PORT ANGELES — Democrat Steve Tharinger and Republican Jim McEntire rested on their political laurels Tuesday — while differing on the political routes they would take if elected — at a breakfast meeting forum on the Nov. 2 general election race to fill 24th Legislative District Position 2.
At the forum, sponsored by the Port Angeles Business Association, Tharinger, a Clallam County commissioner since 2000, pointed to his role in making Clallam one of two debt-free counties in Washington state and his experience as a small-business owner.
He said he knows “what it means to meet a payroll.”
He also praised retiring Position 2 Democrat Lynn Kessler of Hoquiam, saying she was the “glue” that held together and represented the 24th District, which includes Clallam and Jefferson counties and half of Grays Harbor County.
McEntire, a Port of Port Angeles commissioner for two years, emphasized his role in keeping the port’s tax levy rate unchanged during his tenure and his budget experience with federal government.
He said taxes should not be increased, that current regulations are too numerous and costly, and that the environment should be protected “in a way that provides the least amount of impact on the economy.”
Present positions
Asked how they would reconcile conflicts of interest that might arise in serving the interests of the 24th District and their Clallam County constituencies if elected, the two differed.
McEntire, a 60-year-old retired Coast Guard captain, said he would resign his paid port position, if elected.
“The best place to avoid conflicts of interest is to not put yourself in a place where there will be conflicts,” McEntire said.
He noted that Grays Harbor has a higher unemployment rate, for example, than Clallam.
“Infrastructure needs across the district may mean putting priorities in places other than Clallam,” he said.
Tharinger said that, if elected, he would keep his $63,502-a-year seat on the board of commissioners but would take a three-month, unpaid leave of absence during the legislative session while continuing to participate in commissioners’ meetings by phone.
The state House position pays $42,106 annually.
“As far as conflicts of interest, this is a citizen Legislature, and we expect our legislators to have jobs outside the Legislature,” he said.
His broad political experience has helped him learn how to balancing different interests,
“This is taxpayer money, and we need to invest it where it’s best to invest it, exclusive of special interests,” he said.
“Quite honestly, it’s not part of my DNA to cut deals like that.”
Initiatives
Tharinger and McEntire had different takes on the Legislature suspending Initiative 960, which required a two-thirds legislative majority for tax increases, and on proposed Initiative 1098, which would impose an income tax on couples with a combined annual income of $400,000 and individuals who annually earn $200,000.
“That’s the last thing we need to be doing in this kind of economy,” McEntire said of I-1098, which also would cut the state property tax by 20 percent, eliminate business and occupation taxes for 375,000 small businesses and create annual $2 billion trust fund for education and health care.
Tharinger took a more positive view of I-1098.
No one likes paying taxes but they “are way we build communities, a way we build the state strong,” Tharinger said.
Tharinger expressed support for I-1098 in the July 27 daily Aberdeen World and, according to the July 28 Port Townsend-Jefferson County Leader, a weekly newspaper, expressed the same support at a July 22 League of Women Voters forum.
“I, personally, support the initiative,” he told the World in a voter guide questionnaire.
On Tuesday, Tharinger said, “I haven’t decided how I’m voting on it.”
But while he still praised certain aspects of it, such as the cut in business and occupation taxes, which he called “onerous,” he said it contained a “lack of clarity.”
In an interview later Tuesday, Tharinger said he supported I-1098 being on the ballot but had backed away from his earlier stance.
“At this point, I think it provides that third leg of the stool for revenue for the state, but I haven’t decided how I’m going to vote on it, based on its impact on Chapter S corporations and [limited liability companies],” Tharinger said.
Initiative 960
McEntire opposed the suspension of I-960, saying that the state Legislature “was unwilling to face squarely the budget and priority-decisions we face as a state.”
Tharinger said he would not have overridden I-960 but that doing so allowed the Legislature “to close tax loopholes.”
McEntire called the state’s performance in education “nothing short of appalling” and said if money were the issue, Washington, D.C., which has the highest per-student spending in the country, would have the best schools.
He urged reform, but did not give specifics.
“That’s something the Legislature will have to take up,” he said.
Tharinger called for “bottom-up local control,” saying school board powers should be strengthened but that schools are increasingly taking on the responsibilities of parents, “diluting their ability to provide education.”
Both criticized the state Department of Ecology, with Tharinger saying it was not “customer-service friendly” and McEntire saying it focuses “on process and not result.”
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
