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Jeanette Burrage is endorsed by the King County Police Officer's Guild



Vote Burrage, it rhythms with Courage!

​Jeanette Burrage Knows how to Give us Less Crime and Lower Taxes.
 
CRIME
 
When I have been going door to door, residents in downtown Renton have told me they do not leave their homes after dark, because it is not safe.
 
Since 2021, when the anti-police bills were passed, at a large store in Renton assaults are up 400%.
 
My opponent voted for the following terrible legislation, which passed into law and caused a big increase in crime in our area.
 
House Bill 1054:  Changes the requirement of evidence needed to pursue a suspect to probable cause.  The level of investigation needed for probably cause is extremely unlikely to happen soon enough to catch a fleeing felon.  This should have been obvious to the legislators in 2021.
 
Senate Bill 5476: Requires police to not arrest those caught in possession of fentanyl, cocaine, or methamphetamine, and instead refer them to services on two occasions before arresting them for violating the law on the third encounter. There is no system set up to record these non arrest encounters.
 
The new law also says, “The prosecutor is encouraged to divert such cases for assessment, treatment, or other services.” So after getting a pass twice, and if the police have a way to know it is the third time, and arrest them, the prosecutor will not likely prosecute. 
 
The big problem with this is that most drug addicts will not avail themselves of drug treatment, or attend but not engage, as they would just as soon keep using drugs. That is why its called addiction.
 
People who have family members who were, or are, addicted to drugs realize that the threat of putting the person in jail is an incentive for them to get clean and sober.
 
House Bill 2037.  Provides that police officers may not use deadly force to prevent imminent serious physical injury or death to the officer or another person. (They now have to wait until it is “immediate” danger)
 
SB 5051:  Moves power to certify and decertify police officers from local agencies to the State.  This takes power away from elected officials in cities and counties and moves it to a non-elected commission.
 
 
Police Officers:
 
Many senior police officers have quit or retired.  In Renton, and many other locations in our state, police chiefs cannot fill all their open positions.  After a candidate is approved for hiring, that person has to wait 6 months before there is an opening for officer training to begin at the State facility.  This is unacceptable for providing safety to the people.
 
 
 
TAXES
 
The current legislators also voted for the huge new taxes that will start on January 1st of 2023.  They are collecting the taxes from major parties and the consumers will pay more for gas and heating oil a little later, but the actual collection of these taxes does not start until after the election.  These bills were HB 1091 and SB 5126.  They will cost us over $460 million per year in new taxes and climbing each year.  Fees in a regulatory scheme can only cover the cost of administering the regulations.  Collecting more than that is a tax.  These are taxes are for public benefit, not for administration. 
 
These taxes are supposedly to reduce carbon and reduce global warming.  But programs to do that are not defined in the law.  They will collect the tax first.  When allocating funding from these taxes, agencies are directed to invest not less that 35% to provide benefits to vulnerable populations within overburdened communities.  Notice that these expenditures have nothing to do with climate control, but with social services.
 
They appear to believe the approximately 46 cents added to each gallon of gas will make people drive less and reduce carbon emissions.  So its not just a huge tax, it is also private citizen control tactic.
 
State Law requires that citizens be given an advisory vote on new taxes.  These new carbon taxes will not appear on our ballot this year as the legislators called them fees or credits, rather than taxes.  We will not get to see the effects presented in the voter’s pamphlet or see which legislators voted for them.  Cover up?
 
ABORTION
 
No matter where you stand on this issue, I think we can all agree that only a doctor should perform this procedure (which could result in a punctured uterus or even death).  HB 1851 removed the requirement for a doctor and now allows virtually any "health care provider" to perform the procedure and removes criminal liability. (This would mean that Kermit Gosnell, who is currently serving a life sentence for killing 3 babies that were born alive, would be exempt from prosecution in Washington.)  
While I think we have better methods of birth control easily available, I support repealing HB 1851 and requiring only a doctor to do this procedure to protect women that have to make this difficult decision.
 
