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Thank you for tuning in to this 2022 primary election candidate forum for legislative District

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22, Position 2. This forum is presented by the League of Women Voters of Thurston County

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in collaboration with Thurston Community Media. The League of Women Voters is proud to be nonpartisan,

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neither supporting nor opposing candidates or political parties at any level of government,

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but always working on vital issues of concern to members and the public to defend our democracy

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and empower voters. I am Donna Cobb of the League, and I will be moderating this forum.

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The candidates are Jessica Bateman and Kate Plager. Kevin Young is also a candidate for

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this position, but he did not respond to our invitation despite multiple requests. For this

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forum, each candidate will have the opportunity to answer a series of questions, and the questions

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will be alternated so that each has the chance to start first. Candidates, please

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let me know if you want me to repeat the question. Each candidate will have one minute

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to respond. The timer will show you a sign when you have 30 seconds left, and then show

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you a stop sign when your time is up. If you don't notice the sign, I'll tell you when

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your time is up. You will also have the opportunity to make a one-minute closing statement.

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For the first question, I will begin with Jessica Bateman. What makes you the most

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qualified candidate for this position? Thank you for that question. It's been

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an honor to serve as State Representative for the last year and a half. Prior to serving

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in the legislature, I served on the Olympia City Council from 2016 to 2020, both as a

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City Council Member and as Deputy Mayor. During that time, I focused my work on increasing

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our housing resources. The city worked very diligently to create unhoused resources

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including a mitigation site. I led the campaign to pass a home fund, which is the first municipally

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funded permanent supportive housing in South Puget Sound. We've since seen a real change

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in how we address homelessness in the community. There's a lot more work to do, but it was

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really important to get that started at the municipal level. One of the reasons

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why I ran for the State Legislature in 2020 was because I wanted to take my experience

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and expertise in housing and homelessness and work upstream on the actual solutions at

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the state level because I had that experience working at the local level. I also served as

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an Olympia Planning Commissioner before that. Thank you. Thank you.

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Kate Plager. Can you repeat the question? Of course. Sorry. What makes you the most

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qualified candidate for this position? Well, I feel like I've waited my whole life

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to apply for a job like this. I'm retired and I have a background in clinical psychology,

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social work from the University of Washington. I ran programs, I directed programs, I managed

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programs in the nonprofit and profit sector during my career. I managed staff. I was

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the manager of the behavior education department on a national level where I hired, supervised

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and developed staff. I worked for performance-based contracts, which means you don't get paid unless

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you do the job. I've had hands-on experience with all kinds of populations, including, of

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course, marginalized populations. I wrote grants and managed grants. I have had my

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pulse on the people for quite a while now in my retirement and I'm concerned about

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my community. I started an organization last year called Council for Wise Leadership.

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I wanted to bring together the community and have us discuss what's going on in our communities,

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in our law enforcement, in our rising crime. Is it time? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thanks.

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Okay. For the second question, I will begin with you, Kate Plager. What do you think

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is the most important issue in your district that the state should address? Building

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a strong economy? I think that what I've been hearing from people as I go out in Doorbell

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and been meeting people for a long time, people are concerned about being able to afford

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filling up their gas tank. They're concerned about public safety as well, with the rising

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car thefts. Car thefts have increased 88 percent. Across the state of Washington,

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there have been 12,596 cars stolen since the new laws took effect. People who are marginalized,

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people who are senior citizens have had their cars stolen. They cannot replace them because

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there's no more insurance left on it, so they're stuck. They have no way to get another

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car. Their catalytic converters get stolen. They cannot afford to buy them. I'm concerned

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about working people who are working very hard to feed their families and the criminals

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seem to know what they can get away with, and so crime has increased not just in auto

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thefts but everywhere else. Thank you. Jessica Bateman, what do you think

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is the most important issue in your district that the state should address? The number

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one issue that I feel my constituents communicating to me about is our lack of affordable housing.

