Two grandmothers flex political muscle for ballot's Proposition 1

A pair of Tumwater and Lacey politicians are going on a different sort of campaign.

In their role as grandmothers, they are hitting the Thurston County speaking circuit in support of Proposition 1, the 3/10 of 1 percent sales tax increase to pay for criminal justice and youth crime prevention programs.

"All we've been doing is spending more money on jails, so we want to do something different," said "Granbo" Judi Hoefling, a Tumwater City Councilwoman. "We want to take a bold step and intervene on a generation."

Hoefling, who has five grandchildren, and "Nanna" Nancy Peterson, Lacey deputy mayor and grandmother of six, will speak tonight at a meeting of the area Junior League at Saint Martin's University. It is one of a series of talks where they are emphasizing their family role in order to play up the purpose of the sales tax increase.

If approved by voters on Nov. 6, Thurston County Prop. 1 would raise the county sales tax from 8.4 cents to 8.7 cents per $1 spent. The tax increase would generate about $10 million annually in revenue.

Of the $10 million, roughly two-thirds would go toward programs for children and families to ease violent or abusive home situations or to otherwise help steer kids away from crime. The remaining one-third of the revenue would go to the county and its cities for criminal justice programs.

Tumwater jail

The new jail at the Mottman Industrial Park in Tumwater has been billed as supporting alternative programs such as work release, day jail and electronic home monitoring. However, those programs are not expected to be added at the new jail until the latter phases of the project.

During the first phase, the alternative programs will continue to be housed at the existing county jail at the courthouse in Olympia. Money for the first 320-bed section is coming from a "detention" sales tax approved by voters in the mid-1990s.

Bill Pilkey, a financial planner and frequent critic of Thurston County's efforts to build a new jail, said he was skeptical that the intervention programs would work. He said he would rather see drug, alcohol and mental health rehabilitation programs for adult offenders to allow them better success at not returning to jail if released into the community.

Pilkey said he would support a smaller jail and a new rehab center instead. "I don't want to pour people's hard-earned money into something that's not going to work," Pilkey said. "Throwing more money at the problem is not going to cure it."

Hoefling disagreed. She said officials who administer the money will be obligated to choose programs for early intervention that are "proven and research-based."

"Let's do what works," she said. Pilkey contends the county will have to use most of its $2 million or so criminal justice revenue from the sales tax increase to pay for staff to run the $35 million, 320-bed jail.

"This has not been thought out," Pilkey said of the jail. "There's no money for staff."

Judy Wilson, campaign treasurer, for the pro-Prop. 1 Family Investment Committee, said her understanding was that the money from the sales tax increase would go toward jail alternative and treatment programs rather than day-to-day operations.

"The purpose of the new jail is about getting folks rehabilitated and going back to the community," Wilson said. "The money is to keep people from coming back through the revolving door."

Keri Brenner covers Thurston County and Tumwater for The Olympian. She can be reached at 360-754-5435 or kbrenner@theolympian.com.