State Rep. Roger Goodman is an antidote to mushy-voiced congressional candidates who recite poll-tested, consultant-crated talking points.
Goodman
The Eastside Democrat is an unabashed champion of social justice and ardent conservationist, with a strong libertarian streak when it comes to the failed War on Drugs.
Goodman is running for Congress, in what district he does not know.? He lives in what?s now the 8th District, represented by Republican Rep. Dave Reichert, but could find himself in the 1st District ? whose Rep. Jay Inslee is running for governor ? or a newly created 10th District.
?I?ll run wherever my back yard is . . . I?ve been representing my neighbors and intend to continue doing that.? I am not so blindly ambitious as to move to a different district,? Goodman said in a Monday interview with seattlepi.com.
Goodman represents the 45th District with a high-wage, high-technology job base, but has a wide set of worries.? He is concerned that Washington?s high schools and universities are not turning out graduates with training and skills to enter the brain-driven economy.? He favors letting families make the first year of college tax-deductible.
?Everything is out of balance,? Goodman said.? ?Inequality in America is our biggest threat, socially and to society,? American security is not to be measured by missile defense.? We have been squandering resources on 20th Century defense technologies . . . But it is inequality that is corroding our democracy, probably more than anything else.?
Goodman is a product of three distinctive regions of America.? He is the son of a Brown University political scientist, product of a Quaker secondary education who once sat in against New Hampshire?s pricey Seabrook Nuclear Plant.
He worked as an aide to two coal-belt Appalachia congressmen, Reps. Rick Wise of West Virginia and Rick Boucher of Virginia.? After retooling his skills at the Kennedy Center, the Dartmouth-trained lawyer moved West and was elected to the Legislature in 2006.
Goodman, 50, is best known for his public stance that marijuana should be legalized and regulated, and that the country should shift emphasis from drug policies that have failed over the past 40 years.
?If we put resources on healing rather than punishment, it?s good societally and fiscally,? he argued Monday.? ?Society?s benefits is getting rid of violent illegal markets, which aids public safety.?
He also believes that ?a rational, regulated approach? will reduce the toxicity of drugs and the harm that they cause ? and the cachet that comes with using a forbidden substance.? (Portugal has seen use of drugs ? although not alcohol ? decline with decriminalization.)
?The iron law of prohibition is what you try to prohibit becomes stronger and more dangerous,? Goodman said Monday.? He argued that ?scare tactics? are failing to discourage young people from drugs, adding:? ?Get kids ready for life rather than scaring them.?
Goodman has raised over $55,000.? A former Democratic legislator from the 45th District representative, Laura Ruderman, has raised more than $101,000.
He?ll be ringing doorbells this summer, months before the State Redistricting Commission draws the boundaries of where he will be running in 2012.
Source: http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2011/07/11/goodman-liberal-and-libertarian/
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