Goldendale Resident Jim Daniel Joins Washington Governor's Race
Goldendale resident Jim Daniel has joined a packed gubernatorial primary race.
By Ken Park
Jim Daniel
Goldendale, WA, May 21, 2024 – Jim Daniel, a 24-year resident of Goldendale, has joined the crowded primary race for Washington State Governor as a moderate Republican, vying with 27 others for a spot on the general election ballot.
Meet the Candidate
After graduating from South Kitsap High School in Port Orchard in 1960, Daniel began his career as a manufacturing engineer for Boeing. That same year, he enlisted in the U.S. Army National Guard, serving as a Medical Service Corps Administrator until his honorable discharge in 1966.
After his military service, Daniel attended the University of Oregon, majoring in Political Science, and then returned to Boeing, where he held a leadership position in Aircraft Production, collaborating with multiple departments until his retirement in 2000.
In 2008, Daniel was elected to the Klickitat Valley Health Hospital Commissioner role, where he served until 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the economic downturn and rising inflation rates, and their impacts on working families prompted Daniel to pursue the governor's office.
“What disturbed me was how the governor and the legislature did not consider the financial situation that the people were in,’ Daniel said.” That upset me because they (the government) were continually passing new taxes and to me, the government is supposed to work for the people, not against the people and when times are hard financially for the citizens, then the government needs to back off from their taxes.”
Taxes are one of the four key priorities Daniel has emphasized throughout his campaign and vows to focus on if elected governor, the others are housing, crime, and environment.
Taxes/Infrastructure
In 2022 the Washington State legislature passed Move Ahead Washington, a $16.8 billion spending package focused on improving transportation and infrastructure across the state, without raising the state's gas tax.
However, the package did call for the raising of licensing fees and some tolls on roads and bridges to cover the cost and maintenance of these improvements.
“It's doubled the cost of our driver's licenses and license plates and all other associated licensing costs," Daniel said. “As governor, I would reduce that, and while I don't think it would have that much impact on those projects, it would have an impact on the people themselves, especially those in lower/ low middle-class families.
In 2022, the Washington State legislature had a $15 billion surplus that many state republicans (including Daniel) believe should have been put toward tax relief for families as well as finding solutions to the affordable housing crisis across the state.
“I think that they could have taken about $5 billion of that and gave a little tax relief to the people and then they could have taken the other $10 billion and put it towards housing, because that's really important, especially for young people,” said Daniel. We can't let them not own homes and rent forever, because if they rent forever, what's going to happen when they retire? I mean, what kind of wealth have they built up? So we have to look long-range for those young people and make sure that they can get into a home that they own so they can build wealth.”
Housing
Housing is a number one priority for Daniel. He says that housing is the topic he has heard the most about on his trips around the state.
“We need 225,000 housing units by 2030, and our governor and the legislature are not addressing that as promptly nor as quickly as I feel it should be,” Daniel said.”Our state is the eighth worst in the nation, concerning the production of housing.”
Washington State has developed several programs over the last four years to incentivize the development of multiple kinds of housing and has encouraged cities and counties across the state to revisit their zoning codes to allow for these newer developments to meet the housing needs.
While Daniel thinks the legislature is behind in addressing this problem he approves of the steps that have been taken and would like to see more options for the development of single-family homes.
“I think that we need not only single families but ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units) and I think we need to concentrate on transportation areas where there might be land available to put up multi-housing units,” Daniel said. “I'm not against renting, I just want to see a balance of ownership.”
Daniel advocates for increased single-family housing development, believing it offers the best financial return upon retirement.
He is also advocating for alternative methods in development, such as 3D-printed homes and other innovative plans that could speed up the development process.
“Having the state have put together pre-made plans for apartments, single dwellings, and ADUs that just need to be accepted by the city or county and then just have that process go right on through because we need to speed up that process,” Daniel said.
Daniel also supports a multi-wealth, public housing option that provides people with a place to live while they save up to become homeowners, acknowledging that although development plans are promising, the outcomes are often not affordable.
“You don't want to build public housing or low-cost public housing, because what that's gonna do is become a ghetto down the road,” Daniel said. “So I think if you have a multi-wealth area that we can put up public housing, then that will keep the neighborhood more balanced, between different people who have different incomes.”
Daniel noted that other states, like Minnesota, Illinois, and Maryland are experimenting with this idea and seeing some success.
“I think down the road, each state is going to have to find or develop public housing but it's not going to be competition with developers and their profits,” Daniel said. “That's one of the big problems we have with housing today, most construction developers like to do the high-end, rather than a middle or lower-cost development because there is more profit to be had. I can understand that but somebody's got to address the need for affordable housing, and I think we ought to take a look at that.”
Daniel said that if elected Governor one of the first things he would do to address housing and this method of addressing the problem, is getting all the finance and bankers together with the developers and construction companies to work with the legislature to come up with funding for a public housing option.
“That's a big thing, the funding part of it is, and so it's going to be a balancing act,” Daniel said. “But somebody needs to press on the accelerator and do something because we're falling behind.”
Crime
When it comes to dealing with crime Daniel says he wants to be tough on crime but also tougher on the causes of crime.
“I think when you're looking at homelessness, drug problems, and unemployment, our state system deals with each of those things separately through separate departments. What we need to do is kind of have those departments work more in sync with each other,” Daniel said.
Daniel suggested creating a team within law enforcement that handles calls about mental health issues, trespassing, disorderly conduct, etc.
“I think a portion of our police system spends time on things that they shouldn't be doing,” Daniel said.
He spoke about a program in Denver, Colo. where medical and mental health personnel respond to those kinds of calls.
Similar programs exist in Washington with law enforcement departments hiring “Navigators” or people specialized in mental health and in dealing with mental health issues.
“I would like to see more programs like that so that law enforcement can spend more time investigating crimes and handling situations that become rather than dealing with nuisance calls,” Daniel said.
The opioid epidemic and the rise in Fentanyl on the streets is also something Daniel wants to address if elected as well.
“I think that one of the things that we have to be concerned about is the death of young people,” Daniel said. “So we need to have Naloxone close by in our community, like with paramedics and in our schools, and through some community organizations so we don't lose those young folks.”
The Washington State legislature recently passed a bill requiring most schools in the state to carry naloxone.
Environment
Daniel is one of a handful of republican candidates who believe in the impacts of climate change.
He believes that before the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated economic strife, Governor Jay Inslee was on the right track to making Washington a green energy efficient state. But he also believes that those efforts needed to take a back seat until the economy got back on track.
“I understand the climate change and I know that we have a need to address it and I think Governor Inslee was on the right track before COVID-19 and economic inflation set in,” Daniel said. But, during hard times like that, you have to balance your budget and priorities with the needs of the people and I think he failed to do that.”
Daniel said he thinks that many of the tax increases that occurred during the pandemic were motivated by moving climate projects in the state forward.
General Election
The primary will occur on August 6, 2024. The general election will occur on November 5, 2024.
Support Local News
Available to everyone; supported by readers like you.
