Q&A with Candidates for 7th Legislative District, Position 1

Accurate information is a key to our democracy and Q&As are one of the best sources of information. They eliminate interpretation and let you hear directly from the candidates. 

Below is a transcript of the candidates running for the Washington House Legislative District 7, Position 1. The candidates spoke at a forum on Monday, July 22 organized by Twisp Valley Grange. Peter Morgan was the moderator.

A video of the forum can be found here- July 2024 Candidate Forum – WA House Leg, D7, Position 1 (youtube.com)

Candidates for this seat are former Twisp Mayor Soo Ing-Moody, Tonasket City Council Member Teagan Levine, and Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers’ Deputy District Director Andrew Engell.

Ballots are due August 6

Tell us about your background and what skills and experience you bring that would make you a good legislator?

Levine: My name is Teagan Levine. I’ve been a resident of the Seventh District for the last 33 years. About 22 years ago, I kind of got involved in politics, because Rmax was a big thing. A lot of people showed up to Agriplex down in Okanogan to oppose or say they were all for it and it was really a defining moment to me how strong and how powerful people are. Moving forward from there, I kind of took a break, had a couple of beautiful kids, and they both have a disability. Neither one of them have arms and both of them have malformed knees. So, it took a little extra, and it really made me an advocate, an advocate for them, and an advocate in everything else I did. Life changed and I found myself going from a farm to a ranch to living in the town of Tonasket with my two boys. And as soon as I moved to Tonasket, I was asked, hey, would you please run for city council? We need a rural minded individual that has that background to be a representative for the people in Tonasket. So, I ran, and one of the biggest issues there was the police department, like you guys have that over here. And also, a flooding issue. Every time it rained, our roads would flood. It was a state highway, and these businesses were dealing with major insurance claims every time it rained. And so, I jumped in, got involved, and after seven and a half year or seven years of being on City Council, we have been able to get to the state to fund that project and fix the road, and we break down ground next month. And that’s a little bit of my background. Why I’m running. Thank you.

Ing-Moody: Thank you so much for being here. Most of you already know me. I’m Soo Ing- Moody and former mayor for the last 13 years of the town Twisp. You’ve known a few of the things that I’ve done, but I’ll just give you a short list here. I chaired and participated in multiple committees over the years locally, including the watershed council here at the Methow. Started the Okanogan Council of Governments also was on the Methow Valley Long Term Recovery Organization, emergency management, Economic Alliance from Central Washington, and statewide, I’ve worked on Association of Washington Cities’ board of directors for nine years, last five, being on the executive board, being president, then in 2020. I’m running to leverage my 13 years in elected office to be a strong legislator, to offset a one size fits all approach that’s oftentimes not in our best interest for us in eastern Washington, and to make sure that we get good, common sense legislation on matters that are important to you here in Methow Valley, and then also throughout the entire District Seven. It is a huge district, and we have a lot in common, though. There are farms, small towns, economic challenge areas just like here, but we are also surrounded by beautiful natural areas as well. Most of you know I am a bridge builder, and I know that with two open seats, experience will be very important for us and manner we want to be effective to get results for us in Olympia. I have the proven skills and experience to shape statewide legislation, as I’ve demonstrated on the Association of Washington Cities board, I work with others to arrive at solutions to complex issues affecting our town, cities and county. I know the system but more importantly I’ve successfully worked within it to make changes to policy such as headwaters campaign, as you all know, engaging at all levels of government with legislators on both sides of the aisle to get it done. I know how to lead by bringing people together to pass things, working on council governments is one of them, and also bringing a unique perspective and the local perspective, which will be helping us to be making that difference between good and bad legislation. So, thank you for being here.

Engell: My name is Andrew Engel. I grew up in this district where I’ve worked as a construction worker, welding, farming, small business and public service. Faith, family and freedom embodies who I am and what I stand for. And in conversation, you will learn that I care as much about the freedom of others as I do the freedom for myself. I’ve held positions at 17 community organizations and been president of six of them. In these organizations, I’ve worked to keep them on mission, to ensure that the leadership is accurately reflecting the will of the people, and to get results. As a result of my experience and my reputation, Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers hired me to help her represent rural Eastern Washington, and so for the past seven and a half years, I’ve been blessed to work for the people, thousands of people across 12 counties, as her deputy district director. This is a large and rural district, and it encompasses 20% of the state and 2% of our people. I believe that having grown up in rural Stevens County and worked across a large congressional district, I’m well equipped to take this job on.  A few of the many important issues I see and intend to work on are supporting law enforcement and enhancing public safety, pushing back against out of control taxes and regulations, ensuring parents’ rights to direct their children’s education, supporting our veterans, protecting the Second Amendment, making it easier to manage our forest and address our severe lack of housing. My diverse experience working with people in a business setting as well as a community and public service has prepared me well to serve you. I have track record of working well with others, finding common ground and working through difficult situations. If you choose to send me to Olympia, I will make you the people of this district the center of my work, I will always prioritize the people over special interests. I will never be bought. I will maintain an open-door policy. I will keep showing up for as long as I’m in office. My commitment is to work for you full time and never let you down. My name is Andrew Engell and I ask for your vote. 

The State Supreme Court has ruled Washington State Capital Gains Tax is not in violation of the state’s constitution, finding it to be an excise tax rather than an income tax. The legislation provides for a standard deduction $250,000 for individuals. What is your position regarding the capital gains tax?

Moody: My position is that I support it being on the ballot as an initiative of the people, as it currently stands. And the reason is that, as a public servant, what will always matter to me is clear and transparent legislation that serves a purpose, especially when it comes to new taxes. I believe that it is my job then to listen to the voices of people in the district as a result of that. And as I see it, there are a couple of issues to this tax. First of all, it seems to be remaining unclear to people as to what it is and what it will do exactly. And what that means is that legislation that was passed remains unclear and not transparent about the purpose or need of it. And I explained that. The debate continues as to whether or not this new tax is an excise or income tax. That’s one of them. However, regardless of recognition, as I see it, new taxes at a minimum, need to be clear and transparent for people and purpose. And those that have proposed it said that it would go towards childcare for early learning needs, but when an amendment was put forward. It was not heard, and that was part of the problem. So, that’s why I would like to see what the people think. Thank you.

Engell: So, every other state in the country, and most countries in the world define capital gains tax as income taxes and not excise taxes. So, I believe that this tax is, in fact, a violation of the of the principles in our state constitution, even though the Supreme Court has not found that to be the case. So, my opinion doesn’t really matter in this case, but that’s what I think about it. I’m glad it’s going to the people for a vote. I actually believe all new taxes should go to the people for a vote. I will certainly be happy to abide by whatever the people decide and go with that. Thank you.

Levine: So, the reason that this is on your ballot is because Let’s Go Washington got together and made it an initiative of the people, and a lot of people got involved to get signatures [so] that you all had a chance to vote on this. I oppose it. I think it’s a back door to an income tax and I really feel it’s going to push a lot of businesses out of the state and put the tax burden on the everyday person. So, I’m appreciative of it going to the ballot, and I really hope to see that it passes on your general ballot. Thank you very much.

Do you support Initiative 2117 to repeal the Climate Commitment Act? Do you believe the state has the responsibility to reduce its carbon footprint, and if so, what suggestions do you have for how the state can make those reductions?

Engell: I support repealing that initiative. I believe that it puts an undue burden on our rural communities and our farmers and really, Washington state can only do so much to reduce carbon emissions, and I don’t think this bill actually does reduce carbon very much. I believe that we need free markets and information-based systems to reduce carbon emissions, and I believe that a lot of what we’ve been doing in the state legislature the past couple of years has been ineffective and we need to be a little more careful with how we do those things. Washington state’s carbon emissions have been going up while the national average has been going down for various reasons, but that’s what I see there. Thank you. 

