|
Hinkle and Warnick hold successful community conversation over the phone
More than 200 citizens listened in
Many constituents
participated with Reps.
Bill Hinkle
and
Judy Warnick last night in
an hour-long tele-forum with citizens from the 13th District.
"I was not sure about this
new technology and whether folks would get involved," said Warnick,
R-Moses Lake. "But I'm so pleased with the amount of participation and
the great discussion."
Nearly 40
participants had questions for the representatives. The questions ranged in topics from
tolling on the Interstate 90 project, to building houses, to taxes, to
alternate sources of energy. Six people wanted to talk about recent boat
lift fees administered by the Department of Natural Resources on Moses
Lake.
Hinkle, R-Cle Elum, said
he enjoyed hearing people's opinions and seeing results of three poll
questions that were asked.
"It's important for us to
stay tuned in with our constituents, and this allowed us to do that,"
Hinkle said. "Lately we've had reduced participation at our face-to-face
town halls, so we're glad to have this option to reach out to more
constituents."
Results of the three poll
questions are below:
1. Non-partisan
budget staff are projecting a $2.4 billion deficit next year. What do
you think we should do to address this?
74 percent: "cut programs"
22 percent: "combination of both"
3 percent: "raise taxes"
(90 respondents)
2. In regards to
tolling, which do you prefer?
53 percent: "none"
18 percent: "tolling before a project begins"
17 percent: "tolling after a project is completed"
13 percent: "either"
(96 respondents)
3. Just over nine
percent of Washingtonians do not have health insurance. While everyone
agrees that people should have access to affordable health insurance,
opinions vary as to how to reach this goal. Which approach do you
support?
61 percent: "improve the
state's regulatory environment so more health insurance carriers will
enter the market and create competition"
17 percent: "not sure"
16 percent: "neither"
6 percent: "expand state government-run health care"
(77 respondents)
One caller from Moses Lake
left a voice mail after the call stating she does not have health
insurance. However, she said does not want the state to require her to
have it because she wouldn't have the right choices.
Two callers left
voice mails stating they appreciated the opportunity to speak with Warnick and Hinkle.
Of the 229 callers who
listened on the call, 173 stayed on for 15 minutes or more.
"This was a huge success
for connecting with the people we represent," Hinkle said.
"We'll now be returning
calls to those who left us voice mails, and calling the listeners who
didn't have a chance to ask us their questions on air," Warnick said.
# # # |