By Joshua Adam Hicks

Bellevue Reporter

This year’s contest for Position 2 in the 48th Legislative District features Democratic Rep. Deb Eddy and Republican challenger Ron Fuller.

Fuller is a conservative whose platform consists of two issues: education reform and fixing the state’s traffic problems.

“I’m keeping my message as focused as I can on the things we can do most at the state level,” he said.

Eddy is an experienced politician and self-described fiscal conservative whose objectives are less narrow.

“I’m a policy wonk,” she said. “I’m not in this because I have some grand cause célèbre.”

Rep. Deb Eddy

Eddy served for six years as a member of the Kirkland City Council – two as mayor – before taking on the role of executive director for the Suburban Cities Association in 1999.

“The association was struggling,” she said. “It gave me an opportunity to rebuild a non-profit and help the cities find their collective voice on some policy issues.”

Eddy has served one term in the legislature, having won a bid for office in 2006.

Eddy is taking a wait-and-see approach to fixing the education system. She claims things will improve once lawmakers begin implementing recommendations from the state committees that have been studying the issue.

“We can’t do anything without putting something on the line that’s doable,” she said.

Eddy claims she’s most passionate about brokering deals that involve land use, transportation, and the environment – matters that she claims are key to helping the region thrive.

“We can’t deal with these things in silos,” Eddy said. “My passion is figuring out where these things come together and work together.

“It’s that interface, which is incredibly complicated and difficult, that gets me up in the morning.”

Eddy has shown a penchant for environmental issues. She supports incentives to keep rural areas undeveloped and advocates for permeable surfaces for future road projects to protect the Puget Sound from runoff pollution.

Eddy supported the current 520 plan, which limits the highway to six lanes.

“That sent people over the edge because of their belief that we need eight lanes to make that bridge work,” she said. “Right now, that’s largely a fiscal decision to shrink it down.

“There’s neither the money nor the political will to build eight lanes right now.”

Eddy claims she wouldn’t have approved the 520 plan if it didn’t allow for expansion in the future.

“I am comfortable that the right of way through tunnels and lids will be appropriate for up to eight lanes,” she said. “I think that’s the responsible thing to do.”

Eddy has shown a dislike for Sound Transit, which she describes as a “monolithic and hide-bound” agency.

“Sound Transit has truly become one of our major problems,” she said. “The agency cares more about perpetuating itself than providing a transportation system for the region.”

Eddy also has indicated that she opposes Proposition 1.

“The idea that we’re being asked to pay the amount of money that we’re being asked to pay between the International District in Seattle and Downtown Bellevue is a joke,” she said. “There’s absolutely no opportunity to redevelop in that corridor. Neither is there a significant opportunity to link where people live with where they work.”

Ron Fuller

While Fuller is making his debut as a political candidate, he’s hardly a newcomer to the political scene.

The Microsoft consultant served as a chair of the 48th District GOP, and he shows little desire to drift from the traditional party line.

Fuller has expressed opposition to big government and mandatory union membership while supporting what he calls “choice-directed” education funding, which is another term for school vouchers.

“I want responsible and effective government,” he said. “I have four young kids, and I want to help fix the schools.”

Fuller says the state needs to stop throwing money at the educational system to make it work. He claims this practice has encouraged failure.

“The incentive is not to improve the schools,” he said. “In fact, the incentive is for poor performance.

“Taxpayers are so eager to see better schools that they’ll pay whatever is asked.

“We need to get more of the current education budget to classrooms where it belongs instead of being absorbed by massive overhead and wasteful bureaucracy.”

One way Fuller claims he would tackle educational issues is by taking on the teachers unions, which he says are practicing a form of legalized corruption.

“Someone needs to take a stand against the entrenched special-interest groups who are controlling educational policy for their own benefit,” he said.

Fuller has proposed giving all state employees, including teachers, the choice of whether to join a union rather than making membership mandatory.

The GOP candidate claims his choice-directed funding idea would save money for the state and lower class sizes.

Fuller suggests giving parents $8,500 for each child, which is $1,000 less than current per-student funding in Washington.

The $1,000 of leftover per-student financing could go back towards public schools, he says.

Fuller supported widening 520 to eight lanes, and blames Gov. Chris Gregoire for failing to garner support for that plan.

He also claims that the idea of adding more lanes in the future doesn’t float.

“What we get when we build it is what we get for the next 50 years,” Fuller said. “Saying it’s expandable is meant to placate the eight-lane people and make it more palatable.”

Fuller has worked as a financial clerk for his church, and he says the experience would help him deal with money matters for the state.

“We shouldn’t be needing any tax increases because there’s so much waste to cut right now,” he said.

Joshua Adam Hicks can be reached at jhicks@bellevuereporter.com or 425-453-4290.