Thank you for tuning in to this 2022 primary election candidate forum for legislative District
22, Position 2. This forum is presented by the League of Women Voters of Thurston County
in collaboration with Thurston Community Media. The League of Women Voters is proud to be nonpartisan,
neither supporting nor opposing candidates or political parties at any level of government,
but always working on vital issues of concern to members and the public to defend our democracy
and empower voters. I am Donna Cobb of the League, and I will be moderating this forum.
The candidates are Jessica Bateman and Kate Plager. Kevin Young is also a candidate for
this position, but he did not respond to our invitation despite multiple requests. For this
forum, each candidate will have the opportunity to answer a series of questions, and the questions
will be alternated so that each has the chance to start first. Candidates, please
let me know if you want me to repeat the question. Each candidate will have one minute
to respond. The timer will show you a sign when you have 30 seconds left, and then show
you a stop sign when your time is up. If you don't notice the sign, I'll tell you when
your time is up. You will also have the opportunity to make a one-minute closing statement.
For the first question, I will begin with Jessica Bateman. What makes you the most
qualified candidate for this position? Thank you for that question. It's been
an honor to serve as State Representative for the last year and a half. Prior to serving
in the legislature, I served on the Olympia City Council from 2016 to 2020, both as a
City Council Member and as Deputy Mayor. During that time, I focused my work on increasing
our housing resources. The city worked very diligently to create unhoused resources
including a mitigation site. I led the campaign to pass a home fund, which is the first municipally
funded permanent supportive housing in South Puget Sound. We've since seen a real change
in how we address homelessness in the community. There's a lot more work to do, but it was
really important to get that started at the municipal level. One of the reasons
why I ran for the State Legislature in 2020 was because I wanted to take my experience
and expertise in housing and homelessness and work upstream on the actual solutions at
the state level because I had that experience working at the local level. I also served as
an Olympia Planning Commissioner before that. Thank you. Thank you.
Kate Plager. Can you repeat the question? Of course. Sorry. What makes you the most
qualified candidate for this position? Well, I feel like I've waited my whole life
to apply for a job like this. I'm retired and I have a background in clinical psychology,
social work from the University of Washington. I ran programs, I directed programs, I managed
programs in the nonprofit and profit sector during my career. I managed staff. I was
the manager of the behavior education department on a national level where I hired, supervised
and developed staff. I worked for performance-based contracts, which means you don't get paid unless
you do the job. I've had hands-on experience with all kinds of populations, including, of
course, marginalized populations. I wrote grants and managed grants. I have had my
pulse on the people for quite a while now in my retirement and I'm concerned about
my community. I started an organization last year called Council for Wise Leadership.
I wanted to bring together the community and have us discuss what's going on in our communities,
in our law enforcement, in our rising crime. Is it time? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thanks.
Okay. For the second question, I will begin with you, Kate Plager. What do you think
is the most important issue in your district that the state should address? Building
a strong economy? I think that what I've been hearing from people as I go out in Doorbell
and been meeting people for a long time, people are concerned about being able to afford
filling up their gas tank. They're concerned about public safety as well, with the rising
car thefts. Car thefts have increased 88 percent. Across the state of Washington,
there have been 12,596 cars stolen since the new laws took effect. People who are marginalized,
people who are senior citizens have had their cars stolen. They cannot replace them because
there's no more insurance left on it, so they're stuck. They have no way to get another
car. Their catalytic converters get stolen. They cannot afford to buy them. I'm concerned
about working people who are working very hard to feed their families and the criminals
seem to know what they can get away with, and so crime has increased not just in auto
thefts but everywhere else. Thank you. Jessica Bateman, what do you think
is the most important issue in your district that the state should address? The number
one issue that I feel my constituents communicating to me about is our lack of affordable housing.
