Tired from the ‘mishandling of the homeless,’ Rosenthal seeks spot in WA House of Representatives

Al Rosenthal (R) has decided to run again for election to represent District 41-Position 2, a position currently held by My-Linh Thai (D), for the Washington House of Representatives after witnessing “the results of the mishandling of the homeless.”

Rosenthal announced he’s running on the homeless, crime, and drug addiction platform.

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“Because of a Washington State Supreme Court decision, and changes in other Washington state laws, all law enforcement agencies in Washington can no longer make arrests for hard drug possession or street-level dealers,” Rosenthal said on the Jason Rantz Show on KTTH. “Basically, the Washington State Supreme Court declared that the Washington felony law for hard drugs was unconstitutional. All the legislature had to do was add in that somebody had knowledge, instead of just possession of the drugs, and it would have been constitutional. But instead, what the legislature did is they made possession of hard drugs a misdemeanor. You have to be caught three times before there’s any penalty. Basically, it almost makes all drugs legal. That has to be fixed.”

Rosenthal is a former engineer for Boeing, Grumman, and McDonnell Douglas and is a King County commercial property owner manager. He was previously on the Redmond Homeless Task Force in 2015.

“My-Linh Thai voted for all of these bad laws. I really don’t think My-Linh Thai trusts the rank and file police. To me, I trust the rank and file police,” Rosenthal said. “I’ve talked to a lot of them and to understand the problems that are out there, if you’re a representative, you have to go one-on-one and talk to the officers and find out, hey, what’s hurting you from doing your job, what laws need to be fixed? And as I’m sure she’s not done that.”

Rosenthal ran against Thai in 2020, losing 66% to 33%.

Thai recently spoke alongside Gov. Inslee and several other Democratic state lawmakers and shared a story of getting pregnant despite using contraception while in school to become a pharmacist and choosing to have an abortion.

“I made a choice, a choice that would afford me to finish my education, a choice that would impact my future, a choice that would allow me to have a healthy family when I am ready,” Thai said at a pro-abortion rights news conference.

Running against both Thai and Rosenthal is Elle Nguyen (R), who earned a bachelor’s degree and a graduate degree from Regent University in 2010 and 2012, respectively, and a J.D. from Seattle University in 2016. Nguyen’s career experience includes working as a real estate investor.

Rosenthal will be on the ballot for the primary August 2.

Listen to the Jason Rantz Show weekday afternoons from 3 – 6 p.m. on KTTH 770 AM (or HD Radio 97.3 FM HD-Channel 3). Subscribe to the podcast here.