Secretary of State Kim Wyman raises concerns over Trump policy

Whether it’s international trade, the legal marijuana market, or federal funding for sanctuary cities, concern over President-elect Donald Trump’s coming administration has been a hot topic in the weeks since the election. And it’s such issues that Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman has her eye on.

“President-elect Trump is still coming off the campaign trail and is still in that campaign mode,” Wyman told Seattle’s Morning News. “And he doesn’t necessarily have all the information he needs.”

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Wyman was referring to Trump’s recent comments about Boeing. But it’s not just the issue with the aerospace giant that has many Washingtonians worried.

“If you look at Washington state, we are the most trade-dependent state in the country,” Wyman said. “Certainly, being positioned in the Pacific Rim, we have a lot of interaction with China and other countries. All of that is important to workers in Washington state. This definitely gets on my radar.”

The secretary of state’s office doesn’t touch upon a lot of presidential-level policy, but Wyman is hoping the state’s representatives will step up.

“I would hope our congressional delegation with Senators Cantwell and Murray would be working with President-elect Trump and explain the impact to jobs in our state related to trade,” she said. “Just firing from the hip and making commentary on one of our biggest employers in the state with Boeing — you want to take your time and really think through some of these decisions.”

“I’m very optimistic that President-elect Trump is going to listen to people and become educated on those things and not just fire off commentary,” Wyman added.

It wasn’t the only local concern that Wyman addressed while on KIRO Radio. The Secretary of State also commented on the legal marijuana market, sanctuary cities like Seattle, and the notion of seceding from the United States.

Kim Wyman on legalized pot

Trump aims to appoint Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general. The senator is infamous for his opposition to legal marijuana in any form. That concerns those involved in the booming legalized markets that conflict with federal law.

“It is time for a national discussion on looking at the schedule that drug is on … we are certainly seeing in our state a huge revenue source, not only for the government, but you see these businesses that popped up and it’s booming,” Wyman said. “I hope the new administration is going to listen to the states. I tend to be a states’ rights person and think that the power needs to be at the local level. We have avoided that conversation on the national level for a whole lot of reasons, related to how marijuana is viewed in terms of all drugs. I think the states are ahead of the federal government and they need to listen.”

Kim Wyman: Sanctuary cities

The campaign rhetoric was that federal dollars might be withheld from cities like Seattle that have that stand. I think you will see some cities pencil out how much federal money they get, and what would be the impact. I look at Texas or California where technology and modern ability to move products, goods and services — they could be looking at the bottom line. Does it make sense to still have federal government subsidies coming through for transportation?

Seceding from the union

Secretary Kim Wyman said she mentioned Texas for a specific reason. It’s a reason relevant to other West Coast states where murmurs to secede from the United States have lingered since Trump’s election.

I pick out Texas because in their constitution they have a clause that they can secede any time from the federal government. I think the more the federal government tries to interfere with states, you are going to see states question if they want to be part of this. And in the modern era, it is different than it was 100 years ago. So, we’ll see.

They call it the Wild West for a reason. And our initiative and referendum process does give power to the people. We could see some interesting reactions to the Trump administration if they go in directions we’ve not seen in other administrations.

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