Executive Director’s Corner

Message from our Board President

As we start our journey into the new year, I find myself in the position as President of our great Washington State Independent Auto Dealer Association. I am honored to hold this position and I recognize we have a lot of work ahead of us with the legislative session heating up. We must be diligent and keep a careful eye on the many bills being introduced that could negatively affect our businesses. Please, if you see a bill that you are concerned about, feel free to contact the association or myself so we can pass it to our very experienced, and well-known lobbyist, TK Bentler, who will lobby attentively on our behalf.

We recognize we cannot do this alone, and always welcome your input. It is going to take all of us and more to protect our businesses’ wellbeing. An example of one of the bills we need to get on top of is HB 1058. This bill would allow the county council to determine tax increased for cultural and art funding without a vote from the people. We need to work together to figure out how we can make sure bills like these do not affect us in a negative light.

As many of you may have heard, we sadly lost our Executive Director, Todd Elliott, after a long fight with lung cancer. We appreciate the work Todd did for the association and he will be missed. The association will be interviewing to fill this position and will do our best to find someone as seamlessly and progressively as possible. This alone with many other tasks are important for the survival of our businesses. Let us use this association of unity to protect our business wellbeing and work together as one.

Thank you,

Randy Fletcher

President of WSIADA