I had a chance to talk with Susan Fagan, the likely winner of tonight's election for state representative in the Washington 9th Legislative District, after the first round of votes had been tallied:

RC:  Obviously, the numbers look really good for you right now.  You can't really declare victory yet, but what are you feeling?

Susan Fagan:  I'm really grateful for where the numbers are now.  It is a clear indication of the amount of effort and time that was put into this campaign; literally hundreds of volunteers, thousands of doorbelling efforts, and 10,000 phone calls. I always said that if hard work pays off, we will be very competitive.

RC:  Terry Nealey is beating the incumbent Democrat in the Washington 16th LD to our south and Republicans have retaken the governor's office in Virginia and New Jersey.  Do you think voters are sending a message to Democrats on health care and other issues? 

Susan Fagan: Voters want to be listened to.  I have talked to thousands of people and many voters do not beleive they are being listened to by elected offiicials on many issues, health care being one of them.

RC:  Democrats did not have a candidate in the 9th LD race.  Obviously, some of them voted for you.  Some didn't.  Do you have a message for them tonight?

Susan Fagan:  It's the same message I have had for them all along.  Democrats know me.  They know me to be a reasonable and trustworthy individual. A legislative race like this is maybe not so much political as it is community related.  I have worked with people on a variety of issues in Pullman.  We never checked each other's political credentials on the school board, hospital or raising monety for Pullman Regional Hospital.   I will be representative of all the people who live in this district.

RC: What will be your first order of business if, as seems likely, go to Olympia in January?

Susan Fagan:  First, I will need to prepare to go.  We will be facing a billion and half dollar shortfall by next session.  I will start by looking at the current budget and the past couple of budgets to see where did we cut.  I will be sent to Olympia to address economic climate, which affects every other issue in the state, such as agriculutre, education, etc.

RC: Speaking of business climate, what would you have done to keep Boeing's 787 assembly line in Washington?

Susan Fagan:  Obviously tax incentives to keep Boeing were wrong, because they didn't work.  We should be looking at the reasons overall why businesses want to leave the state.  First, we have a broken worker's compensation system.  It's more like a pension plan.  The average time off under workers comp is 266 days.  We need to fix that.  Why do we care?  Because businesses provide jobs and careers for people.  Look at the B&O tax on gross receipts.  It's a message to businesses that the state doesn't care if you are profitable or not.  We have the highest unemployment insurance costs in the nation.  The state death tax hurts family businesses and farms.  I know of many people who have moved their business out of Washington to avoid it.