The LWVWA Lobby Team once again will take up issues when the state Legislature returns to Olympia for the 2027 session. The team’s advocacy will focus primarily on Democracy and Revenue as Washington once again is expected to face tremendous challenges – financial and others.  The team will also address issues relating to climate change, education, immigration, health care, children’s issues, elder care, criminal justice and natural resources, 

Gathering in Tacoma in late July for their annual retreat, Lobby Team members heard details from Nancy Sapiro, the state League’s contract lobbyist, on what’s likely ahead. Sapiro predicted Gov. Ferguson will present a budget that “could pause existing programs and scrutinize new requests,” all to avoid new taxes. 

Democracy Issue Chair Alison McCaffree, meanwhile, identified Democracy priorities this year as “strengthening voting rights, protecting elections, getting corporate money out of campaigns and increasing the accountability of Washington’s redistricting commission.” 

Meeting in small groups during the retreat, team members also reviewed roles and responsibilities of Issue Chairs and Advocates and considered what changes the hiring of a new executive director will mean for operations. 

Members also brainstormed about ways to make the Legislative Action Newsletter, distributed weekly during the legislative session, more reader friendly.   

The retreat was an opportunity to meet the three new Issue Chairs, whose additions bring the count of Issue Chairs to 15.  More than two dozen Advocates support the work of the Issue Chairs.  

Brief profiles of the new Issue Chairs, Kathy Ryan, MAK Mitchell and Kären Wieckert appear below. 

The first day of the two-year legislative session begins Jan. 11, 2027. 

The team met at Quantum Martial Arts Tacoma, a dojo owned and operated by McCaffree. 

Lobby Team co-chair Ann Murphy noted, “A dojo seems an appropriate place for the team to meet.  After all, the Japanese term means ‘place of the Way,’ and, in addition to practicing martial arts, a dojo is a space used for immersive learning and meditation.” 

New Issue Chairs
MAK Mitchell, from the Seattle King County League, will serve as a Democracy Issue chair. She was mentored by Alison McCaffree for two years.  

Among Mitchell’s numerous professional experiences and accomplishments are Harvard University teaching fellow in ethnography; Shoreline schools superintendent, where she managed the district budget and compliance with campaign finance, conflicts of interest and disclosure rules; and adjunct professor at the University of Washington. 

In New York City, Mitchell served as executive director of Urban Assembly NYC, a nonprofit, where she led turnaround strategies for 20 of the city’s poorest schools; and executive director of school governance in the Bloomberg administration. 

In Alaska, meanwhile, Mitchell built and activated school instruction and governance for nine Native schools in the Artic and Kodiak Island. 

In Washington state, her services include past member of the board and presenter for the Washington State School Directors Association; and current member of the Seattle Metro Chamber of Commerce. For the League, she led the Seattle League’s effort to assure strong activization of their King County Climate Action plans; and led the analyzation of bills relating to campaign finance and public disclosure during the 2026 legislative session.  

Kathleen “Kathy” Ryan, from Thurston County, is a newer League member, and will serve as Issue Chair for Economic Policy/Revenue. She earned a law degree in 1978 and is retired from the Washington Department of Revenue. There she was manager of the Legislation and Policy division.   

Ryan was mentored by and worked closely with Cynthia Stewart, who served as the Lobby Team chair until shortly before she died early this year. 

Kären Wieckert, who holds graduate degrees in Information and Computer Sciences and brings experience teaching at Stanford University, will serve as Issue chair for Water.  

Wieckert is a member in Thurston County, having previously been a member of the League in Nashville, Tenn., where she was on the board for eight years and was involved in environmental advocacy at the state level for four years. In Washington, she co-chaired an online discussion group called “Hot Topics” for seven years. 

In her application for Issue Chair, Wieckert noted as a sixth-grader in the 1970s, she helped with the first day Earth Day event in Appleton, Wisc.  A few years later, in Cambridge, Mass., she founded the community’s local chapter of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility.