There are 26 new lawmakers learning their way around the Capitol Campus this week. It’s doubtful any of them think voters sent them to uphold the status quo.
“It’s a large voting bloc, and I think there’s an understanding that what (state government) did for the last decade isn’t going to work,” Yelm Republican Rep. J.T. Wilcox said. “I think almost everyone that got elected … thinks that they heard the people want a change.”
For Wilcox, who brings a business background to government after helping manage his family’s Wilcox Farms, change means government living within its means, without asking taxpayers for more revenue.
For another new lawmaker, Rep. Chris Reykdal, change means thinking ahead about what proposals today will mean years from now.
“I think you will hear a lot of us freshmen as we get a little tenure, ask questions: ‘What are the long-term effects of this?’” the Tumwater Democrat said.
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