T H E K C G O P V O I C E N E W S L E T T E R E P L U R I B U S U N U M F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 1 V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 2 King County is by far the largest county in Washington State at over 2.25 million people, is the 13th largest county in America and is more populous than 15 of the 50 states. Nearly one-third, 16, of the Legislative Districts (LDs) statewide, 49, are in King County. There are two major governance structures as to how Republicans are organized in King County. First, there is the King County Republican Party (KCGOP), now chaired by Joshua Freed and operating King County-wide. Second, each of the 16 King County LDs has a Chair nominated by the KCGOP Chair and then ratified by the elected PCOs in each LD. Both the KCGOP What's Inside Chair and the LD Chairs generally serve for a two-year term carrying out their responsibilities. Foreword By Paul Hess The most important tasks are: (1) Recruitment of PCOs to build up Republican volunteers in the LD; (2) Recruitment of two Republican Candidates every two years for State Representative; State Senator every four years; various Republican center-right Republicans Contract With candidates for many non-partisan offices in the odd-election year King County cycles; (3) Lead and inform the LD PCOs, elected and appointed, and other conservative activists in the LD by scheduling monthly meetings with interesting speakers and sending out information Team Member Interview with to a wide digital email list within the LD; and, (4) Organize the LD with a steering committee board and various leaders in the LD in Karen Olson charge of fundraising, recruitment, monthly speakers, reporting to the PCOs and conservative activists what is transpiring at the KCGOP, supporting the KCGOP with two annual fundraising dinners and helping candidates get elected in the LD and in King Quotes From Around The County. State As LD Chair, always project hope and enthusiasm for the conservative cause, articulate and explain the key policy issues that we as Republicans face in “Blue” King County, but also have a very realistic attitude about the difficulty of getting Humor Republicans elected in the LD and in King County. This is the first time in Washington State’s 130+ years of political history that King County has sent no Republicans to the State Could Have Been Written Legislature, except for 31st LD in far south King County that has slightly more than half of its population in Pierce County. LD Today Chairs are on the front lines of trying to reverse the unacceptable and monopolistic Democrat dominance of King County. Being a King County LD Chair is a tough job, and a worthy endeavor to Classical Thought have our Republican voices heard. B Y M I L L E R F R E E M A N Republican principles of limited government focus on providing a level “playing field” for ALL citizens, with no arbitrary rules favoring one group over another. Freedom of conscience and freedom of choice are the hallmarks of the Republican Party in King County, not despotism imposed by a tyrannical government that has never known a private sector job. To that end, the KCGOP asks that all Republican officials in King County sign onto a contract with the citizens of King County, and bring to a vote in every level of government, laws to: • Immediately implement the voter-approved $30 car tabs; • Immediately end the current emergency and ensure that the Governor and local W H Y E V E R Y O N E I S officials cannot declare any emergency for longer than 30 days and require a two- D O I N G Y O G A , A N D thirds vote of the appropriate legislature to extend that emergency for 2 weeks; Y O U S H O U L D T O O • Require local governments end the “catch-and-release" programs forced upon law enforcement, and at the same time implement a tough-love approach to ending drug abuse by enlarging drug counseling programs for incarcerated criminals; • Require local governments focus on the creation of transition housing for the homeless and a unified oversight of all homeless service groups to finally end the homeless crisis; • Require local governments to focus on serving the highest numbers of commuters through improved traffic systems; • Reform the property tax system to help homeowners stay in homes they have owned for decades and in spite of skyrocketing housing prices; • Prohibit the collection of personal data by the government which may be used to track citizen movements under the poorly conceived per-mile road tax; • Implement a policy granting authority over all education policies to the local school boards. How do these policies help the people of King County? They reduce the crushing weight of taxes on the hardest working members of our society. These policies get our economy moving again, pulling us out of the abyss of the current shutdown and letting everyone earn a living again. These policies bring safety to our streets while at the same time they actually treat the problems under which the most vulnerable of us currently live. These policies free every person living in King County to achieve excellence and not the mediocrity to which Democrats restrain us. (Continued on next page) When Republicans vote for the overwhelmingly voter-approved $30 car tabs, they are helping everyone who uses their car to commute to their jobs for a living. If you don’t work in Downtown Seattle, you likely use a car to commute. If you are searching for a job in King County, you will find 19 times more jobs within reach of your car than within reach of transit options. That doesn’t even count how much time you save overall by commuting point-to-point by car rather than transferring between transit options. Republican pressure to end the unending closure of our economy via the unprecedented emergency declaration will open our economy, allowing small businesses to once again take flight – and more importantly, to once again support families across King County. Openings can be done safely during this pandemic, as seen by many other states who are far more open economically than we are in King County. By pulling our governments back to a place of giving health recommendations instead of mandates, we can allow businesses to take steps appropriate for their type of business and not lump them together as our governments (city, county, and state) are doing. This brings common sense back to governance, rather than the feel-good, photo-op actions taken by all levels of government currently. Republicans are the Party of true heart. We love our country, our state, our county, and our cities. And we love the people who live here. What the Leftists are doing to “solve” the homeless and drug addiction crises in King County is the opposite of love. They are instead allowing people to die all while they stand by and wait. They are allowing squalor to build in our neighborhoods, our parks, and on our streets. And not doing a thing to stop it. Republicans can and will solve these dual crises by supporting our police in their duty to end crime, and by tackling the underlying issues that the Leftists ignore. Instead of slapping band-aids on the gaping cut wound of these crises, Republicans will stitch the wound closed from the inside, solving each issue. Republicans will support transitional housing for the homeless as a requirement – no one should live on the streets. Republicans will support mandatory drug counseling and more drug counseling positions so that those who want to enter rehab can do so right away AND so that addicts who enter our system are run through mandatory counseling which follows them as they leave the system, rather than the current hands- off approach taken by the Leftists. Republicans, under this contract, will affirmatively address the many important issues facing King County today, and not just slap band-aids on the symptoms, but actually solve the problems. We will bring lower taxes to those who need it the most. We will open the economy by supporting safe, local, and common-sense steps to reopen our economy backed by real science, not the Inslee cliff-notes version. And we will bring civility and peace back to our streets by solving the underlying problems of homelessness and addiction. Republicans will bring true freedom: a level playing field with no restraints on any person beyond that needed for a civil society; the opportunity to excel for each and every person in King County. Every month we highlight an individual who is helping to make a difference for the King County Republican Party. This month’s interview is with Karen Olson, longtime Republican volunteer, editor and author. Interviewer: Karen, please tell me a little bit about your background. Karen: My background in the Republican Party began when I was ten years old. My parents weren’t active in politics. One evening while I was watching the news, I listened intently as Vice President Richard Nixon criticized the Soviet Union’s Communist government and praised America’s free enterprise system for providing a better life for ordinary citizens. The next day I went to the library to read about Richard Nixon and Communism.