State Sen. Mark Miloscia, erstwhile pro-life Democrat turned Republican, recently mailed a letter to my home in the 30th District. In it he lists his purportedly great success in the state Senate, promising to “require a vote of the people prior to the implementation of … regressive, unnecessary taxes” and touting his participation in the fight for “pay equity, paid family leave and ensuring strong protection for victims of domestic violence.” He also points out that, as a past substitute teacher in Federal Way and Auburn, he has helped make steps toward “guaranteeing our children an excellent education.”

As a current, full-time teacher in the Federal Way School District, I am familiar with the common core standards our children must meet. With that in mind, I humbly ask that you meet those standards as well. Please cite your sources, because your track record representing the 30th District certainly doesn’t support the propositions you’ve advanced in your letter.

Our state senator’s record speaks for itself; he has not demonstrated the commitment to children, respect for life and dedication to equal rights that the 30th District deserves from its representative. He has voted against prohibiting conversion therapy on minors, against requiring school districts to adopt policies protecting transgender students, against allowing people to use bathrooms consistent with their gender identity, against de-escalation training for law enforcement officers, against a $1 billion increase in funding for public schools, and against coverage of contraceptive health care.

The day President Trump was elected, Sen. Miloscia showed his cards when it comes to strong protection for victims of domestic violence, pay equity and paid family leave. When over 100,000 people took the streets of Seattle to exercise their Constitutional right to protest at the Women’s March on Jan. 21, 2016, Sen. Miloscia called the event “ugly, unAmerican, and unChristian [sic].” Meanwhile, the median income for men in Federal Way is $41,5044; women, comparatively, make just $30,448. Perhaps even more startlingly, Sen. Miloscia has yet to publicly state his opposition to the Trump administration’s policy of separating young children from their families when their parents seek amnesty at our border. Our state senator is alarmingly gutsy when it comes to denouncing the many men and women who believe domestic violence, sexual assault and sexism have no place in Washington or in the White House. Meanwhile, he lacks a backbone when it comes to protecting the most vulnerable among us.

In the years since he was last elected, our state senator spent much of his time focusing his efforts on his ambition for higher office. He has run twice now for state auditor, he hosted rallies in Seattle objecting to local safe injection sites in a city he does not represent, and the letter he sent my home even admits his opposition to Seattle’s head tax, an issue residents of the 30th (Sen. Miloscia included) cannot vote on in the upcoming election.

I have never lived in Seattle. My husband and I moved to Federal Way in 1990 with our 2-year-old daughter, now a labor attorney in Seattle. Our son and younger daughter, now a legal assistant living in Seattle and a Navy wife raising her daughter on Whidbey Island, respectively, were born and raised here. Each registered to vote in the 30th the moment they were eligible, and each now votes in their respective legislative district, as I do in mine. Seattle’s head tax has nothing to do with the lack of telecommunications and transportation infrastructure in the 30th, both pressing problems that have caused us to fall behind neighboring cities while the rest of our region blossoms with business investment and growth. Sen. Miloscia’s focus on issues outside our district betray his lack of commitment to what we can fix here at home.

Sen. Miloscia has asked us to give him yet another shot at representing our interests in the state Senate. He’s used his seat there as a bully pulpit from which to shout down women who demand equal rights, as a springboard from which to leap to statewide office and as a recliner from which to do approximately nothing for families seeking asylum. It’s time to pull the chair out from under him and give his seat to his opponent. I hope you’ll join me on Nov. 6 when I vote for Claire Wilson.

Susan Skahan

Federal Way