GOP candidate eyes Dem seat in Snohomish County 44th

In the race for one of two House seats in Washington’s 44th Legislative District, Republican Jeff Sax hopes to get his first shot in Olympia by unseating Democratic incumbent John Lovick.

The 44th Legislative District covers much of Snohomish County, such as Lake Stevens, Mill Creek, Marysville and Snohomish.

Lovick has decades of local and state public service under his belt, including over 30 years as a State Patrol trooper, serving on the Mill Creek City Council, five terms in the state House as well as stints as Snohomish County Sheriff and Executive before returning to the Legislature in 2016.

Sax is a former Snohomish County Councilmember who says much of Lovick’s record in Olympia has not been what’s best for the district.

The two agree on several issues, including the need for property tax relief.

Lovick voted against the McCleary education fix bill in 2017 that led to a big property tax hike because he didn’t like how much it relied on property taxes. Last year, he voted for a one-time property tax cut in 2019 to get homeowners some relief, which he hopes to extend.

RELATED: House seat in Snohomish County’s 44th big target for Washington Dems

“I hope we make it [property tax cut] permanent,” Lovick said. “I’m glad that in 2019 there will be property tax relief and one of the things that I’m going to do… depending on the budget, to try and make some permanent property tax relief. It’s going to be a lot of work but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try.”

Sax also wants to see the one-time property tax relief coming in 2019 made permanent.

The McCleary fix also capped how much school districts can raise through local levies starting in 2019, but many districts are pushing to lift the cap amid fears it will negatively impact their budgets and lead to cuts and layoffs.

Sax and Lovick both oppose lifting the levy cap. They both also oppose a capital gains tax that the state schools chief is proposing to cut property taxes that came with McCleary.

Sax says he’ll fight for car tab relief that came with ST3 and more when it comes to Sound Transit.

“The Sound Transit board should be elected,” Sax said. “The car tabs–I believe what they’ve done is wrong. They used a valuation metric that isn’t even in state law anymore and they bamboozled the voters when they did it, so we need to fix that.”

Lovick also supports some car tab relief, though more modest than what Sax wants, such as a bill that didn’t get through last session that would have saved drivers about $30 on their tabs.

Tolling is one of the largest issues for this district and something Sax vows to fight against.

“No tolls on the trestle, not for existing lanes or no lanes,” Sax said. “I don’t approve of hot lanes with tolls. What we’re doing on 167 and 405 — it’s an experiment that’s failed. Remove them.”

Lovick says paying for the trestle replacement is going to be a challenge and admits all options — including tolls — are on the table.

Lovick came out of the primary with a significant lead, 57 percent of the vote compared to just 42 percent for Sax.

Allegations against Lovick do not appear to have impacted the campaign

This is one of a handful of state races that has been hit with a sex abuse controversy this year.

A month after the primary, Sax released what he called the Lovick files –documents he obtained from Mill Creek Police regarding decades-old child sex abuse investigations into Lovick involving his daughter that never resulted in charges.

Lovick denied the allegations then and now, calling them “absolutely untrue.” His daughter has said the same.

Sax had sent the records to multiple media outlets that declined to publish prior to releasing them himself online, saying in a statement at the time he felt morally compelled to do so — and refusing to answer any media questions about the move.

Asked now about that decision, Sax said, “It’s not my responsibility as a candidate for office to make accusations, bring other people into the conversation that don’t want to be brought into the conversation. The best way that I could find to allow the voters to have additional information is simply to publish a public record.”

The records have not been a focus in the campaign — and in the weeks after Sax released those documents – it doesn’t look like they have done a lot to boost his campaign — with Lovick raising more than $290,000 in contributions compared to just under $37,000 for Sax.

If Sax doesn’t win this time around, he says he’ll be back to run again.

Follow @https://twitter.com/HannaKIROFM