Q&A with district 42 candidate Dustin Gleaves

Dustin Gleaves is a Democrat who announced on April 6 that he is running for the District 42 – Position 1 seat in the state house of representatives in this year’s elections. Gleaves is commissioner and chairman of Whatcom County Fire District 8, co-owner of an infection control laboratory in Ferndale and works for the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS). Gleaves discussed with The Northern Light what he’s accomplished, the highest priorities on his political agenda and what he wants people to know about his election campaign.

This interview was edited for brevity and clarity.

Could you talk about your personal history and how that led to public service?

I was a member of 4-H as a young man. Part of the 4-H pledge is to pledge to the larger service of your community. I internalized it and I’m still working to achieve that today. My community has been Whatcom County for more than 10 years. I was volunteering with various organizations, with the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association and Bellingham Food Bank. Eventually, I got into service with DSHS working to get food, cash and medical assistance to people. That, more than anything, brought me straight into state-level government. I ran for fire commissioner in 2017 and I've served on the board of commissioners since. There's more ways I can support my community and that’s when I decided to run for state representative.

What inspired you to run for state representative?

March for Science in 2017. Over 2,000 people attended to march in Bellingham and say that they wanted better representation by scientists in office. To achieve that, scientists must run for office and that's what got me inspired to run. As for state representative, a lot of that was Sharon Shewmake’s victory in 2018. The first seat that was blue in about a decade, and who accomplished that, was a professor at Western in economics on the ballot. From March for Science I thought, 'There are a lot of people saying they want better representation of science in office but what if it's just those 2,000 people? Does that really represent a movement that can flip seats in the district?' After seeing Sharon succeed, I realized that it absolutely would.

How do you believe that you're the best person to support the people of the 42nd district?

I represent a lot of walks of life. I understand the challenges of being a small business owner in Whatcom County and I want to improve those factors. I’ve also been a young person seeking work in Whatcom County and I understand the challenges that presents. I'm an environmental scientist and I understand the challenges the Department of Ecology is having with our primary heritage industry in Whatcom County, which is farming. I'm also a social services worker and I know that underrepresented people of Whatcom County are not doing as well economically as they should.

What does the district mean to you?

Home. I am someone who moved here, albeit a decade ago, but this is home. I don't want to lose that. When I see problems like major environmental issues including coal trains, Cherry Point, algal blooms, the pollution issues in Lake Whatcom, I get worried. This district is home and that's something absolutely worth protecting.

What do you want people to know about your election campaign? 

I come from a varied background as an environmental scientist who has a master’s in environmental studies from Western, co-owns an infectious control laboratory, served as fire commissioner for years and as someone who has been a social services worker. I am not leaning on a single subject because all those things need to be addressed. 

I’m fighting for individuals, working families and small businesses. I am not fighting for big corporations. I am not interested in finding new ways to attract large businesses because small businesses end up being better for local revenue.

What are the highest priorities on your political agenda? 

The number one thing is to get funding back to the Department of Ecology. It is an underfunded department. I don't want the Department of Ecology to rely on writing fines to raise funds because if that's the case, then they become the environment police and that makes them reasonably perceived as being an enemy to small family farms. I want to meet our environmental standard and to work with small farms to meet those environmental standards. 

We're in an affordable housing crisis that needs government intervention. It's been something we've talked about for years and haven’t addressed. Today in Whatcom County, the median income is under $54,000 a year and the average house price is over $425,000 a year. With that large of a disparity, people are going to be spending over half of their income on their mortgage. That's not sustainable. There are housing-related factors such as homelessness and it drives substandard housing when there's high rent competition. Even when people do purchase their home, it leads to an economic disparity when that high of a portion of income is spent on housing.

I want to address major shortcomings in social services. For a person who is disabled and unable to work in Washington, the cash benefits to live on, absolute maximum, is $197 per month. That number needs to come up.

How has your work as commissioner and chairman of Whatcom County Fire District 8 helped prepare you for this position?

As a member of a board similar to a legislative body, which approaches and maintains operations for the fire district, it is a multi-million dollar budget and I have the experience overseeing that budget and competently approving expenditures of it. That is an essential skill people must have going into this office to understand the best ways to operate large public budgets in a way that benefits taxpayers and makes sure they're getting what they paid for and there's no unnecessary expenditures. Learning to be somebody who can make the tough decisions is the most important thing in an elected official. 

Is there anything else that you would like to add or you think that people should know?

I am co-owner of Woodhouse Laboratories, an infection control laboratory. We consult doctors, dentists, tattoo artists and other medical and parallel to medical operations. I think we're really lacking, not specifically from Washington but in the U.S., expertise in understanding and analyzing data regarding infection control. I want to take great measures to reinstate a well-funded national public health system but also to bring in a state-level stockpile of medical supplies so that we do not have the risk of running short of personal protective equipment, especially for health care workers and first responders. It does not work to wait until there's a crisis to figure out what we're going to do. I would like a state-level response plan, should this ever come up again.