Note: The following e-newsletter was sent to Sen. Christian’s subscribers Sept. 12, 2025. To subscribe to Sen. Christian’s e-newsletters, click here.

Charlie Kirk. Photo: CC-by-2.0/ Wikimedia Commons

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

At a time when our two major parties are about as far apart as they have ever been, the assassination of Charlie Kirk this week has forced us to recognize there is one point on which we all can agree. Violence has no place in our political system. Our combat, when it takes place, should be on the strength of our ideas.

This fundamental political principle has been reaffirmed everywhere in recent days by responsible leaders on both sides of the aisle. More than the killing of Democratic Minnesota legislator Melissa Hortman earlier this year, the horrific shooting of Charlie Kirk, a rising figure in national politics, has forced us to recognize the damage done by violent extremism of all types.

This is why I think we need to reconsider the approach of the state’s nascent Domestic Extremism and Mass Violence Task Force. This task force was created last year by majority Democrats in the state Legislature to consider public-health approaches to political violence and mass shootings. Well and good, but it struck most of us on my side as an politically motivated effort to de-legitimize dissent – sort of a state-level version of the old House Un-American Activities Committee, in reverse.

Our fears were confirmed when a preliminary report in June cited historic incidents of violent protest on the right, yet failed to mention the 1999 World Trade Organization riot in Seattle, the occupation of Seattle’s Capitol Hill in 2020, and this year’s rampage by anti-Israel protesters at the University of Washington that did $1 million in damage.

If this task force is to have any value, it needs to broaden its focus and give equal weight to threats from all extremes. Ideological violence is a concern for people of all political perspectives. Let me point out that Charlie Kirk may have been a figure of controversy, but he also believed in engaging the other side. In appearances last year at the University of Washington and this year at Washington State University, he invited students who disagreed with him to come forward and join him in public debate. That’s what he was doing at Utah Valley University Wednesday when his life was cut short by an assassin’s bullet. Kirk leaves us with a legacy of civility and a willingness to respect his opposition, principles we must observe for the good of our system.

 

State’s financial troubles begin at home

Ferguson blasts D.C. for Medicaid cuts, tariff hit – ignores impact of state budget

Gov. Bob Ferguson addresses a joint session of the Legislature in January.

Nine months into the administration of Bob Ferguson, our new governor is starting to sound like a broken record. He is complaining about cuts to Medicaid and the impacts of federal tariffs, and of course all of it is the fault of that fellow in the White House. Yet somehow he fails to see that the biggest problem the state faces is his own party’s irresponsible budgeting practices.

In last month’s e-newsletter, I mentioned Ferguson’s curious complaints about the expiration of expanded federal subsidies for state Medicaid programs, something the state could have anticipated years ago. Morally bankrupt, Ferguson called it. New information has surfaced that puts his complaint in a different light. This year’s state budget cut Medicaid by nearly a billion dollars. That happened in this Washington, not the other one.

According to the nonpartisan Office of Program Research, this year’s state budget cuts Medicaid spending by $782 million. It took months to get those numbers. The budget bill, written by the majority party, is clear as mud, and it took a special request by the House Republican budget lead to get the analysis done. Once everything was added up, the cuts were about four times bigger than expected. Now our majority colleagues are saying, well, OK, they cut Medicaid too – but the feds were so much worse than they were.

We’re hearing the same sort of nonsense about federal tariffs. Last month the governor declared new federal tariffs will cost the state $2.2 billion over four years, citing a new analysis from his Office of Financial Management. He says people will feel this tax in the form of higher prices for food and consumer goods, tens of thousands of jobs lost, big shortfalls in the state budget, so on and so forth. To be fair, the jury is out on tariffs, we don’t know if they will stick, or how big they ultimately will be. But let’s suppose the governor’s numbers are correct. If a $2.2 billion hit is bad for our economy, how about the more-than-$14 billion in state and local taxes Ferguson signed into law this year?

And let’s not stop there. About $9 billion of these new taxes go straight into the state general fund. Yet with all this additional money, Ferguson’s team still decided to cut Medicaid by nearly a billion dollars. So much for moral bankruptcy.

We can go on about spending priorities, hypocrisy, and the excuses politicians make. More important is the fact that we will get a new forecast of state tax revenue on Sept. 23, and it is expected to throw the state into the red. When our governor already is looking for ways to pin the blame on D.C., you have to wonder what nastiness is in store for us when the Legislature returns to Olympia in January.

 

Superintendent of troubled juvenile facility wins a promotion

The state’s troubled Green Hill School in Chehalis, home to the state’s most incorrigible juvenile offenders, is back in the news again. But this time the story has nothing to do with chaos, mismanagement, rioting, the smuggling of contraband and staff misconduct. The news is that the superintendent has been promoted to the top position in her division and now will oversee the state’s entire juvenile rehabilitation program. The state Department of Children, Youth and Families has announced that Jennifer Redman has been named assistant secretary for juvenile rehabilitation.

Redman served as Green Hill superintendent from 2017 to 2023, and she returned last year to serve as interim superintendent at the facility. Given the management problems that surfaced under her watch, the promotion might seem a bit puzzling. But at least we can say she has first-hand knowledge of everything that needs to change.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading,

 

 

 

Leonard Christian

4th Legislative District

 

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If you have a comment about state government, or a concern with a state agency, I hope you will reach out to my office. My most important duty is to serve you.

Mailing address: Post Office Box 40404, Olympia, WA  98504

Email: Leonard.Christian@leg.wa.gov

Phone: (360) 786-7606

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