit with a bill and will help all people requiring medical attention to receive it regardless of insurability, income level or minority demographic. I also support enshrining safe and legal reproductive health services in a constitutional amendment to protect the right to choose.

2. Infrastructure: We need not only to fix our infrastructure to include roads, bridges, broadband and transportation but we need to do it in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way. This way we are upgrading our infrastructure in ways that we will not need to fix or replace it as often as we do with work that is done to a bare minimum. This will save us money, time and constant detours around construction zones.

3. Education: Our rural schools are far behind those of their urban counterparts and it is about time that we do what OSPI Reykdall has stated, which is to send the timber dollars to our rural schools as was originally intended. Our buildings need to be updated and our lesson plans brought to current levels. We also need to up teacher salaries so they are not having to spend their own income on supplies needed for the classroom. For far too long, we have kept teachers at poverty level wages and it is high time we pay them what they deserve.

2. Why are you running for this position?

I am running to help improve the lives of the people. Through universal healthcare, infrastructure funding and education reform, we can make the rural counties as good if not better than our urban counterparts.  

3. How do you plan to work with Republicans?

I will work with anyone on common sense solutions to our state’s complex problems.  We all live and work in this district and there are more issues that unite us than divide us. 

4. What do you think is Mason County’s biggest challenge to solve and how would you solve it?

Our constituents deserve to live safe, healthy lives free from worrying that getting sick could have the unfortunate side effect of bankruptcy. I will work to bring universal healthcare to everyone in the state. This of course includes access to safe and legal reproductive health services. 

5. Homelessness is a big topic in the county. Please outline how you plan to address it.

I believe that having a residence that one can sleep, eat and live in is a must for every human. This is why I will work to sponsor small house villages, homeless shelters and find grant money to help local charities that help the homeless. I will also work to find ways to fund community mental health services as well as addiction treatment services.

Question from Dan Griffey

GRIFFEY: With the recent passage of laws limiting our Law Enforcement’s ability to keep our citizens safe and respond to emergencies, do you support the 2nd amendment in its entirety?

DEHART: For the first part of the question, a lot of the laws implemented in 2021 were either fixed or repealed to give law enforcement more freedom to keep people safe including reinstating some rules for pursuits. For the second part of the question, I believe that the people have the right to own a weapon however, I do believe in the “Well Regulated” part of the amendment and would move to ban the sale of weapons of war such as AK-47’s, accessories such as bumpstocks and the illegal creation of traceless ghost guns. I also would disagree with the idea that our teachers should be armed within our schools. 

Dan Griffey

1. What are your top legislative priorities?

We need to hold criminals accountable. The new police reforms passed by the legislature and signed by the Governor, not only ignored crime but encouraged it. We did not fix the most critical issues in the last legislative session, one of those being police pursuit. There is no victimless crime. We cannot standby and allow our community to be ransacked. Most of these crimes are repeated by the same individuals over and over and have become a way of life. Some crimes are committed by those who need mental health intervention. We would be remiss if we did not include this when addressing the crisis.

The cost of living is exceedingly high. We are set to increase the minimum wage, but it is not keeping up with inflation. Our retired citizens need an increase to their income as well. When we have had years of record surplus, we spent nearly every penny and started new programs. This was irresponsible. Our citizens deserve better and should not be overtaxed and have the rainy-day fund depleted. We are going to need it.

Education has suffered. Our students are not meeting the challenges and have had continuous disruption to their education in their most formative years. We need to put them first and get them up to speed. Now is not a time to introduce additional programs but to ensure our students are ready to meet the challenges of the future by comprehending the basics. I disagree with policies that limit parental notification and seek to fully include parents in their children’s lives from education to healthcare.

2. Why are you running for this position?

I love the people in my district. I see and hear their needs and I work hard to bring solutions. I listen to them, and I bring their perspective to the negotiating table. I do not see legislation as black or white, right, or wrong but as a voice that needs to be heard. We work best when everyone is represented. I am honored to serve in this roll, and I hope you reelect me to work for you.

3. How do you plan to work with Democrats?

I have always worked with democrats. From passing the bill to end the Statute of Limitations on felony sex crimes to bringing democrat colleagues to our district to look at our solutions. When we hit a wall in helping my daughter through a mental health emergency, I enlisted the help of a Democrat colleague in Olympia.

