Nov. 8 general election ballots should be in voters’ hands by now, and one race that Islanders are focused on features incumbent My-Linh Thai versus Al Rosenthal for the Legislative District 41 State Representative Position No. 2 seat.
Thai (D) led the way with 69.36% of the vote (26,270 votes) in the Aug. 2 primary and Rosenthal (R) followed with 22.39% of the vote (8,479 votes).
King County Elections mailed ballots to registered voters on Oct. 19 and will post the initial round of results by 8:15 p.m. on election night.
The Reporter reached out to both candidates and asked four pertinent questions about the election. Each one was allotted 2,000 words for their responses.
Legislative District 41 covers all of Mercer Island and Newcastle, with portions of Bellevue, Renton, Issaquah and Sammamish.
MY-LINH THAI
** What do you feel are three of the most critical issues in the district and how do you hope to address them?
1. Housing — Our district attracts young professionals and families for jobs, educational opportunities, and growing cultural experiences. However, our housing capacity is not met the needs. Rising cost of rentals has forced people to commute extra distance to work, especially the essential services in our community.
2. Climate — Climate change impacts everyone, LD 41 faces the existential threats of climate change which threaten our well-being every day.
3. Transportation — Public transits and connectivity in our district will be much improved in a few years. But at this time, we are still experiencing so much congestions
How do I hope to address them? It should be how do we hope to address them. Our actions have to be collective to be meaningful and impactful. I hope to continue engagement with the 41st Legislative District constituents to further understanding your needs and your suggested solutions. There is a saying that those who experience the challenges know how to address them.
** What’s your life philosophy and how can you apply that to district matters?
“Love is not what you say, love is what you do.” I care deeply about the well-being of people and the state of humanity. I am grateful for an opportunity to affect policies that would lead to a thriving community where people who reside in feel belonged and happy.
** What will you do in your role as a representative to support and strengthen the district?
Be an active listener and a critical thinker.
** What’s special about the district, and what are some improvements you feel could be made?
The 41st Legislative District voters elect the first refugee to serve as state representative in the WA state Legislature. I am humbly honored by the collective commitment to representation and the belief in “Diversity is our Strength.” I will continue my civic engagement and aim to shorten the distance between policy makers and those whose lives are impacted by those policies.
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AL ROSENTHAL
** What do you feel are three of the most critical issues in the district and how do you hope to address them?
All of the questions refer to the 41st District, I am running for Washington state Legislature. The Washington state Legislature makes state laws, therefore will address all answers as to what I will do on the Washington state level.
The three most critical issues for Washington state are crime, drugs and spending. My-Linh Thai and other legislators have voted for laws that have increased crime and drug use.
In 2021, HB 1054 was passed, per section 7 it only allows law enforcement officers to pursue in a vehicle for violent crimes, which do not include possession of a stolen vehicle, residential burglary, theft, violation of a no contact order, etc. In the short time since HB 1054 was passed, car theft has doubled in Washington state because thieves know that law enforcement officers are never allowed to pursue in a vehicle. What is really crazy about HB 1054 Section 7(d)(i) is that before an officer can pursue for a violent crime like murder, the officer has to call in for supervisor approval before they can pursue, which gives the suspect a head start.
What were My-Linh Thai and other legislators thinking when they voted for HB 1054 Section 7 in 2021, and then in 2022 they had a chance to fix the law but chose not to? I will work to fix HB 1054, to allow law enforcement officers to pursue using the previous rules that considered safety but did not stop law enforcement officers from enforcing the law. The text of HB 1054 Section 7 can be found at the website below.
Drug addiction is a very significant contributor to the Washington state crime and homeless problem. The Washington State Supreme Court declared the hard drug felony possession law unconstitutional, My-Linh Thai and other legislators could have merely added the word “knowledge” to maintain the felony designation, but they did not. Instead, they changed the Washington state hard drug possession law to a misdemeanor that has no penalty till the third offense. The penalty for jaywalking is greater than the first two times you are caught in possession of heroin. That does not make sense.
The problem is only being exacerbated by not prosecuting and forcing treatment for possession of hard drugs as a felony and by allowing shoplifting to buy drugs. Creating housing where you can freely use drugs and alcohol (they call it low-barrier housing), and only offering voluntary treatment is like leaving your 3-year-old alone in a room with a bowl of candy and telling them to take only one. Seattle and King County are the perfect example of how this does not work, and the rest of the state of Washington is following Seattle’s lead.
What needs to be done is to enforce the hard drug and shoplifting laws. When addicted persons are confined, they must get off drugs, receive treatment, and once they are off drugs, work with family or friends to take them in. More lives will be saved, homelessness will be reduced, crime will be enforced, and Washington state will save money. Now, that is real compassion and caring.
Drug and alcohol addiction are a very significant contributor to the homeless problem. The state of Washington currently has approved spending $2 billion on the homeless and Governor Inslee is proposing spending an additional $815 million. This does not include spending by the counties and cities which are not part of the Washington state budget. The following website documents this spending.
Per the CDC in 2021, the total of drug overdose deaths in the United States was 107,622 of that total 71,238 were from fentanyl. Per the National Institute of Drug Abuse in 1999, the total drug overdose deaths in the United States was about 19,000. In that time period the homeless population has increased in a similar proportion. Drug addiction is not the sole cause of the increase in homelessness but it is a major cause and there is correlation in the increase of both. Unlike the current state Legislature, I will try to stop the illegal sale of fentanyl in the state of Washington. The following websites document the above government data.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2022/202205.htm
https://nida.nih.gov/research-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates
Unlike the current state Legislature, I want to help the addicted that commit crimes with forced confined treatment. In the long term this will save lives, reduce crime, and reduce the required spending on the homeless in WA. I will never talk in a manner that has no substantial meaning. A good example of how My-Linh Thai differs from myself is at the recent Issaquah political forum from YouTube below at the 7:20 minute mark. I speak immediately afterwards. When I was employed as an aircraft structural engineer, if I had ever spoken in a meeting without giving analytical solutions to a problem I would have never been invited back to participate at a future meeting. Yes, I am blunt, but I will get the job done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPqzEOEdTVI
** What’s your life philosophy and how can you apply that to district matters?
My life’s philosophy has been to work hard, live below my financial means and invest for the future. This philosophy would apply to the state of Washington by efficiently spending the taxpayers’ money and being prepared for hardship times by having a fully funded rainy day fund.
** What will you do in your role as a representative to support and strengthen the district?
My role as a representative will be to work with other legislators when they try to pass bad laws as I have described above. Someone has to!
** What’s special about the district, and what are some improvements you feel could be made?
What is special about the 41st district is how safe and clean it is. Although shoplifting has increased drastically, it is still relatively safe. I do not want to see the Seattle crime, homeless camping, and graffiti spread to the 41st district and the rest of the state.
I recently received an email from the Bellevue Police Foundation, which is a very worthy foundation, to which I contribute. In the email they stated: “in the past six months, officers have arrested more than 50 shoplifting suspects at The Home Depot alone. Several other organized retail theft crews have been busted at high-end retailers and malls.” This shows how much shoplifting has escalated in Bellevue when just one Home Depot was the site of the arrests of more than 50 shoplifters. Thank you, BPD, for your good work, we need more of you.
As the road traffic gets worse, I observe a lot of money being spent on interstate sound walls and bike paths, but little improvement on the reduction of severe traffic problems. We need to improve traffic flow to save people time and money, and to reduce air pollution.