In Washington state, we are behind by a quarter of a million homes. We simply are
not creating enough homes to keep up with our population and our job growth. We have
people that are moving here, people that are growing up here, needing places to live,
and we've been unable to build the housing that we need for those people. In Washington,
the way that we allow for new housing to be created is all designed and operated
at the local level. City councils make those decisions. I think that we should
be addressing it at the state level by allowing diverse housing options like
mother-in-law apartments so you can age in place so seniors can have an ADU on their
property and maybe rent that out as supplemental income as they age. Duplexes,
triplexes, these types of housing are more affordable than typical craftsmen, single
family homes. I'm hearing from seniors on fixed incomes because of the shortage
of housing and the increased rent costs that they're struggling to get by. Thank
you. Okay, and for the third question, I'll begin with you, Jessica Bateman.
Does the state require local jurisdictions to address climate change in their
Growth Management Act comprehensive plan updates? Climate change is going to impact
communities across Washington state. We see the evidence of climate change
already occurring with increased incidences of storms, wildfires in other
states, hurricanes, tornadoes. So it makes sense for us to ensure that our
local governments are planning for how they're going to reduce their greenhouse
gas emissions, how they're going to accommodate new housing and new
businesses in their communities, while also working to achieve reductions of
their carbon emissions. We had a bill, this legislative session, House Bill 1099
sponsored by Davina Dewar. I co-sponsored that bill. Unfortunately, we were not
able to get it through, but we will be bringing that back next year so that
we will require cities to update their comprehensive plans with climate
change. Thank you. Kate Plager, should the state require local jurisdictions to
address climate change in their Growth Management Act comprehensive plan
updates? This is a very important issue in terms of understanding what
contributes to pollution in our world today. I'm very concerned that we
already have systems in place. We have hydropower. As long as I'm not sure
about the local jurisdiction, I'm not that experienced, but I will say that
I would want to be included in understanding how hydropower is already
utilized in our state. I'm talking about the Four Snake River dams. They provide
jobs, they provide food, they provide water, irrigation, and also flood control.
There's also the Waste to Energy facility in Spokane, Washington that's
been there for many years. They provide electricity to over 13,000 homes. So I
have a different view on climate change and that's... Thank you. And now the fourth
question goes to Kate Plager. How important is it to you that the state
maintain a rainy day fund in its budget? Not being really familiar with all the
budget, all the money left in the budget. I was told in my research that
there's money that hasn't been spent on programs that should have been
spent on. It's accountability, a rainy day budget. I would hope that the
money would go for understanding how to support our already existing
systems for energy. I think that's what I would save money for. Thank you. Okay.
And Jessica Bateman? Having been a legislative assistant through our last
recession and seeing the impact of that recession on budget cuts and the
extreme measures that were taken to reduce state expenditures as a result
of those budget cuts, it has not lost on me how important that it is to
have an adequate rainy day fund. When I ran in 2020, we thought with the results
of COVID, we didn't know what the budget was going to look like. And the Office
of Financial Management asks state agencies to provide estimates of 15%
cuts across the board. And if you look at what those draft cuts were, they
were programs for the most vulnerable individuals in our communities,
individuals with developmental disabilities, low income moms. This
is not the time for us to, especially now, thinking about a
potential recession, to not have an adequate, robust rainy day fund. Thank you.
Okay. And the fifth question goes to Jessica Bateman. What is your opinion
on how the governor used his emergency powers during the pandemic? You know, I
think it's an unprecedented public health emergency that we have not had a
lot of experience in. However, going forward, I think that we need to be
thinking about how we would handle a situation like this in the future.
I think that he did the best that he could do considering the circumstances.
And when we're in a crisis, we need to ensure that we're able to make
decisions quickly, effectively, and at the state level that comes from the
governor's office. We're doing things like planning for the future,
especially for our long-term care facilities who are dramatically
impacted by what happened during COVID, to ensure that when we move
forward, when we have other public health emergencies, we have plans
and operations for how they're actually going to provide their services
and ensure that residents have those the rights that they're entitled to.
