EDITOR’S NOTE: Peninsula Daily News reporter Charlie Bermant was among those who interviewed Deborah Stinson and Jack Range, candidates for the Port Townsend City Council, for a KPTZ-FM 91.9 radio program Tuesday. He gives an account of the interviews here.
PORT TOWNSEND — The two candidates for Port Townsend City Council Position 3 were interviewed Tuesday on KPTZ-FM, representing the first time the 5-month-old station has originated political programming.
Jack Range and Deborah Stinson spent 25 minutes taping the program that is expected to be played at least twice on the station at 91.9 FM before the Nov. 8 general election.
The broadcast times for the program have not been determined.
The two were asked questions by this Peninsula Daily News reporter, by Port Townsend-Jefferson County Leader General Manager Fred Obee and by KPTZ producer Sheila Khalov.
Range, 25, is an investigator for Jefferson Associated Counsel, the county’s public defender.
Stinson, 55, is a retired technology worker who has volunteered for several local agencies and was the recipient of the 2011 Heart of Service Award.
They seek the council seat vacated by Laurie Medlicott.
Since there are no additional candidate forums scheduled, it was perhaps the last time the two hopefuls will meet in a debate format.
Range and Stinson have run a cordial campaign and agree on many issues but took the opportunity to state their differences.
“I disagree with Deborah on the amount of spending we do as a city on criminal justice,” Range said.
“I think we have an overbloated criminal justice system, and we need to closely examine that and go beyond the official reports released by the
criminal justice systems within the city,” he added.
Said Stinson: “That point came up as to where are we going to start cutting the budget, and that’s the first place to go because it’s an easy place to go.
“We do need to be within balance between public service and public safety and the other needs in the community,” she added.
“We do have an agreed-upon level of service that we are asking our Police Department to provide, and they are trying to accomplish that between community policing and not militaristic policing, and I very much appreciate that approach.”
Stinson criticized Range for a promise that he would work harder to represent younger and less affluent citizens, saying that “we need to pay attention to the whole picture and not just one area.”
“My emphasis on certain subgroups comes from my belief in priority care for the poor,” Range said.
“It’s not throwing a dog a bone; it’s the priority interest of local government to take care of these issues and together, and it undermines local government not to do so.”
Both candidates said they did not favor cuts to social services such as the YMCA and the Dove House but said they might be necessary.
Range said savings from cutting police could have a cascading effect across the judicial system that could save enough money to pay for social programs.
Both candidates said they opposed the creation of a new taxing district to support parks and recreation, with Stinson saying, “We need to be very careful that we are not taxing people out of their homes.”
Both candidates said they favor forums where the public can speak and promised that the city government would listen.
“We’re going into a time where our economic models are failing us,” Range said.
“We’ve got to band together and create some grass-roots movement so we can move forward with our town and get a bottom-up development going,” he added.
Said Stinson: “We need to work together to find what are the critical issues, what are the most important things the city should be funding, and find a solution with the community working together.
“I know we can do this; we have good people in the community, and when we work together, we can get it done,” she said.
The station has not scheduled a similar program between Position 4 candidates George Randels and Bob Gray.
For more information, including times and dates for airing of the candidate program, visit www.kptz.org.
The station begins its first pledge drive today, which continues through Tuesday.
________
Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
