SEQUIM — A fast-paced, 24th Legislative District candidates’ forum drew an audience of about 300 appreciative listeners to the Boys & Girls Club of the Olympic Peninsula.
Punctuated by laughter and applause, the event Monday evening at the organization’s Sequim gymnasium was emceed by Mike Siegel, a nationally syndicated conservative radio talk-show host.
The two-hour meeting, sponsored by the tea party-leaning Concerned Citizens of Clallam County, or FourC, began with a warmly received presentation from 24th District Position 2 state Rep. Lynn Kessler, who is retiring after nine terms.
In these days of what she called the Great Recession, “a lot of fear and anxiety turns into anger,” the Hoquiam Democrat and House majority leader warned.
She’s been repeating that mantra as travels to various venues and bids adieu to a district that covers Clallam and Jefferson counties and part of Grays Harbor County.
“It’s extremely important to work both sides of the aisle,” she said.
“We used to do that a lot more. It doesn’t matter if you are a Republican, Democrat or in the tea party, just remember to be civil.”
8 questions, 1 hour
Kessler’s departure leaves the door open to four of the seven candidates who sat on the dais in the cavernous gym, each answering eight questions in the space of one hour.
Vying for Kessler’s open two-year position are Democrats Steve Tharinger of Sequim and Jack Dwyer of Montesano and Republicans Jim McEntire of Sequim and Larry Carter of Port Ludlow.
Tharinger is a Clallam County commissioner, Dwyer is a chiropractor and member of the Montesano School Board, McEntire is a Port of Port Angeles commissioner and retired Coast Guard captain, and Carter is a retired Navy command chief petty officer.
Vying for the 24th District’s other House of Representatives position is incumbent two-term Democrat Kevin Van De Wege of Sequim and Republicans Dan Gase of Port Angeles and Craig Durgan of Port Ludlow.
Van De Wege is a Clallam Fire District No. 3 firefighter-paramedic, Gase is a real estate broker and Durgan is a business owner.
All seven are in the all-mail Aug. 17 primary, ballots for which will be sent to voters July 28.
Top two advance
The top two vote-getters for each position regardless of party affiliation will advance to the Nov. 2 general election.
Siegel cajoled the candidates and the good-natured audience while following strict forum guidelines set by FourC.
Questions were rotated from candidate to candidate and time limits were enforced on responses.
Each candidate answered one single question in 2 ½ minutes and each remaining question in 45 seconds.
The questions were submitted by FourC members and selected by group members Pete Church-Smith, Bill Paulbitski, Jerry Sinn and Deborah Sinn.
FourC “is loosely associated with tea party groups across the country and state,” according to its website, www.newsocialcontract.com.
Priority issues
Education programs were the top legislative priorities of Van De Wege, Durgan, Gase, McEntire and Tharinger, while jobs were Dwyer’s No. 1 concern and budget cuts were Carter’s.
All but Van De Wege objected to the Legislature temporarily suspending tax-limiting Initiative 960.
Van De Wege, the only state legislative incumbent on stage, voted for the suspension.
Below are some forum highlights:
• Durgan: Saying “government is broken,” he said spending should be controlled and the state Department of Ecology abolished.
Government should “get out of the way” so jobs can be created, he said.
Durgan called the recently approved national health care program “more big government.”
“The mind set of progressives has been so insidious, they feel like they can do whatever they want,” he said.
• Carter: The set-aside of I-960 inspired him to run for the position, he said.
Carter, like Durgan a supporter of the tea party movement, called Ecology a “hose up” program and called department personnel “yahoos” who want to take away property rights.
Clearly the crowd favorite laughter-wise, Carter said he expects the national health care program will be overturned in court.
“We can’t afford the doggone health-care program we got now,” he said.
• Tharinger: He touted his record as a county commissioner, saying the county has no debt and that the commissioners have “removed partisanship” from their deliberations.
Tharinger said Ecology “is everybody’s whipping boy, ” necessary for vital tasks such as oil-spill response, though staffers “are not good listeners.”
Defending national health care, he recalled being treated for cancer.
“I couldn’t do it on my own,” Tharinger said. “I had to go through experts.”
• Dwyer: Ecology is an agency often at odds with economic interests, he said, but the two “can work together.”
“We have an Earth to protect and we have to be around to protect it.”
Dwyer called for an end to the business and occupation tax and defended national health care, saying $180 million is coming back to the state of Washington.
He criticized those who hold multiple public offices simultaneously and said someone who is not present to vote should not hold that office.
• Van De Wege: He said the state is not entirely responsible for its fiscal woes and touted his help getting the Peninsula Plywood mill in Port Angeles up and running.
Private sector-state partnerships work, he said.
Van De Wege also defended the national health care program, saying it increased reimbursement rates, “a huge win for the Olympic Peninsula,” he said.
He also said legislators made $7 million in cutbacks and passed mandatory furloughs for state employees.
The Department of Ecology, Van De Wege added, has “a very poor way” of going about its mission of protecting resources, though its staff has been cut from about 1,500 employees to about 1,000.
• McEntire: Calling himself “a thoughtful, common-sense conservative,” McEntire said he would get the budget under control and “untangle the fur ball of regulations that make it difficult for businesses to grow.”
“Government’s role is to set the table and get out of the way,” he said.
The new health care law transferred financial burdens to states, McEntire said.
People should be more responsible for their own health in a system guided more by market forces, he said.
• Gase: He touted his lack of political experience as an asset, but said as a small-business owner he would bring valuable knowledge to the position with the goal of making Washington the top business-friendly state in the country.
He said he has a diverse program and a common-sense approach.
Gase criticized Ecology for having “not one speck of accountability”
“The prime role of DOE is to serve the people of the state, not themselves,” he said.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