Levine: Yes I do and yes I do. I had a conversation with a business over in Spokane with regards to natural gas, and they have this really cool program where they can take and develop natural gas from potato farms. And, I really thought that was amazing. It didn’t really help that the natural gas ban went into effect but hopefully it ends up on your ballot and you get to vote for that also. But, in regards to carbon footprint, we can also do that with housing and building sustainable housing and attainable housing, so, that’s my answer thank you very much.

Moody: First off, I want to say, I do believe that we do need to do more to reduce our carbon emissions and I think there’s a lot of different avenues to do that. I think that modernization of certain industries and equipment is going to be key also to keeping up with the sector and the energy crisis that we are kind of hitting upon. So, I feel that that is something that we could definitely work better towards. I think there’s new opportunity too, also, with working for the construction industry that we’ve talked about. And so, how we can better reduce that carbon footprint is going to be really important. I think we need to come together and working on both sides of the aisle to figure out what the effectiveness is and for the values that we can get without disrupting our current industries right now, as well as the energy conversations that we’re having right now on the ground. And that’s what I’m hoping to do when I get in, if you elect me, is to be able to work on behalf of you and working on solutions that we can find together. Thank you.

Schools across the state are experiencing funding reductions resulting in cutbacks in programs. Do you feel that Washington state is not keeping up with society’s needs to educate our children. Do you agree? If so, what would you do to ensure stable and adequate funding for schools.

Levine: I do agree that we are not properly funding our schools. I also strongly believe that we need to bring logging back. We had a huge source of revenue that was going to our schools, and by not harvesting land and not utilizing our natural resources, we are leaving our kids out to dry. So, we really need to put the funds where the funds are supposed to go, support our kids, support our schools and I encourage that to happen. Thank you.

Moody: So in regards to funding education, I will say I just had a conversation this afternoon with the superintendent of Inchelium, and he was sharing with me some of their troubles up there in regards to how to better be funded. And special education is one of the things that this state really needs to fund much better. It is an issue. We are not funding it properly. The formula for funding it is broken. And so the current educational funding that goes towards the basic education does not cover special ed, and that is falling behind even more. Additionally, the materials, supplies, operating costs that are subject to inflation that we’re all experiencing has become an extra burden as well. And so between all of those things, and I just want to say, even with that, the insurance costs that we share it has more than doubled in the last 10 years. And just in the last two, we’re talking about a 30% increase, you know, year over year. This is huge and, you know, our schools are definitely under that same problem that we had as a town, so we do need to fix it.

Engell: Washington state is close to doubled or about doubled education spending in the last decade, but I understand there still are some shortages. I believe that one of the big things we need to do is to give local school boards more flexibility in how the money is spent, especially for special ed programs, the way the state funds that is a problem especially for rural districts. And so I believe more local control over how that money is spent would go a long ways, as well as the state better managing our state lands, which were originally put in trust largely to fund our schools. If we can go back to increasing the harvest to a sustainable level to increase the amount of money coming up with this lands, I believe that would also go a long ways.

Several counties in the seventh district rank among the highest in the state in unemployment and uninsured, while lowest in median income and health outcomes. Are disparities like this in our state a concern that the legislature should address? If so, what ideas do you have?

Moody: I will say that working in local government for all these years, I understand that this is a challenge for all of us and it’s really about how we can better be supported to increase the revenue basis that we have here, and it’s about supporting small businesses, local economies, but what we also don’t have are those wraparound services, amenities that some of the larger cities do have and so that’s part of the problem. It feeds into those wraparound services of housing, healthcare, all of the things that are also needed in these areas. So the disparity continues to grow when we also don’t have the things that attract the workforce and enables our workforce to basically live here, to have young families return here and work here and contribute to the economy. So there’s a whole life cycle that needs to be addressed. And obviously, I think that’s what I was talking about, having that local lens to know that there’s also legislation that can come out of Olympia that can be harmful for our communities, on the ground, in rural areas too, and to make sure that we do what we can to also offset those regulations. Thank you.

