Mark Isaacs announces bid for house seat in 45th District
July 6, 2010
By Caleb Heeringa
New: July 6, 1:24 p.m.
It may be thousands of miles away and many degrees warmer, but Mark Isaacs has his native home of Jamaica on his mind as he runs for a spot in Olympia.
Isaacs, a home builder and real estate agent in Kirkland since 1983, is running as a Republican for a position in the House 45th legislative district against incumbent Larry Springer, the Democrat who has held the seat since 2004.
The district is largely in Kirkland and Redmond, but takes in parts of Sammamish north of Northeast 16th Street.
Isaacs, 64, who was born and began raising his family in Jamaica, recalls being forced to leave by the rampant crime and oppressive taxes and business regulation that he says followed the election of a socialist government in the 1970s after the island achieved independence from England in 1962.
“It was a ‘blood and thunder’ time,” Isaacs said. “If you were a member of the other party in the wrong neighborhood you could get killed.”
At the age of 24, Isaacs had taken over his father’s business importing and distributing consumer goods such as watches, typewriters and calculators around the island. His brother did land development and real estate on the island. Frightened by the murder of several friends and concerned for the safety of his American wife and three daughters, Isaacs applied for and received a green card in 1977 on what he calls the “proudest day of my life.”
Isaacs said his experience growing up has informed his current world-view – that high taxes and government regulation of business thwart personal initiative and entrepreneurship.
“We were doing very well until Democratic Socialism took over,” Isaacs says in an accent recalling his native land. “Simply put, I see something very similar taking place (in America.) Taxes are onerous and regulation is strangling business … There are tremendous possibilities that exist if the government will get out of the way of the private sector.”
Isaacs said that if he had been in the state legislature during this year’s debate on the next biennium’s budget he would have closed the estimated $2.8 billion shortfall without raising taxes. He did not specifically say what programs he would have cut instead, saying that he has not been privy to the same budget details that legislators in Olympia had.
After months of debate, Gov. Chris Gregoire (D) signed a budget in May that included approximately $780 million in new taxes and fees such as a business and operations tax hike and new tax on candy and soda, as well as $755 million in cuts to state programs, including $120 million from public schools and $73 million from community colleges and universities. The rest of the gap is expected to be made up through federal aid and reserve fund transfers.
Isaacs called the B&O tax – now 1.8 percent of a business’ gross income – “unjust” and said families and businesses were suffering enough in this recession without new taxes. He said government should be willing to take the same serious financial cuts that families have had to take.
“This is not the time for aspirin, this is time for surgery,” Isaacs said.
Isaacs said Springer was too ready to vote for tax increases and too close to unions. He cited unions as a source of rising costs in public agencies like law enforcement and schools.
Isaacs also called Springer’s vote this year to temporarily suspend Initiative 960, which required a two-thirds majority for the legislature to approve any tax increases, a “betrayal” of the citizens’ will. House Democrats claimed the initiative would have made it impossible to close the budget gap without even deeper cuts in service.
Though it is not currently an issue before the legislature, Isaacs said he supports state Attorney General Rob McKenna’s legal challenge of President Obama’s health care bill, saying citizens should not be required to enroll in the program and that the government should leave health insurance to the private market.
If elected, Isaacs said fiscal austerity would be his guiding principle. He told a story of taking his 6-year-old grandson Colton to Target to buy baseball cards. Colton wanted $36 worth of baseball cards but only had the $20 his grandfather had given him. After his grandfather talked him through the realities of budget constraints, Colton elected to buy $16 worth of cards and keep $4.
“If a 6-year-old can understand that when he doesn’t have the money, he can’t spend more than has, why doesn’t Olympia?” Isaacs asked. “Government has to learn to live within its means.”
Reporter Caleb Heeringa can be reached at 392-6434. ext. 247, or cheeringa@isspress.com.
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Sounds like this guy’s 6-yr-old grandson understands the budget process better than Rep. Springer does.