Editor’s note: Challenger Rep. Chad Magendanz, R-Issaquah, and incumbent Sen. Mark Mullet, D-Issaquah, are seeking the 5th District state Senate position. The two candidates answered the following questions from The Reporter editorial department.
Candidate Introductions
CHAD MAGENDANZ
I’m Rep. Chad Magendanz (pronounced like Häagen-Dazs) and I’m currently finishing my second term as state representative for the 5th Legislative District. I’m the ranking Republican on the House Education Committee and a member on the House Appropriations and Technology & Economic Development committees. I served as the Issaquah School Board president and in other leading roles education-related committees and boards.
It’s really concern about our public schools that first motivated me to run. We are facing some complex problems – schools are not getting enough money, some districts around the state are not paying their fair share, and others – like Issaquah – have been paying too much. On top of that, the money isn’t always being spent wisely.
My background is one of tackling tough problems: I earned an electrical engineering degree from Cornell and served in the U.S. Navy for 12 years as a nuclear submarine officer. Having worked at Microsoft for over 20 years in various roles, I still contract as a software design consultant for many local and international firms.
My wife of 27 years and I live in Issaquah and have two sons, a sophomore at MIT and senior at Liberty High School.
MARK MULLET
I have been your state senator representing Maple Valley and Black Diamond in Olympia for the past four years. I have four daughters between the ages of 6 and 13. When not in Olympia you will find me at my Zeeks Pizza restaurant and Ben and Jerry’s ice cream store in Issaquah.
The residents of Maple Valley made it clear when I ran four years ago that solving the “Donut Hole” problem was their top priority. Traffic was already horrible and people had legitimate anxiety about King County selling their county land to a developer and having 1,600 high density homes put on 40 acres on the site of the old golf course.
I am proud to say it was my bill that stopped this development and led to King County instead selling this land to the Tahoma School District at a much lower price for the new high school.
I’m running for the Senate because residents have made it clear that we still need to make investments to solve our traffic problems. We got $150 million for Highway 18 improvements last year, but we need strong Senate leadership to make SR 169 four lanes all the way to Renton.
Question No. 1
The Washington state Constitution states, “It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders, without distinction or preference on account of race, color, caste or sex.”
Please explain how you think the state Legislature should proceed with funding education following the State Supreme Court’s McCleary ruling and order of contempt.
MARK MULLET
Our community has some of the best public schools in Washington in the Tahoma School District. My number one priority when solving our state’s underfunded schools is to make sure Eastern Washington does not steal your precious local levy dollars that make our local public schools great.
My opponent is suggesting we transfer our local levy dollars to the state, which I think is a horrible idea, because that money will then be transferred to Eastern Washington. Local levy dollars have to be spent locally, and when people voted for them, they did so because they knew it would benefit their own children or their property values.
I think the Supreme Court has a valid point that local levies are not reliable because we have to vote on them every four years. This is the reason my opponent says local levy dollars should be replaced with a statewide property tax increase. My plan for the 2017 session is to make local levies permanent. Most states in the country have permanent local levies, and this will give every school district a reliable source of funding without losing control of our local funding. If we want to make Eastern Washington schools better, we should find a way to do that without hurting our local schools.
Next, we need to go above and beyond to make our schools even better. I’d like to see us increase teacher pay, so we can recruit and retain the best possible teachers for our kids, and expand technology in the classroom so students can get the 21st century education they’ll need for modern high-tech jobs with good wages.
My focus in 2017 will be to ensure that you, the voters, maintain control of our school districts and the local tax dollars you contribute for those schools.
CHAD MAGENDANZ
This is one of my main areas of focus in the Legislature and I am one of a handful of leaders statewide working on a bipartisan task force to resolve this problem.
We have already made tremendous progress – increasing school funding 36 percent without raising taxes, but more needs to be done. Despite the funding increases, we’re still dependent on local levies for compensation and this needs to be addressed next year, before the court’s 2018 deadline.
The Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that reliance on local levies is unconstitutional, and unlike my opponent I believe that this is a critical issue of equity that must be addressed. Our current system is too unstable and regressive, enabling districts with high commercial property value like Seattle to pay less than half of the average school levy rate.
My plan ensures that our local school districts would no longer pay too much and that there would be additional funding for salaries where cost of living is higher. The effect is that half of the school districts in my legislative district would see property tax reduction, and every school district sees more money out of the exchange than they contribute.
My opponent has proposed a constitutional amendment to nullify the Supreme Court rulings but I believe he may not understand the negative impact this would have on local homeowners. It is a complex subject and my background on the School Board and Appropriations Committee has been invaluable in crafting solutions with broad bipartisan support.
Other Democrat proposals have included income taxes, capital gains taxes, and carbon taxes, but I believe these are more volatile and would be challenged in the courts and on the ballot by referendum. We owe it to our kids to create an education funding system that’s stable, constitutional, and fair.
Question No. 2
Transportation issues have become some of the most difficult problems facing cities and the 5th District. Congestion is a problem all across the 5th District and the Puget Sound Region.
What programs, bills or budget actions would you support in the Legislature to provide any solutions to the transportation issues in the 5th District and how would you suggest the Legislature fund the solutions?
CHAD MAGENDANZ
We need to reduce traffic congestion on our freeways and arterials by building lane capacity and upgrading interchanges. Currently, 60 percent of transportation revenue is going to mass transit, which only represents 4 percent of the trips. Expensive light rail projects have been cannibalizing highway construction funding, and new express lane tolling projects are being designed to create additional congestion in an effort to socially engineer drivers out of their cars. This has to stop, and we should establish a system where funding follows demand.
