Candidates vying for state representative in the 47th District, which includes Covington and Black Diamond, participated in a Kent Chamber of Commerce forum Oct. 17.
The forum, which attracted approximately 90 business people from Kent, which also is in the district, was held during lunch at Holiday Inn in Kent. Republican Mark Hargrove and incumbent Geoff Simpson, a Democrat (Position 1) and incumbent Pat Sullivan, a Democrat, and his Republican challenger for Position 2, Timothy Miller, answered questions about transportation, the state budget, Green River levee repairs, Washington’s business-friendly reputation and education:
• Transportation. The Republican candidates, all new this year to politics, cited traffic congestion as one of the top concerns of people and said that it would be one of their top priorities if elected.
The Democrats gave varied answers on the transportation issue. Sullivan advocated breaking construction projects into bite-size projects – like the State Route 167-Interstate 405 interchange – that could be jointly funded by the state and affected counties. Simpson said that safety and preservation of existing roads come before congestion relief.
• Budget. When asked how they’d pare down the state budget in the face of a projected deficit, most of the candidates gave generalized answers, saying that they would retain funding for education and safety and then look for other areas to cut.
• Levee repairs. The answers varied or weren’t finished in the allotted one minute. For a few questions, though, the candidates answered almost unanimously.
All but one, for example, supported the idea of using state funds to help rebuild the Green River Levee. Miller said he would support state spending because the consequences of a flood in the manufacturing areas of the Kent Valley would “devastate our state’s economy.” Sullivan also supported state spending for the project, saying the state “learned a lesson from what happened in Lewis County” in regard to the flooding and massive mud slides that hit that region last year. He recommended the state work together with both the federal government and King County agencies to get the work done.
• Business climate. Nearly everyone agreed that small businesses in Washington are hurting, and that part of the blame for their trouble lies in the state’s B and O (business and occupation) tax. The tax charges businesses based on their gross income, regardless of whether or not the business has made any net profit.
“The B and O tax is an unfair tax,” said Simpson. He added that in spite of that tax, the Legislature has “worked hard to make Washington a business-friendly state.”
Miller advocated taxing businesses on net income, rather than gross.
• Education. Everyone said there is room for improvement in Washington’s policies, though opinions differed as to how much improvement the state needed to make.
Simpson maintained Washington is going in the right direction regarding education. Hargrove, his opponent, disagreed, citing as an example, “Last year an art teacher had to teach math at Auburn High School. That didn’t go so well.” Hargrove’s wife and two daughters all teach or coach at Auburn schools, he said.
