Statement on Former State Senate Leader Rodney Tom

Contact: Katie Rogers, Communications Manager, (206) 328-7705

For Immediate Release: March 29, 2018 (Updated: March 29, 2018, 9:32 p.m.)

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SEATTLE– Today, former State Senate leader, Rodney Tom, announced his plan to run for his old seat in the Eastside’s 48th Legislative District as a democrat. In the fight for equitable health care access and reproductive rights in Washington state, women deserve better. Washington voters deserve someone who will fight for them and stand up for their rights and freedoms, not play political games. See below for some of Tom’s decisions as leader in the State Senate.

“There is no telling where Tom’s allegiances lie, and when elected leaders across the country continue to chip away at our reproductive health and rights, we can’t afford to take any chances,” said Treasure Mackley, interim CEO and political and organizing director for PPVNH. “After six years, the Reproductive Parity Act is now the law of the state, this is a bill Tom wouldn’t bring to the floor for a vote in the senate, sabotaging its chances of success. Tom showed his true colors while in the State Senate: take whatever power you can grab and exploit it to protect yourself, not the people you serve.”

In case you missed it:

• Tom staged a political coup, “even though he’s shunned as a turncoat by the party for allying with Republicans in 2013 to take control of the state Senate — installing himself as majority leader through a newly formed Majority Coalition Caucus.” [Seattle Times, 3/29/18]
• Tom pledged support for the Reproductive Parity Act (RPA), and then blocked it from coming up for a vote. “Even worse, it was Tom's decision to send the bill to die in the Health Care Committee instead of sending it to Hobbs' Insurance Committee, as Hobbs' had reasonably requested. It's all Tom's fault.” [The Stranger, 4/1/13]
• Tom voted to repeal Washington’s Family Medical Leave Insurance Act, a bill that would provide for partly paid leave of up to five weeks for the parents of newborn or newly adopted children. [Seattle P-I, 1/23/13]