A Washington state House seat in the Third Legislative District will change hands next year. Democrat Timm Ormsby is vacating the seat after 22 years.
You have to go back to the mid-1990s for the last time Third District voters elected a Republican. Dr. John Moyer was a one-term senator from 1993-1997. Margaret Leonard was the last Republican House member. She served a single term from 1981-1983.
School teacher Natalie Poulson thinks voters are ready for another Republican.
This interview has been lightly edited for time and clarity.
Natalie Poulson: I love Spokane. It's the most beautiful city, and I just see it becoming unaffordable. I worry about our schools. I want them to be strong schools. We have amazing teachers, but we seem to just have way too much politics and government controlling our public education system.
DN: So if you become a legislator, what sort of influence do you want to have?
NP: I definitely want to influence affordability. For our families, and I'm one of those working families, it is just becoming unaffordable. The taxes are out of control. I definitely feel like we need to look at our budget and live within our means, meaning the state. I do as a personal, you know, my own personal house, I have to budget my household spending, so I think it's time that the state does the same with our tax dollars.
DN: Are there taxes that you in particular are bothered by?
NP: I think it's a matter of coming down and looking at it in a way that we're looking at the outcome. What taxes are we doing? What's the outcome of those taxes? What programs are they going into? What's the outcome of those programs? I think it just comes down to really taking a look at what is happening.
In addition to that, we've got to start looking at revenue streams. Obviously our sales tax is not providing the revenue that we need so it's time to come back to the drawing board and look and really have conversations about what is best for Washington state.
DN: So you want to look at the whole, sales taxes, transportation taxes, the whole nine yards. Is what you're looking at?
NP: Absolutely, don't you think it's time? I mean, as a taxpayer, when we're paying really a really high amount of taxes, it's expensive for us to put gas in our car, it's expensive to buy groceries, our housing, even my property taxes are out of control. So let's look at that.
We have had, what was it, a $33 billion budget, and now we're at over $80 billion. Let's start talking about why has it increased so much? We even had [former Washington Democratic Governor] Gregoire talk about it, to where, why is it increased so excessively? What are we doing? And then we've gone from a surplus to a deficit. So again, let's really sit down and find out what's going on.
DN: What did you think when this year's legislature approved a “millionaire's tax” for people who make a million dollars a year or more?
NP: I definitely believe in our Constitution. We need to pay attention to staying within our Constitution and an income tax is unconstitutional. So I think we need to remember that we want to be ethical.
DN: I think there's still some disagreement among people about whether or not it's constitutional or not.
NP: That's fair. I do know that people are saying that, but we do have it in our Constitution to not have an income tax.
DN: Beyond taxation, what are some of the issues that you're most passionate about that you would work on as a state representative?
NP: Definitely passionate about separating homelessness from the true issue of addiction and mental health crisis. I think we need true recovery services to help people in addiction get recovered and live their best lives. I definitely want to put some serious time and effort into the recovery program. And where is that money going? And is it producing an outcome that actually gets people recovered?
DN: That can be a pretty expensive underpinning. If you're talking about having to create new facilities, government-run facilities, to be able to deal with that.
NP: I don't think we need to create anything. There's enough systems out there and so I think it's looking at those systems and figuring out, again, what is the outcome of those systems? I don't think we need new taxes, new facilities. I think we need to work with what we have and make sure that we're actually producing a good outcome. And a good outcome to me is getting people recovered.
DN: Why do you think you'd be a good representative? What tells us that you're qualified to be a state representative?
NP: I think I am the best choice. I think we have been voting the same in District 3 for well over 30 years and it's time for change. I think we're voting for our own struggle and it's time to vote differently.
Probably the best thing that I could bring to the table is bringing the right people to the table. We need to start having those conversations with constituents and with experts in a field on a certain topic and coming to the table and having a real conversation about what's best for spending taxpayer dollars, what's best for working families. What are we going to do to really make Washington great again? Because Washington state, unfortunately, is declining, and we're an amazing state. We have so many resources, such an incredible area, that it's time we get back to being at the top of thriving and business and lower taxes.