 
FREEDOM
 
One of the new laws passed by my opponent, SB 5051, instructs a State commission to decertify a police officer for “affiliation with extremist organizations.”  I guess they never heard of freedom of association, which our US Constitution is supposed to guarantee.  These extremist organizations could include the communist party, unusual religious organizations, and organizations that promote very conservative or very liberal positions.  The commissioners get to decide which organizations are extremist.
 
HOMELESSNESS
 
The plan of the current legislators appears to be to let drug addicts continue to use drugs and steal to get money for them.  (See SB 5476 under crime).  The Renton Police had a special unit deployed to the area around Rainier Avenue and 3rd St.  Over several weeks this unit offered services for drug addiction and mental health to over 300 homeless people.  Just 10 said they were interested in getting services.  The plan of our legislators is obviously not working.
 
ONE PARTY RULE
 
The current legislator got himself introduced and praised at a public high school homecoming event just weeks before the election (September 30th).  The schools should not be participating in endorsement of candidates.  The politician should have had the integrity to decline this close to an election.  It might be pointless to complain to the school board, as his wife sits on it.
 
A few weeks ago, in September, the local Chamber of Commerce held a meeting where the current legislators were given about six minutes each to make opening remarks.  Then some Chamber members and the political challengers got to give about one minute comments.  After that the chairman of the meeting gave the current legislators a few more minutes for closing comments.  Appropriate timing?
 
 
EDUCATION
 
College-We need more college classrooms.  Our population has expanded and our classroom capacity has not kept up.  This will be a more long term solution than dividing up existing class spaces between  people.
 
We also need more technical and vocational schools.
 
K-12 and preschool
 
I believe our resources will be better targeted to educational excellence if we give first graders adequate individual attention when they are learning the basics. 
 
Many years ago I reviewed a study after asking a school superintendent what evidence she had of all day kindergarten was helpful.  That study found that any extra knowledge gained by all day kindergarten was lost by third grade. It also found that having a helper in a first grade classroom had a longer lasting effect. 
 
Also we need to expand the charter school program.  The current charter schools have better results than the public schools.  Since the charter schools have less funding than the public schools, these are remarkable results.
 
We need to encourage parents to get involved in their children’s education and to focus resources to where additional staff is needed.  One way to stimulate changes is to create a voucher system where parents can use their vouchers to send their children to public or private schools.  As in other areas, competition will require school officials to change their systems to best accommodate students needs.
 
 
RACE RELATIONS
 
There are two world views about racism in the United States.  One is that we are all brothers and sisters and should respect and care for one another.  The other view is that all white people are oppressors and others are victims.  It is a belief in “systemic racism.”  Under this view all people are divided into tribes and pitted against each other.
 
One of the Directors of the Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism, Bion Bartnig,  said this, and I agree;

“ Every person is a unique individual with value, and we are united by our shared humanity. And this is why the currently fashionable and misguided attempts to oppose racism by encouraging “race consciousness” and “racial affinity” are doomed to fail. We simply cannot hope to end racism while simultaneously making the flattening, dehumanizing, and limiting concept of “race” more salient, more consequential, and more fundamental to our thinking, our behavior, and our identity.”

I was a King County Superior Court Judge from 1995-2001.  During that time the Judicial Minority and Justice Commission did a study regarding sentencing.  It found negligible differences in sentencing based on the color of one’s skin.
 
One reason for the excellent results may have been because of the Sentencing Reform Act of 1981.  I was in the State Legislature at that time and helped pass that bill through committee and on the floor of the House.
 
That law requires judges to sentence offenders within a predetermined range based on the severity of the crime and the number of previous crimes.  Judges may sentence outside the range for certain circumstances that have to be written out and can be reviewed by a Court of Appeals.  This law makes it so offenders get similar sentences no matter where they live in the State, what color their skin is, or which judge is doing the sentencing.
  

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