Fred Finn: Report from the Field

Written by Linda Thomson and Greg Case | 27 February 2010

State Rep. Fred Finn has been working hard on behalf of his constituents in the 35th. He serves on half a dozen committees,

and specifically requested the Transportation Committee to focus on ferry boats, important to this region. He is working to get a new plan for a reduced Belfair Bypass, knowing the full-deal will never be funded, therefore never be built.

Finn sponsored the bill to attract the ADAGE firm to Shelton. This company will build a power-generating plant utilizing woody debris left from logging operations, and is expected to create 700 construction jobs, plus sustain 275 family-wage jobs once operational. He supported the bill that will allow much-needed repairs and upgrades to school buildings across the state for greater energy-efficiency, saving taxpayers education money, as well as creating jobs. He's also focused on water quality issues that impact on Puget Sound and Hood Canal.

Finn met with Kitsap County Commissioner Josh Brown, the owners of Seabeck Marina, Rep. Kathy Haigh and others to assist the owners in dealing with the Olympia regulatory maize. The project appears to be back on track.

In this dire economic climate, it has not been easy for lawmakers to have to slash budgets and consider raising taxes, too. Neither act is popular. More than a dozen Democrats voted with Republicans against ESSB 6130, designed to repeal I-960. (The repeal was adopted.) Those crossover voters included, among others, Rep. Fred Finn.

Brad Shannon of The Olympian wrote, "I caught up with Finn today to ask about his vote, and what he had to say was interesting. It shows there is a complexity to the thinking some Democrats are bringing to the budget problem that they see as insurmountable without new revenues. Finn said he did a survey this year and "significant numbers" of voters volunteered information that they did not want changes to I-960. And his vote reflected his district's vote on I-960, which he said went 56 percent in favor of the measure in 2007. "You can't ignore that," Finn, a businessman, said. At the same time, Finn might vote for tax increases this year. "In this budget climate, there are some tax measures I'll vote yes on. I don't think we can cut our way out of this" $2.8 billion shortfall, he explained.

Although you may not agree with every action of your legislators, please let them know in advance of a vote how you would direct them, and be aware that many voters who disagree with you are doing the same, many of them with not-so-pleasant language. Kathy Haigh was quoted in the Olympian article regarding her vote to repeal I-960, that it was done “with a heavy heart." She also said, “It is one of the most difficult votes any of us will ever have to take.”

Please give consideration to calling or emailing your legislators to thank them for their hundreds of hours of hard, sometimes agonizing work, on your behalf.