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closeThursday, Jul. 09, 2009
16th District candidates to sound off at forum
By Michelle Dupler, Herald staff writer
PASCO -- Voters living in the state's 16th District will have a chance July 21 to hear from the four people who want to represent them in the Legislature.
Campaign for Liberty, a grass-roots activist group that sprang from Republican Ron Paul's unsuccessful presidential campaign, is sponsoring a candidate forum at Columbia Basin College intended to give voters a chance to directly question candidates for the 16th District office.
But one of them was nearly left out when organizers initially failed to invite candidate Dave Roberts, a Walla Walla man running as a "Reagan independent."
Fliers advertising the debate showed the only candidates as Rep. Laura Grant, D-Walla Walla, and Republican challengers Terry Nealey of Dayton and Kevin Young of Walla Walla.
Roberts said he learned about the forum -- which has been in the planning stages since February -- earlier this week and contacted organizers to find out how he could participate, but was told they hadn't realized he was a candidate and that it was too late for him to join in.
"They said they would give me five minutes and let me answer a couple of questions," Roberts said.
He said he was told he wouldn't be a full participant.
"It needs to be equal and fair to everybody," Roberts said Tuesday.
Frank Bown, a Campaign for Liberty member involved in organizing the debate, said he only learned about Roberts' candidacy a few days ago. Roberts has been listed as a candidate on the Secretary of State's website and in the Herald since he filed June 4.
Bown, a Walla Walla native who lives in Seattle, said he wanted to organize a candidate forum in the hopes of inspiring other communities to start getting together and talking about politics.
"To me, government is supposed to be of the people, by the people and for the people, not of, by and for special interests," he said. "Government has drifted away from that."
Ironically, that's an idea Roberts likely would support.
Roberts said he's running for office because he's tired of politics as usual, with those elected making promises to the people that they never fulfill.
As a long-time Republican, he decided to run under the "Reagan independent" banner because he believes Reagan was the party's last great leader.
Bown said Tuesday that he was working to include Roberts in the forum and to give him equal time, but that wasn't as simple a task as it sounded.
Because time for the forum is limited and the group had to purchase special event liability insurance, slotting someone else in took approval from several other people.
By Wednesday, Bown had pulled all of the necessary strings to include Roberts in the debate.
Roberts said he was eager for the chance to get his message out to potential 16th District voters.
-- Michelle Dupler: 582-1543; mdupler@tricityherald.com
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