For candidates appearing at last Wednesday’s West Plains Chamber of Commerce’s “Candidates Spotlight,” the top issues facing the 6th Legislative District were as wide and diverse as the region they hope to represent.
State senate hopeful Jeff Holy said the biggest impact to the area was “talent flight” due to a lack of good job opportunities. His opponent, Jessa Lewis, said what she heard from prospective constituents when doorbelling was the need to fix health care.
State representative position 1 incumbent Mike Volz summed up his points by noting they all stemmed from one word — growth. Challenger Kay Murano said affordability was what voters told her mattered most.
And in the race for the open House position 2 seat, first-time candidate Jenny Graham said the issues were as diverse as “the doorbell that you hit” while her opponent Dave Wilson said his solution to solving the many concerns facing the region came from his main responsibility to be “an effective” representative.
Senate candidates at the Chamber’s forum were given five and a half minutes to state their case, while House candidates got one minute less. Understandably, topics were covered only briefly, with candidates staying after the breakfast at the Shriner’s Event Center was concluded to talk more with those who chose to do so.
While Holy, who delivered his address by video, isn’t an incumbent in the senate seat he’s vying for, he does have Olympia experience, having served in the House position 1 seat since 2012. He’s moving over to attempt to fill the senate seat left vacant by Mike Baumgartner, who is running for Spokane County treasurer.
Holy feels the West Plains is important to the region, and cites his 28 years living in Four Lakes, putting kids through the Cheney school system and involvement in local organizations as reasons he wants to see more opportunities for people in the region.
“I live here,” Holy said. “I’m part of the community.”
The Spokane area is home to good schools and universities, but often that talent leaves because the job opportunities aren’t there — something Holy said he saw firsthand through his children. He added these opportunities now exist on the West Plains because of development of Spokane International Airport, good rail access and other infrastructure, minimal costs of abundant land, consistent zoning and the educated workforce.
Lewis agreed with Holy’s assessment of talent flight, noting she was one of those who left the area for Seattle in order to take a good job to provide for her family. Returning to the area, she noted the number one issue she has heard from residents is the affordability of health care.
“I’ve had people break down in tears because of what happens with health care,” she said.
A second issue she said was that the region does not have enough people working in the trades. While construction abounds on the West Plains, Lewis said contractors often find it hard to hire people proficient in trades needed to erect buildings and infrastructure — blue collar jobs that pay well and “drive the region.”
“We look down on the trades,” Lewis said. “We don’t respect them.”
Lewis said the opportunities are here on the West Plains, but voters just need someone to do the work in Olympia to provide them.
Volz cited his accomplishments as a representative in position 1, noting he teamed with other 6th District legislators and local officials to provide funding for Airway Heights’ recreation center, Cheney’s Well 3 redrilling project and helping steer money for Eastern Washington University’s $67 million Interdisciplinary Science Center. Although it was originally targeted at Airway Heights, Volz said the region’s growth is what takes center stage for him.
“In a word, it’s growth, it’s exploding right now,” Volz said. “I’m committed to getting the infrastructure that we need to accommodate the growth.”
Murano, his challenger, said West Plains growth is good, as long as it’s done in a “smart way” so that the region’s environment and aquifers aren’t negatively impacted.
“This isn’t done by government assigning something,” Murano said. “It’s a partnership.”
Murano added that growth has led to what people tell her is their number one issue — affordability, not just of things like health care but also good paying jobs and housing. As an example of growth negatively affecting the latter, she cited a local apartment landlord who when he heard that Project Rose was going to be an Amazon fulfillment center raised the rents in his building three times in six months in anticipation of the Geiger Road project’s claim to bringing good paying warehousing jobs to the region.
In her first run for office, House position 2, Graham said she has a “new found respect” for candidates, and that the “privilege” of meeting people face to face has shown that number one issues are as diverse as the people they come from. For her, those issues were affordability in the region as well as the disappearance of trade and vocational training in K-12 schools.
“I’m a mom fighting for trades, but also for education,” Graham said, adding that in pushing students towards college, good vocational occupations are often left behind.
Graham also said public safety is another issue, particularly among educators.
“Teachers tell me they’re not concerned about the money, but ‘what are you going to do to keep me safe?’” she said.
“For me, it’s all about being an influential representative,” Wilson, Graham’s opponent, said.
Wilson said he follows three rules to accomplish this: listen to people, do the homework and focus on relationships. This track has led him to meet with many West Plains officials to find out what their biggest concerns are, which he listed as traffic in Airway Heights, “purple pipe” (reclaimed water system) in Cheney and assistance in funding police and fire services in Medical Lake.
“I’m not saying these are priorities that can be solved over night, or in the next year or two, but over time,” Wilson said.
Wilson also said working with the county’s Public Development Authority to bring more Boeing manufacturers to the region is one of the most important aspects of growing the region.
“That would be transformational for this area,” he added.
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
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