Colfax: Candidates log second forum

The five candidates for the 9th district’s position one seat in the state House of Representatives answered a slew of questions at a forum in Colfax last Wednesday, occasionally raising the eyebrows of the roomful of locals. The forum at Colfax followed a similar event last Thursday in Pullman.

Candidates Susan Fagan of Pullman; Pat Hailey of Mesa; Glen Stockwell of Ritzville; Art Swannack of Lamont; and Darin Watkins of Palouse each introduced themselves and had a minute to answer each round of the audience’s questions.

The five candidates are seeking the seat being vacated by Don Cox.

Four of the five candidates are running as Republicans, and Stockwell is running as a Democrat.

Fagan, the former public affairs director for Schweitzer Engineering who recently picked up an endorsement from the Spokesman Review, said she would work for a better business climate in Washington. She also stressed living within the means of the state budget. As far as health insurance is considered, she is more interested in keeping health insurance private and keeping a competitive environment among insurance companies.

Watkins, a former TV journalist and the current marketing director for the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine, said his main drive is to push for a healthy education system in Washington.

Watkins said Rep. Don Cox fought hard for education at the state level during the last legislative session. He pointed out that levy equalization was almost lost in the last state session. The state’s levy equalization program provides funding to schools in districts that have low property assessments, such as Whitman County.

Hailey, Mesa area farmer and the widow of the former Rep. Steve Hailey, said she would work to promote the needs of the agricultural community at the state level. Hailey said she would fight for water rights for farmers. Hailey said she is also an advocate for education, and like Watkins, is very wary of the area losing its levy equalization funding.

Stockwell, a former Ritzville city councilman with a trucking and freight brokerage firm, is pushing for the completion of the Columbia Basin project. Stockwell claims if the state gets the $30 billion needed for the project, the resulting taxes from the completed project would completely resolve Washington’s fiscal problems.

Swannack, a farmer, rancher and president of the Washington State Sheep Producers, said he would work to avoid any new taxation or at least try to keep lower taxes.

He also wants to promote the rights of private property owners, particularly farmers, since the area depends on agriculture.

The questions proposed by the audience focused on national issues.

Asked about health care reform, Hailey and Swannack said they were for keeping health care privatized and out of government control. Watkins said the country should work to keep medical costs down and bring in more competition. Fagan said insurance policies should come with lesser or more mandates depending on whom they cover.

Asked about immigration, Stockwell, who was not endorsed by the local Democrats, raised eyebrows in the audience when he said the idea of deporting all Mexicans back across the border was as ludicrous as “sending the blacks back to Africa.”

Watkins, Swannack, and Fagan all agreed the U.S. government needs to install some kind of legal framework for immigrants to be here.

Hailey began a comment about Washington being a labor-intensive area with all the farming, but didn’t have time to finish her answer in the one-minute time slot.

When the candidates were asked about the now defunct proposal to have all Apple Cup games in Seattle, Watkins was the only candidate who said he would have allowed the move because the earnings would have been too much money for WSU to turn down in the recession.

The library co-hosted the event with the League of Women Voters and the Gazette. The league co-hosted the earlier Pullman forum with the Pullman Chamber of Commerce.