Evan Clifthorne announced today that he is joining the race for 36th District Representative. Clifthorne has lived in the district for the past two years while working as a legislative aide in Olympia.
From the press release:
Washington is at a crossroads. For years, we have addressed our state’s ongoing financial crisis through service cuts and layoffs; through a narrow, short‐sighted approach to our economic well‐being.
I believe we can build a state where we balance our budget through equity and accountability; where we use revenue to create an education system in which our preschoolers advance to become debt‐free graduates driving a competitive economy; and where those same graduates are the innovators of a green revolution that causes our carbon footprint to fall, our energy efficiency to skyrocket, and that protects the beautiful environment that we in the Pacific Northwest love and cherish.
This vision begins with equity: Washington State has the most regressive tax structure in the country. Minimum‐wage workers in our state pay nearly 1 out of every 5 dollars they earn in state & local taxes. The top one percent pays only 1 out of every 33 dollars. This is wrong.
With each passing year, this inequity makes it more challenging to maintain the quality of life that we have come to expect in this great state. We don’t need to punish success, but we do need a fair approach.
Without a fair approach, our seniors and low‐income citizens, our infrastructure and public transportation, our lifelines and basic healthcare will all suffer. And no one will suffer more than our kids.
Not only has our school districts’ funding been cut, but in the past three years alone Washington has dropped its investment in higher education by half. If we want to compete in a global economy, we can only do so by investing in our children from their first day at school until the time they start life as productive drivers of our economy.
A vibrant education system can and will create a vibrant green‐collar workforce, but we cannot afford to wait for the industries of the future to solve our problems. We must invest today in clean technology, energy efficiency, toxic‐free communities, and especially in preserving the rich natural resources of the Pacific Northwest. I want to live in a world where we’ve learned to live in balance with our resources while continuing to grow economically.
