Pasco candidate forum reveals similarities

By Michelle Dupler, Herald staff writer

Candidates for two legislative offices had a chance to state their case to voters at a forum Wednesday in Pasco.

About 30 people listened at TRAC as 16th District candidates Laura Grant and Terry Nealey, and 9th District candidates Susan Fagan and Pat Hailey, answered questions about their positions on issues affecting Eastern Washington and why voters should choose them in the Nov. 3 general election.

Incumbent Grant, a Walla Walla Democrat, argued that she's the best candidate for her district because it's important for rural Eastern Washington to have a voice in the majority party in Olympia.

"Without a voice in that caucus, we are not being heard as well as we could be," Grant said. "I am respected in that caucus."

She also talked about her father, the late Rep. Bill Grant, who died in January from cancer. Laura Grant said she had her father's 22-year career in the Legislature to guide her as she represents the district.

Nealey, a Dayton Republican, said his father also served in the Legislature.

"But I won't use his name," he said.

Nealey argued he's the more experienced and qualified 16th District candidate because of his years serving as Columbia County's elected prosecutor.

He also doesn't think it's a problem that he's running as a member of the minority party.

"I am a Republican. I am proud of being a Republican," he said. "Why send another Democrat back to Olympia when they haven't done a very good job financially? They have done a terrible job."

Hailey, of Mesa, emphasized her experience with agriculture and education, having managed a farm for more than three decades with her late husband, Rep. Steve Hailey, and having served on the North Franklin School District Board.

Fagan, of Pullman, talked up her experience working in the U.S. Senate for 15 years helping constituents navigate government red tape. She said she also has spent the last 10 years working on issues in the Legislature as director of government relations for Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories Inc., which develops technology that protects power grids.

Hailey and Fagan are Republicans.

All four gave similar answers on the issues.

-- Each said they favored making changes to the state's business and occupations tax as a means of creating a more business-friendly climate in Washington, although Grant and Hailey said that doing away with the tax would require a complete overhaul of the tax system.

-- All four said they favor defining hydropower as a renewable resource and bringing a discussion of nuclear power to Olympia.

-- None of them supports Initiative 1033, a measure on the November ballot that would limit the growth of government general fund revenue to inflation and population growth absent voter approval. Nealey and Grant described the effects of such a measure as "devastating" for small cities and tax districts such as libraries.

-- On health reform, Fagan, Nealey and Grant agreed that Washingtonians should have more health care choices, such as being able to buy insurance across state lines. Nealey and Hailey said insurance companies should have fewer mandates.

-- Michelle Dupler: 582-1543; mdupler@tricityherald.com

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Thursday, Sep. 17, 2009

Pasco candidate forum reveals similarities

By Michelle Dupler, Herald staff writer