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In Washington state, we are behind by a quarter of a million homes. We simply are

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not creating enough homes to keep up with our population and our job growth. We have

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people that are moving here, people that are growing up here, needing places to live,

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and we've been unable to build the housing that we need for those people. In Washington,

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the way that we allow for new housing to be created is all designed and operated

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at the local level. City councils make those decisions. I think that we should

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be addressing it at the state level by allowing diverse housing options like

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mother-in-law apartments so you can age in place so seniors can have an ADU on their

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property and maybe rent that out as supplemental income as they age. Duplexes,

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triplexes, these types of housing are more affordable than typical craftsmen, single

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family homes. I'm hearing from seniors on fixed incomes because of the shortage

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of housing and the increased rent costs that they're struggling to get by. Thank

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you. Okay, and for the third question, I'll begin with you, Jessica Bateman.

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Does the state require local jurisdictions to address climate change in their

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Growth Management Act comprehensive plan updates? Climate change is going to impact

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communities across Washington state. We see the evidence of climate change

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already occurring with increased incidences of storms, wildfires in other

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states, hurricanes, tornadoes. So it makes sense for us to ensure that our

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local governments are planning for how they're going to reduce their greenhouse

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gas emissions, how they're going to accommodate new housing and new

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businesses in their communities, while also working to achieve reductions of

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their carbon emissions. We had a bill, this legislative session, House Bill 1099

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sponsored by Davina Dewar. I co-sponsored that bill. Unfortunately, we were not

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able to get it through, but we will be bringing that back next year so that

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we will require cities to update their comprehensive plans with climate

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change. Thank you. Kate Plager, should the state require local jurisdictions to

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address climate change in their Growth Management Act comprehensive plan

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updates? This is a very important issue in terms of understanding what

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contributes to pollution in our world today. I'm very concerned that we

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already have systems in place. We have hydropower. As long as I'm not sure

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about the local jurisdiction, I'm not that experienced, but I will say that

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I would want to be included in understanding how hydropower is already

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utilized in our state. I'm talking about the Four Snake River dams. They provide

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jobs, they provide food, they provide water, irrigation, and also flood control.

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There's also the Waste to Energy facility in Spokane, Washington that's

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been there for many years. They provide electricity to over 13,000 homes. So I

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have a different view on climate change and that's... Thank you. And now the fourth

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question goes to Kate Plager. How important is it to you that the state

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maintain a rainy day fund in its budget? Not being really familiar with all the

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budget, all the money left in the budget. I was told in my research that

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there's money that hasn't been spent on programs that should have been

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spent on. It's accountability, a rainy day budget. I would hope that the

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money would go for understanding how to support our already existing

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systems for energy. I think that's what I would save money for. Thank you. Okay.

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And Jessica Bateman? Having been a legislative assistant through our last

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recession and seeing the impact of that recession on budget cuts and the

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extreme measures that were taken to reduce state expenditures as a result

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of those budget cuts, it has not lost on me how important that it is to

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have an adequate rainy day fund. When I ran in 2020, we thought with the results

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of COVID, we didn't know what the budget was going to look like. And the Office

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of Financial Management asks state agencies to provide estimates of 15%

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cuts across the board. And if you look at what those draft cuts were, they

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were programs for the most vulnerable individuals in our communities,

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individuals with developmental disabilities, low income moms. This

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is not the time for us to, especially now, thinking about a

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potential recession, to not have an adequate, robust rainy day fund. Thank you.

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Okay. And the fifth question goes to Jessica Bateman. What is your opinion

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on how the governor used his emergency powers during the pandemic? You know, I

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think it's an unprecedented public health emergency that we have not had a

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lot of experience in. However, going forward, I think that we need to be

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thinking about how we would handle a situation like this in the future.

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I think that he did the best that he could do considering the circumstances.

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And when we're in a crisis, we need to ensure that we're able to make

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decisions quickly, effectively, and at the state level that comes from the

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governor's office. We're doing things like planning for the future,

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especially for our long-term care facilities who are dramatically

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impacted by what happened during COVID, to ensure that when we move

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forward, when we have other public health emergencies, we have plans

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and operations for how they're actually going to provide their services

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and ensure that residents have those the rights that they're entitled to.

