Councilor Molly Carmody
Photo credit: City of Yelm


“Washington State Representatives JT Wilcox and Andrew Barkis, and Senator Randi Becker, along with the rest of the state’s GOP, claim to represent the “little guy” but don’t act like it when it comes to creating a state budget. The GOP is essentially playing a “shell game” with budget funds – they refuse to bring in more money to fully fund education and infrastructure – instead, they propose to TAKE money from infrastructure and give it to education. This hurts not only our state infrastructure; it also hurts cities, as cities rely heavily on those funds to help with their own infrastructure. GOP opposes taxing sales of stocks and bonds, which will affect only the rich, and it opposes a carbon tax. In light of Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Accord, it is now up to the states to work towards carbon-neutrality and reduce climate change. The GOP, including Wilcox et al, do NOT represent the best interest of their citizens, and should be replaced, unless they can show that they are willing to tax the rich, and to tax carbon emissions, to fund our students’ futures.”

Sincerely,
Molly Carmody
Yelm, WA


– UPDATE: June 8, 2017
An edited version of Councilor Carmody’s letter was printed in the Nisqually Valley News.

– UPDATE: June 22, 2017
By Yelm Councilor Molly Carmody published in the Nisqually Valley News.
“Washington Legislators Need to Support Our Cities”
“Washington Legislators still have not completed a budget, and state government shutdown looms at the June 30 deadline.

Yelm’s representatives in the state House are Rep. JT Wilcox, R-Yelm, Rep. Andrew Barkis, R-Olympia, and Sen. Randi Becker, R-Eatonville. I call on these three to commit to keeping all 281 cities across Washington state strong, and to continue to fully fund $225 million in critical revenues.”
Click here to read Councilor Carmody’s full opinion piece.