DN: Tell me about an elected official who you particularly admire and why.
NP: Oh, wow, I don't think I've ever been asked that question. So that is a good one.
If I were to start local, I feel like Andy Billig did a good job communicating with constituents, so I just want to give him a little bit of a shout out there. We didn't agree on a lot of topics, but I appreciated the conversation and I definitely know I will bring that to the table.
If we're going to go back in history, I just really appreciate John F. Kennedy really opening up things for equality, making sure that he was fighting for the people, always fighting for the people.
So those would probably be a couple that jump out since I've never been asked that. Now you're gonna make me really sit down and think about it after I leave here.
DN: You've been around elected officials. What are some of the things that you have learned from elected officials that you would adopt as part of your style as a state representative?
NP: I truly appreciate transparency when somebody says what they mean and mean what they say. So it's that authenticity. They have integrity and we don't see it a lot, unfortunately. I really want to start seeing people being honest, not just giving a political answer, not just saying what they think the person wants to hear. We're not going to agree on everything.
I will quote Ronald Reagan, is 80% agreement is not a 20% traitor.
You can change the percentage, but we need to start finding our commonality. Where can we agree and then we'll move forward.
DN: Where are the areas you want to see more transparency in particular?
NP: I definitely think fiscally. It's very apparent if you look at our state budget across the last probably 10 years, it's changed so significantly, like I said, from a surplus to a deficit. Spending has increased significantly. So fiscally is definitely one of the top priorities where I think we need transparency. It's our dollars, so let's see exactly where that's going and make sense out of it. We don't need to have the accountant level, let's just break it down for people and let's really talk about where the money's being spent.
DN: Where are the areas you think you would need to learn the most if you become an elected official? What are the steps that you would feel you'd have to take to get up to speed as a legislator?
NP: I'm definitely a researcher and I've already started the research. So based on topics that I don't necessarily have an expertise in, which we shouldn't be expected to be an expert in all things, but it's really easy to sit down and research and talk to the experts in the field and really get an understanding of the pros and cons and the debate of both sides and then you make a really educated decision on any bills that come forth, while also listening to the constituents. That's where I feel like I will do probably the best is taking into consideration what Spokane needs.
It's going to be different than Seattle. So what does Spokane, LD3 need? Not all those statewide mandates.
DN: So how does being a teacher help you become a legislator?
NP: I am really good at getting people to the table, having conversations. That's what I did most of the time. The conversation would be on one kid and we'd have lots of experts around the table and you have to really keep that conversation moving forward when there's a lot of emotion and a lot of good points from all perspectives. You have to make some decisions and sometimes they're hard decisions.
DN: Anything else about you that you think voters need to know?
NP: I think what they need to know the most is that I am definitely the change that the Legislative District 3 needs. I'm going to be very different than what they've seen before and it's time that we sit down at the table across the aisle and have conversations. I definitely want to get away from party politics. Yes, I'm a Republican and I'm going to be talking to lots of people that have lots of different views and we need to come together with, like I said, that commonality. What can we agree on? And then we'll work really hard on the things that we don't agree and we'll do the best we can.
DN: Are you tough enough to tell your party bosses who say you need to vote this way on a particular issue to say, no, I don't think that works the best for Spokane in my district.
NP: Yeah, I think I've shown that by just even going against the mask mandate and being able to stand for what was right, which was kids and I do think I can stand for what's right.
DN: Let me ask you to tell that story for those who aren't familiar with it.
NP: Back in 2021, I did a one-day peaceful mask protest. I’ve got to give you a little bit of background if I'm going to tell the story.
The background is I exhausted efforts of bringing awareness that we were losing some of our kids. I was a social emotional teacher and I was watching kids deteriorate and it was very hard to watch.
I was watching young kids lose language and so I did a lot of research. I actually presented 47 mask studies of ineffectiveness in children, all done by the CDC and the NIH, presented it to Spokane School Board and they didn't do anything about it. And so I decided to do the next step of a peaceful protest. I, at the time was fired after a few years.
It's public records, you can look at the details, I'm officially resigned. I did the hard thing. I stood for kids when nobody else would. And at this point I was right.