Next, we need to get a handle on our cost drivers. For example, the typical U.S. light rail system costs $50M per mile but ST2 has averaged a whopping $350M/mi and the latest University Link cost almost $600M/mi!
My opponent and I disagree here – he voted for massive gas tax increases and to enable Sound Transit to raise property taxes. I opposed it.
Even highway project budgets are now growing out of control. My opponent proposed a peak use shoulder driving option on the 5-mile stretch of I-90 from Issaquah to Eastgate, which was estimated at $124M even though WSDOT’s own studies showed that general purpose highway lanes typically cost only $1.6M per mile. From 2003 to 2012, Washington’s highway construction cost index increased at a rate 5 times the national average.
We need a new culture of accountability in WSDOT, and we’re not going to get it by reelecting senators and governors who make excuses for Bertha delays, listing ferries, sinking pontoons, and failed tolling strategies. We sent a strong message this year by not confirming the Secretary of Transportation, but the culture change in that organization needs to be more fundamental. Projects should be funded on their cost effectiveness at moving people and freight, not on their ability to emulate a utopian European ideal.
MARK MULLET
This is the biggest difference between my opponent and myself in this election. The reality is we will be stuck in traffic for the rest of our lives if we don’t invest in new lanes on our roads.
I played a leading role in the Senate to secure $150 million for improvements on Highway 18. This will create a new interchange in Snoqualmie, along with putting extra lanes on Highway 18. My opponent voted against these necessary investments so he could base his entire campaign on attacking me for supporting a tax increase.
During our Seattle Times endorsement interview, when Chad was asked for his solution to traffic since he voted against the transportation package, he suggested that self-driving cars will solve all our problems and said there is no need for the government to make investments to build additional roads or transit capacity. This played a big role in the Seattle Times endorsing me for this election. Rather than play a leading role like Republican Sen. Joe Fain, Chad joined the extreme wing of his party and voted “no”.
We have clear goals to solve the traffic problems in Maple Valley. The first is to make SR 169 four lanes all the way to Renton. The second is to make Highway 18 four lanes all the way over Tiger Mountain. The third is to make investments in Issaquah-Hobart road so we can finally get cars moving faster than a glacier during the morning and evening commute.
I am committed to making all three of those investments happen. Even when 20 Senate Republicans voted “yes” for $150 million of Highway 18 improvements and his own Republican House seatmate Jay Rodne voted yes, Chad voted “no”. I have proven I can lead on transportation investments for Maple Valley.
Question No. 3
This is the open-ended question. What issues or ideas are facing the 5th District or state that should be addressed by the Legislature?
MARK MULLET
During my four years in the Senate, I have focused on passing big picture bills that will encourage more people to take personal responsibility for their actions, which ends up lowering the cost of government.
The first was a bill on healthcare transparency. My bill requires that all insurance companies have to put an easy to use transparency tool on their website so people can figure out how much a medical procedure will cost in advance. We need actively engaged healthcare consumers to help control healthcare inflation.
The second was a bill requiring that all high schools offer common sense financial literacy education before students graduate. Too many of my employees at Zeeks and Ben and Jerry’s were leaving high school with no sense of how to manage credit card debt and they were cashing paychecks at Moneytree instead of having their own checking account. My bill ensures our youth have the tools and knowledge to be responsible with their money.
The third was a bill creating a small business retirement marketplace. This bill removed the $1,500 annual fee small business owners were being charged by financial service companies if they provided a retirement option to their staff. It gives employees the option to have money put into a retirement account directly from their paycheck, even if they work for a small business with less than 100 employees.
All three of these fiscally responsible bills will save our state money in the long run because they help control healthcare cost inflation, increase retirement savings, and teach people how to manage their finances so they are not relying on social support service.
This November I ask for your vote. Let’s work together to keep our public schools great, and invest in roads to solve our traffic problems.
CHAD MAGENDANZ
We need a return to representative integrity in Olympia.
My opponent votes with his Seattle-led caucus over 95 percent of the time, and supported the largest tax increase in state history even when rejected by 67 percent of district voters on the ballot. He opposes the two-thirds requirement to raise taxes, a measure supported by 68 percent of the district. His caucus is proposing a state income tax to fund McCleary, even though income taxes have been rejected on the ballot nine times, the last in 2010 by 69 percent of the district.
I’m the only Eastside legislator to vote with my district on all tax measures on the ballot last November, and I support the two-thirds requirement or a vote of the people to raise taxes because I don’t believe we get a blank check down in Olympia. If we’ve exhausted all avenues and need more revenue, it’s our duty to return to district and make the case for it. If we can’t get folks onboard, we develop a better plan… not just jam one through despite objections.
If you want a senator with a proven track record of faithfully representing the priorities of our district, the choice is clear. I’ve personally visited almost 20,000 homes during this campaign and have listened carefully to ensure I’m getting it right. I will not place Seattle’s interests above our own, and I’m not so arrogant as to believe that government knows how to spend your money better than you do.
Despite my opponent labelling me an “extremist”, I’ve never received anything less than an outstanding rating from the Municipal League, and the Seattle Times said that I bring “much-needed moderation and intellectual rigor to Olympia.” I’ve served my country, my community and will continue to serve you faithfully in Olympia. I’d appreciate your vote this November.