Rep. Davis came to Mason County, and we looked at the programs to help those in crisis, as the issues we face are not unique to Mason County alone but are felt throughout the state. I am sad to report that we uncovered more obstacles than paths. We are teaming up to identify where and how we can improve. I often bring my urban colleagues to our area to point out where we are succeeding too. Working together brings about better solutions for everyone.

4. What do you think is Mason County’s biggest challenge to solve and how would you solve it?

Public Safety is a critical issue that was undermined and not prioritized as it should have been. Not only are we not allowing our police to pursue suspects in most cases unless they have witnessed the crime, but we have also put our first responders in the line of fire on many calls that law enforcement at one time provided security for. People on their worst day do not typically have the capacity to make rational decisions. As a firefighter I have had death threats and had weapons pulled on me. Law enforcement saved my life and those I was treating on countless occasions. Without them actively engaged we are in greater danger; emboldening criminals, while putting the public at unnecessary risk. This also exacerbates the challenges we have in stabilizing the economy. Small business owners (in many cases) are not turning damages in to their insurance company because their rates will increase, and those costs must be absorbed or passed on. They worry over their employee’s safety when outside the building and at times inside as well. It is common to witness thefts occur right in front of store employees as the thief loads up a waiting car and drives away. This is unacceptable. I addressed this with a bill the last few sessions that nearly passed in committee. Unfortunately, we need more people in Olympia that agree that lawbreakers should be stopped, and citizens daily activities protected. The rising costs are felt by all including those that can least afford it.

5. Homelessness is a big topic in the county. Please outline how you plan to address it.

This is a personal question to me. As many know my daughter has severe mental health issues and is currently choosing to live homeless. I have visited nearly every homeless camp in Mason County searching for her. Once we connected, her sisters and I were able to convince her to seek help with our support. This was short lived as she was released (after spending days in a hospital hallway) when she identified that she could locate food, shelter, and a shower. She is choosing this lifestyle to deal with her schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder. She is afraid to be committed even though stabilizing her would change her world and get her onto the road to recovery. Our entire family is supportive of her and will do whatever we can to help her. We feel at peace the times we know she is in jail or involuntarily committed because we know, for the moment- she is safe. The options that many believe are there to help those in crisis are not. This is our story and there are people suffering with different circumstances. We need to triage those that need help into categories that specifically address their needs. This issue is a top priority to me. Not just for our daughter but for all of those caught in the trap of addiction or life circumstances where our safety net was ineffective. The people I met were caring and needed a hand up not a handout. Empowering people to take back their lives is essential and should not be optional. It is not enough to feel sorry for people on their last rung, sometimes it requires intervention. Enabling people to die so we don’t have to make tough calls is wrong.

Question from James DeHart

DEHART: What would you do to ensure that the right to reproductive health is solidified in law and, if the Republican party is in charge of the legislature, would you vote no on repealing safe and legal abortion services for the people of the State of Washington?

GRIFFEY: I voted to extend access to contraception without an additional visit to the doctor. Something men never have to consider. I have supported every avenue to reduce the need for abortions. This is something I think we can all get behind as no woman has this procedure because it is something that they enjoy doing. We should be compassionate and understand the tough spot they were in and do everything we can to give them options before this last resort.

I wrote the Bill to end the statute of limitations on felony sex crimes (including rape) with a goal to get the monsters off the street. This is not just an issue for women but men as well. Those that commit these heinous crimes have many victims and the effects of this crime can last a lifetime. The tougher we are on crime the less likely we are to see it spreading.

As far as making permanent laws, that requires amending the Washington State Constitution. I do not see that occurring with either party at the helm since it will take a 2/3 majority to do this. Any new laws need to pass both chambers and must be signed by the Governor. He has stated that he has no intention of signing bills that limit existing laws on abortion.

We need to focus on solutions that we can accomplish. My goal is to support all those in need of healthcare and see to it that nobody is left behind due to inaccessibility or inability to pay. With the increased costs of travel and goods we need to be mindful that this creates tough choices and can be a barrier to quality healthcare and lifesaving medication or procedures. To address this, I would like to use our multi-Billion dollar surpluses for tax relief and send it back to our citizens during this tough economic time.