August 6 Primary Election Candidate Profiles

Mary Dye

Representative Mary Dye, who was appointed in 2015, serves the 9th Legislative District of Washington State and is the ranking member of the House Environment and Energy Committee. She and her husband, Roger, own and manage a third-generation wheat farm in Garfield County. Mary has a Bachelor of Science in plant science and crop management and has been active in the farm's day-to-day operations for 37 years.

Since taking office, Mary has worked to create better opportunities for the people living in rural communities of Eastern Washington. From advancing the development of the Columbia Basin by expanding the capacity of lands through new irrigation, Mary has focused on issues that threaten our river systems and is working to protect and expand essential infrastructure that provides security for our region and nation. She is working to protect our dams and spearheading work with Idaho and Oregon legislators to prevent the spread of invasive aquatic mussels that pose a risk to the ecosystem and infrastructure of our river.

She has also worked to give rural communities affordable access to broadband fiber and has passed legislation allowing aircraft use in initial attacks to extinguish fires while they are small.

Mary is deeply committed to the communities she serves. She fights to overcome the challenges created for us in Olympia and to protect our values, traditions, and constitutional freedoms.

Dr. Pam Kohlmeier

Dr. Pam Kohlmeier has professional and lived experience that makes her well-suited to represent the 9th Legislative District. She and her husband, Dr. Stephen Thew, raised their family in Spokane County for close to two decades, and their roots are rural. As a dually licensed physician and attorney, Dr. Pam is committed to protecting rural health, improving access to mental health services, and addressing provider burnout. Many of us have friends or family members who are struggling and unable to access the care they need. Without proper care, one of Dr. Pam's own children recently died by suicide. Dr. Pam has since become a certified QPR (suicide prevention) instructor and volunteers to teach these classes regularly for the Spokane Regional Health District and also joined the local board of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Dr. Pam's commitment to improving healthcare access is to help other families avoid this grief.

As a grandchild of farmers, Dr. Pam graduated from a small-town high school. A tragedy contributed to Dr. Pam's career path into medicine. When she was 15 years old, living in a small town that lacked a hospital, her mom suffered a medical emergency and died. During medical school, Dr. Pam and her husband married and did a two- month rural medicine rotation in a small town, where they experienced the challenges, and frankly heroics, of rural medicine providers. Dr. Pam continues to be supportive of her husband treating patients in rural Davenport -which he has consistently done over the past 15 years.

After completing an emergency medicine residency in Chicago, Dr. Pam practiced as a Board-Certified emergency physician for about 15 years, including locally at Providence SHMC Children's Hospital. Then, inspired to understand the interaction of medicine and law, Dr. Pam graduated from Gonzaga School of Law in 2018. Dr. Pam taught health policy & law and professionalism for Eastern Washington University and published journal articles on these issues. Dr. Pam is admitted to the Washington State Bar Association, remains a licensed physician in the state of Washington, and is doing all she can to advance health policy to improve the health of our community.

Dr. Pam volunteers heavily in community organizations that promote health. Dr. Pam has served on the St. George's School (SGS) Board of Trustees the past 12 years, most recently as the Board Chair, and has also served on the Board of Partners with Families & Children to help prevent child abuse. During the pandemic, Dr. Pam volunteered over 2,000 hours as chair of the Spokane County Disaster Clinical Advisory Committee and co-chair of the Eastern Washington Crisis Standards of Care Regional Triage Team to help hospitals navigate an inadequate supply of hospital beds and staff.

Dr. Pam is inspired to address the urban/suburban/rural challenges in the 9th legislative district, beginning with improving broadband and telehealth access in rural communities. This expansion should allow rural communities to thrive, by increasing access to virtual jobs, healthcare, and educational opportunities, while improving our urban housing crisis.

Patrick Miller

I have lived a life with its ups and downs. I know the importance of hard work, education, and skill. I also know how quickly a poorly timed stroke of bad luck can derail everything, and how community and some responsible safety nets can help get things going again. I've never considered myself a politician. I'm an honest, hardworking family man who wants to see the best world possible for his family and this community.

It is time for a person who actively listens to the people in the 9th, not only large companies. It's time to not just vote along a party line, but to actively bring and advance new legislation that reflects the needs of eastern Washington.

In particular, I will focus on rebuilding our rural centers, working to fill the empty storefronts with services that are critical to a thriving community such as child care and health care.

I will work to ensure that everyone in our communities has a voice and representation foremost by making myself available, but also by working towards fairer elections with Ranked Choice Voting.

I will also focus on preserving the future of our communities through sensible stewardship of our shared resources and the environment so that we can continue to provide for generations to come.

I was born and raised in eastern Washington and graduated with a master's degree in computer science from Eastern Washington University. I accepted a job in Ohio, but less than a year later, my team was laid off. I took what part-time work I could find. These jobs helped to stretch my unemployment benefits and continue my job search. Finally, with only one more house payment left in the bank, a friend got wind of an opportunity that panned out. From there my career took off and I was recruited by a small company to start their Maryland office. By the time I left I had built a team of talented engineers and support staff and helped us win and execute flagship cyber security programs supporting our national defense system.

My job was exciting and challenging, but I had achieved my goals there, and Washington called me home to start a family. Once back, I decided to join the local fire department as a paid part-time member. I am proud of my service, particularly my work on wildland fires. I was part of the initial attack team on both the Babb Road Fire in Malden as well as the Gray Road Fire in Medical Lake. This has given me an up-close look at how strong and resilient our communities can be, as well as the importance of managing and caring for the environment in which we live.

Along with my wife Laurie and our seven-year-old daughter, Fiona, we enjoy our rural lifestyle and believe that we have something to give back to our community. I look forward to representing you in Olympia.

Joe Schmick

Rep. Joe Schmick has served the 9th District, which includes Asotin, Columbia, Garfield, Franklin, Lincoln, Adams, Whitman, and south Spokane counties, since 2007.

He is a former second-generation farmer and small-business owner and earned degrees in Accounting and Economics from EWU. He is also a graduate of the Washington Agriculture and Forestry Education Foundation.

Joe's extensive background in agriculture includes leadership roles in local, state, and national Farm Bureau organizations, Grain Quality Committee, Washington Barley Commission, and the National Barley Improvement Committee. He served as a member of the Whitman County Wetlands and Whitman County Natural Resource Advisory committees.

Schmick takes this varied and comprehensive experience to Olympia while serving on the House Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee. He is an advocate for farmers, growers, ranchers, and others in the Ag community. He knows the Lower Snake River Dams are an integral part of our region's economy by supplying affordable energy and critical transportation pathways to get products to market.

Joe also serves on the House Appropriations Committee where he fights for common sense budgets that prioritize spending. He knows the rate of spending by Democrats in Olympia is unsustainable, having more than doubled over the past 10 years. He wants to see tax relief for Washingtonians.

Schmick is also the ranking member on the House Health Care and Wellness Committee, where he has focused his efforts on keeping quality health care affordable, accountable, and accessible to all, especially those in underserved rural areas. He has worked to keep rural pharmacies a viable option for rural residents.

Joe believes more must be done to ensure our children, families, and communities are safe. He has fought against recent efforts to reduce sentences for violent criminals and against decriminalizing the use of hard drugs. He knows that criminals are emboldened when lax policies are put in place and wants to see law enforcement given the tools, they need to protect our communities.

Joe wants to empower parents. He believes parents should be involved in their children's education and deserve to know what is being taught in the classroom.

Joe and his wife, Kim, reside in Colfax.