Yet, even after the 2018 election, when Democrats padded their majorities in both chambers of the Legislature, The pandemic — which has caused unemployment to skyrocket and “We are on the precipice of a massive recession, and this state is set up poorly to respond to a recession because we rely so heavily on sales tax,” said Heather Weiner, another Democratic political consultant.
(Ingrid Anderson campaign)Mark Mullet's field director, Alex Seddon, unloads some lawn signs to be placed around homes in the district, June 25, 2020. Mark Mullet, 2020 On top of being a WEA member, Shanafelt is listed as an officer of Washington Cares, the other union-supported PAC that is spending heavily on the race.In addition to pursuing a capital gains tax to raise money for state programs, Anderson says she opposes any public dollars going to charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately managed. City of North Bend City of Snoqualmie City of Issaquah City of Carnation City of Renton “They are eliminating every single obstacle to tax increases,” Hays said of the unions and left-leaning groups opposing Mullet. Her campaign website criticizes Mullet for having “vocally opposed many measures of progressive, alternative revenue.” Debate over a capital gains tax and new taxes on businesses is likely to heat up in the next legislative session, as lawmakers “Revenue is a critical conversation — it is the Holy Grail right now,” said Crystal Fincher, a political consultant who works mostly with Democratic candidates. Andrew Shanafelt, an Issaquah teacher who is supporting Anderson, said WEA members want “someone who will stand up for public schools.”With regard to the state budget, union members want to ensure “that whatever creative solutions the Legislature comes up with next year, it’s not coming from this same place of, ‘We’re just going to cut,' ” he said. “Because I disagree with them on that, it’s no surprise I have a primary challenger,” he said.That’s one of the votes that has caused the WEA to paint him as not supporting K-12 schools, which are the biggest single piece of the state budget. “And so it is no longer an academic conversation. GET CAMPAIGN UPDATES. Read more. That committee’s top donors are political action committees associated with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 21, which represents grocery workers.Mullet, meanwhile, is benefiting from about $200,000 in spending by a political action committee called the Committee for Proven Leadership, whose donors include the political arms of the Washington Realtors, Puget Sound Energy, a beverage-industry group bankrolled by Pepsi and the education reform group Stand for Children.
That means both are certain to advance to the November general election, regardless of the primary outcome.More spending may still occur later this week in the last days before the primary election.Among left-leaning and progressive groups, Mullet “has been in people’s sights for a while,” Fincher said. Some important features of the PDC website may not function without JavaScript. VOLUNTEER. For several years, Democrats in Olympia have talked frequently about the need to rebalance Washington’s tax code, which relies heavily on revenue from sales taxes. 415 Legislative Building Olympia, WA 98504-0401 (360) 786-7608. That program Mullet said he objected to the program because it would impose a 0.58% payroll tax. Since … Continued Another business-backed PAC, East King County Jobs, has spent $50,000 on ads supporting Mullet and opposing Anderson.The amount of money flooding the contest in the 5th Legislative District is somewhat surprising, since Mullet and Anderson are the only two candidates running. All Rights Reserved.Ingrid Anderson supporters socially distance while holding up signs, in a photo released mid-July 2020.
Unions are spending big to unseat a centrist Democrat who opposes tax increases, while business-backed groups fight to keep him.Incumbent state Sen. Mark Mullet, D-Issaquah, faces a challenge from fellow Democrat Ingrid Anderson, who is positioning herself as more progressive than Mullet. Anderson said lawmakers should put a capital-gains tax in place anyway to help address budget problems in the long term.“You can't just look at this one session, because this is something that's going to be going on for years,” she said.