Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-20
In Washington State’s 20th District, Will Rollet, a Democrat from Castle Rock, is challenging longtime incumbent Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama for the position 2 seat.
Orcutt, 57, has been a member of the House of Representatives in Washington since 2002, first for the 18th Legislative District and has represented the 20th district since 2012. Orcutt has his degree in forest management, has worked as a forest consultant and has owned his own consulting company since 2009.
Orcutt said his main priority as a state representative would be to balance the budget without raising taxes. Other priorities included creating the necessary infrastructure to create jobs by bringing businesses into the area and continuing to work on forest management to combat future wildfires.
“I helped get the money for Nicholson Parkway at Benaroya industrial Park. That’s the kind of thing I want to continue to do is to continue to work with other leaders and employers, either in the area, or looking to locate to the area to create job opportunities,” said Orcutt, of his contributions to Lewis County specifically.
Rollet, 28, was one of five children raised by a single mother in Missouri. He said he saw firsthand how his family and others relied on public services to get by and was inspired to get into politics to help protect those public services. Rollet currently works as a tribal casino security officer.
“I continued to see other families in that struggle. The fights for healthcare and education. Out of the five of my siblings, I’m the first one to even attempt going to college because the funds just weren’t there for us,” Rollet said. “I have the desire to help everyone have the same chance of success.”
Rollet said his main priority is “taking clear action to sustain what we have” in light of budget shortfalls due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think my biggest push would be to maintain the public services that we have now — the healthcare and education — and make sure we don’t slip backward on that,” he said.
On the topic of the state budget, Orcutt said that some of the most important things that need to be funded are education and nursing homes and care facilities.
“The budget went up by $8.5 billion dollars last biennium so that’s a lot of new spending that’s been added. We need to go back and take a look to see what of that new spending we really need… It’s not a huge amount of money that’s going to need to be trimmed but there is some that is going to be trimmed,” he said.
Rollet said that while maintaining public services within the budget he would want to make sure legislative and executive salaries are not increased.
“It’s probably something that you won’t hear too often is ‘I’ll work to make less’ but that would be the direction I would want to go. I think we’re at a point where the legislative salaries are pretty out of touch with the constituent base,” Rollet said.
Both candidates provided their thoughts on the issue of systemic racism within the police force.
Orcutt said there have already been some reforms within law enforcement and he anticipates there will be additional reforms in the future. He said that if a police officer shows a pattern of using excessive force then that individual should be assessed to determine if they should continue in law enforcement.
“I think we need to be careful that we don’t go to the point of defunding the police. I think it’s important that we maintain a strong police force that will maintain law and order,” said Orcutt.
Rollet said that systemic racism within the police force is definitely something that needs to be addressed and a solution could be the creation of independent boards to review issues and complaints that the police departments receive.
“That way it’s a more objective review than being done by other law enforcement officers. I do believe that it exists in America,” said Rollet. “It’s not something I have seen from a lot of Washington police departments but growing up in the midwest it was a morbid running joke that you could get pulled over for driving while Black and it did seem to have some validity to it.”
When asked about the state’s response to COVID-19, Orcutt said that he felt Gov. Jay Inslee ordered shutdowns too quickly and opened things up too slowly.
“Also, I don’t think Inslee prepared the unemployment security department for the flood of unemployment claims that were filed. He did a very poor job with that,” said Orcutt.
Rollet said that he felt the state did a good job when responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think in certain areas things could have been more lax and contact tracing could have been more effective,” said Rollet. “Overall, I think that given the short notice that we had for such a massive pandemic we did a pretty good job.”
Orcutt said he wears a mask when he goes out and feels that people in the 20th district should wear them as a precaution.
Rollet also wears a mask and said his place of employment requires him to wear one. He encourages others around him to wear one as well.
Orcutt said he was asked to sign on to SB 5395, the comprehensive sex education bill, and opted not to because he feels it is not good public policy and school districts should have more control over what is taught.
“I think that what they are trying to teach is not age-appropriate,” he said.
On the other hand, Rollet said that SB 5395 is an important piece of legislation that should be enacted. He said that the state has seen increases in STD infections and education could be a viable way to reduce the spread of STDs and decrease the associated public health costs.
“Where it tends to be politicized is that people make it appear that it will be something that is forced and every student will have to go through it but it specifically provides an exclusion for students whose parents don’t agree with it,” said Rollet.
Orcutt said he wants voters to know that he is a strong defender of their constitutional rights.
“I stand up for the taxpayers and I believe in balancing budgets with the existing revenue,” he said. “I also am working on the broadband issue and it’s ever more important that we get broadband out to the rural areas.”
Rollet said he would like voters to know that he is a lot like them and does not make more than the median salary in the 20th district.
“I work an hourly job and I’m attempting to go to school and better my life just like everybody else. I think that I would be a better representative for them than what they’ve seen in the past just because I am more in touch with the life they are living at this time,” Rollet said.
According to the Public Disclosure Commission, Rollet’s campaign contributions total $2,619.32 and Orcutt’s campaign contributions total $96,071.00.
Find more information on each candidate at http://www.repedorcutt.com/ and http://willrollet.com/.
