PORT TOWNSEND– A 24th District legislative candidate forum last week focused on complaints of inefficient government and the tightrope act that legislators must walk between providing services and not raising taxes.
“The government is the problem,” said Position 2 candidate Craig Durgan — a Port Ludlow businessman and Republican — at the Thursday night forum, as he responded to the notion of establishing a state bank.
“It is involved in too many things and they should get out of the way.”
“We need to determine the role of government and define what we want it to do,” said Clallam County Commissioner Steve Tharinger, a Sequim Democrat running for Position 1.
“That’s how we can improve the process.”
The forum, which drew more than 100 people, at the Masonic Hall in Port Townsend, was sponsored by the League of Women Voters, the American Association of University Women and The Leader weekly newspaper.
It was moderated by Fred Obee, Leader general manager.
For Position 1, replacing retiring Rep. Lynn Kessler, the candidates are Tharinger; Larry Carter, a Port Ludlow Republican and a retired Navy command master chief petty officer; Montesano chiropractor Jack Dwyer, who serves in an unpaid position on the Montesano School Board; and Jim McEntire, a Sequim Republican, first-term Port of Port Angeles commissioner and retired Coast Guard captain.
For Position 2, candidates are Durgan; Port Angeles real estate broker Dan Gase, who is a Republican; and incumbent Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim, a firefighter paramedic.
In each race, the top two vote getters in the Aug. 17 primary will advance to the Nov. 2 election regardless of party affiliation. Ballots will be mailed Wednesday.
Carter and Durgan are the only two candidates from Jefferson County and are running as a slate.
Both have refused to take campaign contributions from any source or endorsements from anyone but individuals.
“Imagine what it would be like if someone running for office who didn’t take any campaign contributions from anyone actually won,” Carter said.
Both are affiliated with the tea party movement.
Carter criticized Tharinger, who has said he intends to finish his term as Clallam County commissioner if he wins the election to state Legislature.
“I’ve sat here all night and listen to Mr. Tharinger say the same old things over and over,” Carter said.
“I think it is wrong for him to hold two offices and draw two separate salaries that are funded by the public.”
Tharinger did not respond to Carter’s statement.
Dwyer, who recently won the endorsement of Grays Harbor Democrats, did not bring up the issue.
Dwyer has in the past consistently criticized Tharinger for “double dipping,” and has said he would resign his unpaid school board position if he wins.
As the only incumbent, Van De Wege was pushed to defend the positions of the Legislature as the other candidates provided criticism.
“As an incumbent I have a better idea of what’s possible,” Van Der Wege said after the event.
“There are 147 of us, and if you go in there trying to change everything, you end up changing nothing.”
One of the main topics was the repeal in the last legislative session earlier this year of Initiative 960, which required a two-thirds majority vote to raise taxes.
Several candidates said that the Legislature should not subvert the will of the people.
Tharinger and Van De Wege were the only candidates at the forum who did not use this as a rallying cry, with Van De Wege saying, “We fine-tune all initiatives after a time.”
The plight of small businesses also was a recurring theme, with several candidates — again, Tharinger and Van De Wege aside — accusing the government of creating a toxic climate for small businesses.
“Whenever I run a Google search for ‘business friendly states,’ Washington comes up near the bottom,” Gase said.
“I think we need to get rid of the legislative furball that impedes small business and gives the government the idea it can create the legislative thicket we have in this area,” McEntire said.
One questioner pressed the entire panel as to whether they would support continued Medicaid support for low-income women who seek abortions.
Gase said he would not interfere with a woman’s right to choose “but given the choice between funding abortions or not funding abortions I would choose to not fund them.”
Carter said he was also pro-choice, while opposing any system that allows 13- and 14 year-olds to get abortions without their parents’ knowledge and permission.”
McEntire evoked the answer he had given minutes before in response to I-960.
“The matter of funding abortions for low-income women was established by initiative, so I would not interfere with the will of the people,” he said.
Dwyer and Durgan did not answer the question directly, instead decrying the high cost of health care and its impact on government.
Van De Wege and Tharinger said they would continue support for Medicare-sponsored funding of abortions.
Carter had the debate’s last word, which provided another connection between himself and Dwyer.
“I want you to all vote for me,” he said.
“But if you are the kind of Democrat where your parents would roll over in their grave if you voted for a Republican, you should vote for Jack Dwyer.”
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