And I think similarly with the emergency powers, we should look into
how we can ensure in the future that we can have a clear, consistent
path for the utilization of those powers. Thank you. And Kate Plager,
what is your opinion on how the governor used his emergency powers
during the pandemic? I think in the beginning, it was appropriate.
No one knew what was really happening with the outbreak and the pandemic.
However, after a while, I felt that it was shut.
He shut, he kept the state shut down. He stopped businesses.
I didn't feel, and I've been hearing this, not just myself,
but a number of people that I have spoken to, they want those powers
to stop. And what I'm hearing is that they want a 30-day limit put
on the governor's emergency powers.
Thank you. And Kate Plager, here is the third and final question.
In light of current events, do you believe that there are any threats
to our system of democracy? And if so, what are those threats?
Can you repeat that, please? Sure.
In light of current events, do you believe there are any threats
to our democracy? And if so, what are those threats?
Well, I have so many concerns about it. I don't even know where to begin.
The threats could be that we lose our rights,
that we...
Well, even the Roe vs. Wade decision, there are people who are upset
about that and concerned. There was some concern across the nation
about rioting and things like that. So I would say that losing our
democracy, I mean, everyone should have a point of view.
And we shouldn't hate each other because we have different points of
view. I think that's one way to not lose our democracy, not to be extreme.
Thank you. And Jessica Bateman, would you like me to repeat the question?
No, I have a lot of concerns about our democracy, both in terms of the
massive proliferation of lies, including the big lie that our
presidential election was not valid, which is completely untrue and
fabricated. The effort in the attempt to decertify the
duly elected president of the United States, the attack on our nation's
capital, armed intimidation of voters at voting booths.
Secretaries of state being pressured across the country to change the results of the election,
public servants being threatened, being found at their homes being threatened. I think that
all of this and the environment that we're in can create questions about the legitimacy
of our state institutions, our government institutions, and it's essential that people
have confidence in those systems. And we have that proliferation of these lies and conspiracy
theories, it does chip away at that belief in that system. And most recently with legitimacy
of the Supreme Court who just took away the right of women in the United States and people
who can become pregnant to make their own decisions about their bodily autonomy. I have a lot
of concerns. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, so you now each have one minute for a closing
statement beginning with Jessica Bateman. Thank you. During my first term, we've worked
together to solve our greatest challenges, fair and sustainable tax reform, equitable
health care for all, protecting our environment and addressing our housing crisis. It is an
honor to serve as your state representative and I ask for your support so I can continue
this work helping working families, our most vulnerable and our seniors to ensure that
we all have the opportunity to thrive. If you'd like to learn more about me or my
campaign, please visit votejessicabateman.com. Thank you. Kate Plager, you have one
minute for a closing statement. I'm not a politician. I never thought I'd be running
for public office, but I have to say that I have been pulled into this race because
a number of my friends have asked me to run. They knew I went into retirement. They know
that I can do the job. They asked me to stand up to the plate. I'm concerned about
our public safety. I'm concerned about our law enforcement having been crippled
the past couple of years. I disagree that they should be defunded. I will wholeheartedly
support first responders, law enforcement and also in building a strong economy. I have
numerous people talk to me about inflation and that they can't afford to fill their
gas tank. One person said it cost $170 to fill his gas tank and last year it was
half of that. As a representative, I will pull the people to find out what it is that
they want because as a representative I need to understand and I would hold community
forums on a regular basis to pull and try to understand what they want.
Thank you. Thank you, Jessica Bateman and Kate Plager for participating in this forum.
We thank TC Media for producing it. Ballots will be mailed July 13th and must be mailed
or placed in a ballot box by 8 p.m. on August 2nd. You can register to vote online through
July 25th at vote.wa.gov and in person until 8 p.m. on August 2nd at the Thurston County
Auditors Office. We encourage viewers to be a voter in the primary election. Thank
you.