Thank you to our 47th District legislators and their staff for organizing a constituent town hall last Saturday.
It was a standing-room-only crowd at the Golden Steer that came out to hear the status in Olympia on education, transit and other issues.
Rep. Pat Sullivan and, in particular, Sen. Joe Fain gave nuanced, well-reasoned responses to the crowd’s questions, even when many in the audience didn’t agree with their positions.
However, Rep. Mark Hargrove does need to educate himself so he can better inform us.
Responding to questions on addressing the opioid epidemic, he blamed the collapse of families, which is a very short-sighted view to take of a complex problem. He also doesn’t seem to understand that pollution in Covington does eventually reach Puget Sound.
Answering immigration questions, he praised guest worker programs in certain Middle Eastern countries, but these systems are well known to lead to serious human rights abuses and exploitation.
Perhaps the most galling example occurred after a female Army veteran thanked the legislators for voting to strengthen sexual assault protection orders. After much applause, Sen. Fain and Rep. Sullivan spoke about their support, but Rep. Hargrove was not forthcoming that he voted no and instead gave the impression he also supported this bill. It wasn’t honest.
I hope Rep. Hargrove can better represent all the people in our district.
– Jennifer Fernandez
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