By Paul Gottlieb
Peninsula Daily News
PORT ANGELES — A licensed practical nurse who spearheaded the successful drive against an affordable housing initiative in Jefferson County last November announced her candidacy Tuesday for the 24th District legislative seat held by Port Angeles Democrat Mike Chapman.
Port Townsend Republican Jodi Wilke said Monday she opposes the one-term Democratic incumbent’s yes vote on using the rainy-day surplus to pay for education and for property tax relief.
Wilke, 58, also is against additional gun regulations on assault-style rifles and bump stocks, a rifle-firepower accessory, and says the state Department of Natural Resources has overstepped its authority on rules setting aside marbled murrelet habitat, claiming the state Legislature should have more say in setting policy.
Wilke, a nurse who commutes to Messenger House Care Center on Bainbridge Island, kicked off her campaign Wednesday in events at Port Angeles, Port Hadlock and from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. in Hoquiam at The Jitter House coffee shop.
The 24th District includes about 100,000 voters, three-quarters of whom live in Clallam and Jefferson counties, with the remainder in the northern half of Grays Harbor County.
A Minneapolis, Minn., native and Port Townsend resident since 2013, Wilke has two grown sons, has never held elective office and has held a variety of jobs during her adult life that give her “a broad perspective,” she said.
She grew up on Mercer Island, was principal owner of a Marysville-area construction company in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and designed change-management systems at U.S. Marine’s yacht manufacturing plant in Arlington.
She’s worked in restaurants as a waitress and was a mortgage loan officer in the mid-2000s before graduating from the nursing program at Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon in 2012.
Wilke worked on Camano Island for the election of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in 2012 and voted for Donald Trump in 2016.
“I wasn’t a fan of him, but I’m more of a fan now,” she said.
“He kind of grew on me, you might say.”
She moved to Port Townsend in 2013, where she became involved in the “No on Prop. 1” campaign, a role she emphasized in her campaign announcement.
Jefferson County voters defeated the property tax measure in the Nov. 7 election. It would have provided funding for low and very low income households and cost the owner of a $362,000 home — Port Townsend’s median-priced abode, according to Zillow — $130 per year. “It would have helped approximately 189 (households) and hurt thousands,” she said of the initiative.
No-growth policies have contributed to the housing crisis, Wilke said.
Wilke said rifles can already be modified enough to make state regulations on bump-stocks unnecessary. “The problem with guns is more of a social problem,” she said. “Some [gun] limitation for mental illness is very appropriate,” Wilke said. “Although it is a slippery slope when you start putting evaluations into government’s hands for anything.
“People tend to abuse that power, and I think we have to be careful.”
Wilke added that there should be an option for teachers to be armed “if they are competent and trained and have current licensing.”
Wilke said she disagreed with Chapman’s vote to exempt lawmakers from the statewide Public Records Act, a law vetoed by Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee. “If they don’t want records to be public, then maybe decisions need to be made in a form that’s more conducive to private discussion and brainstorming,” she said.
Wilke also disagreed with Chapman’s recent vote to pass a $44.6 billion operating budget that focused on increased spending for education to fulfill the state Supreme Court’s mandate contained in what’s known as the McCleary ruling.
The budget included a one-time, 30-cents-per-$1,000-valuation property tax cut funded by redirecting tax revenue that would have gone into the state Budget Stabilization Account, also known as the rainy day fund, criticized by Republicans for taking $700 million that might be needed if the economy goes sour. The reserves also are being redirected into an account for education.
Wilke said she was “in a corner” on how McCleary should be funded. “Nobody had a good answer for that one, so we ended up with a bad answer,” Wilke said.
