PLATFORM
“I am running for re-election because it is essential to preserve and protect the property, parental and individual rights of the residents of the 39th LD.
The people of our community deserve a strong advocate working on their behalf to address public safety, affordable living and school excellence focused on academics.”
- Rep. Carolyn Eslick
Public Safety
& Addressing Addiction
After Democrats in Olympia, being the majority Party, passed legislation in 2021 restricting police pursuits, Washington saw a dramatic increase in crime. In 2023 the people of our state spoke up in bipartisan support of our police and signed Intitiative 2113 in overwhelming numbers. This forced the Democrat majority to join supporters Rep. Eslick and her colleagues into restoring reasonable police pursuits into law in the 2024 Legislative Session.
While this will help officers fight crime, there is still more to be resolved to bring safety levels up in Washington. This includes addressing the drug addiction crisis, mental health issues and often related homelessness. This year Carolyn passed HB 1946, bolstering the much needed behavioral health workforce to help meet the needs of the growing mental health crisis. Long-term effective treatment facilities are still needed to transform those afficted with addiction into healthy and productive citizens in our communities. Addressing root causes will help alleviate much of the crime and homelessness our county and state are dealing with presently.
Police employment retention is still low across the state. Rep. Eslick will continue to back legislation supporting our law enforcement. It is critical to attract more qualified officers to serve our communities to help absorb the workload of current law enforcement and to keep us safe.
Affordable Living
Higher taxes and excessive spending are the ongoing themes that we have seen in the last several Legislative Sessions. Again the people of our state spoke up to fight these taxes, which Rep. Eslick voted against.
Initiative 2111 stopped a state income tax after the Democrats have tried several times to implement one. However, there are still three taxes from the Initiatives that will be on the November ballot:
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I-2117 to Stop The Hidden Gas Tax, which has drastically effected the cost of living in our state
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I-2109 to Repeal the Capital Gains Tax which punishes family businesses and innovators. It also places an excise tax on selling/trading long-term assets. History shows that taxes for one catagory of income generally trickles down to all of us.
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I-2124 to Opt Out of State Run Long Term Care Coverage Act removes mandatory deductions from employees paychecks that they may not want, use or are not for sufficient services.
Carolyn will continue to fight for lower taxes, affordable living and protecting our District from over-reaching government control of our lives. As your 39th Legislative District Representative, combating these taxes has been a top priority. Rep. Carolyn Eslick is committed to voting "NO" to burdensome taxation.
Education with Accountablility
Who knows their child better than their parents? They are the ones who should rightfully be making critical decisions for their children. Initiative I-2081, now law, provides certain rights to parents/guardians of public-school children, including rights to review instructional materials, inspect records, receive certain notifications, and opt out of certain activities, like sex education. Rep. Eslick will continue to advocate for progress in resoting Parental Rights.
Much classroom time has political and activism agendas woven into curriculum. Math and English test scores have plummeted in public schools statewide.
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Over 60,000 students left the public school system for alternatives in education since 2020.
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50% failing English
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61% failing math
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57% failing science state standards
Rep. Eslick continues to work to improve academic fundamentals for success in college or the trades and in life, while focusing on transparency and accountability to the parents and stakeholders. At over $18k per student/per year on average in our state, better performance should be expected. School choice would be a great option to parents, where the money follows the student allowing parents to seek the best education for their children, triggering competitve responses to raise all tides.