Engell: So this is a major issue and I agree with that. I believe taxes and regulations, and usually the regulations are a bigger problem than the taxes, because if you’re starting a small business, you can calculate how much taxes you’re going to have to pay, and you can factor that into your business plan. But if you’re not an expert at navigating a complex system, some of these states regulations are honestly very difficult, and especially for rural communities where there is no local state offices that can help people navigate that process. When I started my first business 20 years ago, we had a local L&I office in Colville, and I remember going back and forth having conversations with the person in there and they helped me figure out what I needed to get started. If my kids were to start that today, they don’t have that opportunity. And so getting some of this complexity reduced and or exemptions for some of the small businesses, I believe, will literally help with that. And also our housing. A lot of our housing issues are coming from high regulations and rural areas have a hard time getting their houses built as a result. And so all those things will help. Thank you.

Teagan: I had a conversation a few weeks ago with someone in regards to jobs in Seventh District, and it came down to access. There’s a lot of people, even in Okanogan County, that are driving without a license, let alone insurance. And they talked about buses and not public transportation. We’ve all seen, probably, Gebbers transport many workers and make sure they get to work on time. Yes, they’re immigrants, but there’s back in the day when big construction companies would send a bus, pick up a bunch of workers and get them to work. We don’t always have access to cars. In the Seventh District, there’s a lot of people that haven’t seen a town in a month and their ability to have a job is going to be access. Either being able to get there or internet, and broadband will be a big thing. So, access is something we need to focus on and reducing regulations. And I 100% agree with that. So we need to keep businesses in business.

Closing Statements

Engell: Thank you for the opportunity to come here tonight and talk with all of you. I believe that my diverse experience working with people in the business as well as in community and public service has equipped me well to serve you. I have a track record of working well with others, finding common ground and working through difficult situations. I have earned the respect and endorsement of Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, as well as sitting and former legislators, current and former mayors, law enforcement, veterans, farmers, ranchers and small business owners. Those who endorse me know my qualifications and trust that I have the skills and dedication to represent all of you in Olympia. If you choose to send me to Olympia, I will make you, the citizens of this district, the center of my work. I will always prioritize the people over special interests. I will never be bought. I will always have an open door policy. And I’ll keep showing up as long as I’m in office. My commitment is to work for you full time, and to never let you down. Again, my name is Andrew Engell and I would ask for your vote. 

Levine: So again, my name is Teagan Levine. I would really appreciate your vote. I have been in the Seventh District thirty-three years. I’ve raised two beautiful kids. Something that you don’t know, and I don’t even believe it’s on my website or anywhere else, I was a foster parent for 12 years, and I know there’s a couple other candidates in here that have been foster parents for a long time. Three months ago, I lost my daughter. She was with me for a very long time and we had an incredible bond, and she was one of the reasons why I’m running. She came from a horrible family that abused her, and she turned everything around, became a nurse, had two kids, was engaged and was going to get married, and there’s hope, and I want to be the hope for the Seventh District. So please, vote for Teagan Levine and send me to Olympia. Thank you.

Moody: Thank you for being here. I’m proud to say that I can’t imagine a better training ground for Olympia than here in the Methow Valley. This community is really unique, I have to say, because it is about coming together. We’re fierce about the things that matter to us and we have the ability to work together to see a common purpose through. That’s exactly what we need in Olympia as well and I feel that I’d be so honored to be there to serve on your behalf. The other thing about me is I think disagreement is important. I think I’ve said before. That helps us get the best solutions moving forward for all of us. You know me, how I work and what I’m capable of getting done. You know I’m fierce about making sure we continue to work hard together. I do have an open door policy as well and I will always serve and represent the people here in this district. I am a public servant first and foremost. I also have many endorsements. Please go online to see them at voteforsoo.com