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And I think similarly with the emergency powers, we should look into

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how we can ensure in the future that we can have a clear, consistent

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path for the utilization of those powers. Thank you. And Kate Plager,

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what is your opinion on how the governor used his emergency powers

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during the pandemic? I think in the beginning, it was appropriate.

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No one knew what was really happening with the outbreak and the pandemic.

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However, after a while, I felt that it was shut.

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He shut, he kept the state shut down. He stopped businesses.

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I didn't feel, and I've been hearing this, not just myself,

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but a number of people that I have spoken to, they want those powers

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to stop. And what I'm hearing is that they want a 30-day limit put

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on the governor's emergency powers.

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Thank you. And Kate Plager, here is the third and final question.

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In light of current events, do you believe that there are any threats

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to our system of democracy? And if so, what are those threats?

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Can you repeat that, please? Sure.

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In light of current events, do you believe there are any threats

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to our democracy? And if so, what are those threats?

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Well, I have so many concerns about it. I don't even know where to begin.

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The threats could be that we lose our rights,

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that we...

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Well, even the Roe vs. Wade decision, there are people who are upset

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about that and concerned. There was some concern across the nation

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about rioting and things like that. So I would say that losing our

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democracy, I mean, everyone should have a point of view.

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And we shouldn't hate each other because we have different points of

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view. I think that's one way to not lose our democracy, not to be extreme.

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Thank you. And Jessica Bateman, would you like me to repeat the question?

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No, I have a lot of concerns about our democracy, both in terms of the

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massive proliferation of lies, including the big lie that our

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presidential election was not valid, which is completely untrue and

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fabricated. The effort in the attempt to decertify the

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duly elected president of the United States, the attack on our nation's

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capital, armed intimidation of voters at voting booths.

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Secretaries of state being pressured across the country to change the results of the election,

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public servants being threatened, being found at their homes being threatened. I think that

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all of this and the environment that we're in can create questions about the legitimacy

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of our state institutions, our government institutions, and it's essential that people

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have confidence in those systems. And we have that proliferation of these lies and conspiracy

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theories, it does chip away at that belief in that system. And most recently with legitimacy

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of the Supreme Court who just took away the right of women in the United States and people

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who can become pregnant to make their own decisions about their bodily autonomy. I have a lot

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of concerns. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, so you now each have one minute for a closing

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statement beginning with Jessica Bateman. Thank you. During my first term, we've worked

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together to solve our greatest challenges, fair and sustainable tax reform, equitable

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health care for all, protecting our environment and addressing our housing crisis. It is an

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honor to serve as your state representative and I ask for your support so I can continue

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this work helping working families, our most vulnerable and our seniors to ensure that

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we all have the opportunity to thrive. If you'd like to learn more about me or my

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campaign, please visit votejessicabateman.com. Thank you. Kate Plager, you have one

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minute for a closing statement. I'm not a politician. I never thought I'd be running

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for public office, but I have to say that I have been pulled into this race because

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a number of my friends have asked me to run. They knew I went into retirement. They know

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that I can do the job. They asked me to stand up to the plate. I'm concerned about

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our public safety. I'm concerned about our law enforcement having been crippled

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the past couple of years. I disagree that they should be defunded. I will wholeheartedly

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support first responders, law enforcement and also in building a strong economy. I have

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numerous people talk to me about inflation and that they can't afford to fill their

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gas tank. One person said it cost $170 to fill his gas tank and last year it was

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half of that. As a representative, I will pull the people to find out what it is that

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they want because as a representative I need to understand and I would hold community

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forums on a regular basis to pull and try to understand what they want.

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Thank you. Thank you, Jessica Bateman and Kate Plager for participating in this forum.

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We thank TC Media for producing it. Ballots will be mailed July 13th and must be mailed

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or placed in a ballot box by 8 p.m. on August 2nd. You can register to vote online through

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July 25th at vote.wa.gov and in person until 8 p.m. on August 2nd at the Thurston County

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Auditors Office. We encourage viewers to be a voter in the primary election. Thank

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you.