Small-town economics at center of District 15 race

Two candidates vying for the Position 1 state House seat in the 15th Legislative District agree local economies need strengthening. But they vastly differ on how to accomplish that task.

For 10-year incumbent Rep. Bruce Chandler, R-Granger, shifting more state revenue to smaller towns would allow them to better combat a growing gang problem and make needed improvements that would lure more business and construction.

But his Democratic opponent, 41-year-old entrepreneur John Gotts of White Salmon, says breathing life back into an ailing timber industry would bring many small towns back to life.

The 15th District covers Klickitat and Skamania counties and parts of Yakima, Benton and Clark counties.

Chandler, a 56-year-old cherry and pear farmer in the Granger area, said the state should help the many small cities in his district make needed upgrades that would generate growth and tax revenue.

He said several cities now need or will soon need to improve, or in some cases, completely overhaul their wastewater treatment plants.

Toppenish is currently rebuilding its wastewater treatment plant in order to meet new federal standards on limiting ammonia output. A costly project at $14 million, it’s caused rates to increase by 15 percent.

“Those types of infrastructures are needed to entice small businesses to come into an area,” Chandler said. “I believe the state has an important role to play in that.”

He considers it a wise investment for the state as new wineries and restaurants have sprouted in the Columbia River Gorge and large housing developments, such as Zillah Lakes and the Vineyards Resorts north of Zillah, are under way in the Yakima Valley.

Gotts, on the other hand, sees hope in restarting the timber industry. It’s no secret the lumber mills have struggled throughout the Northwest, with the recent closure of one in Yakima and another in Naches.

Gotts, who is waging his first bid for public office, blames much of the slowdown on limited access to timber caused by past timber practices colliding with the interests of environmentalists.

He said he believes that timber could be harvested at a rate that would kick-start the economy and allow for sustainable forest practices. He plans to take a petition and personal testimonies from those impacted by the decline in the timber industry to lawmakers in Washington, D.C., in hopes of loosening some of the restrictions on timber harvesting.  

Gangs and drugs have also been a problem in many communities in the district, something Chandler says he’s not ignoring.

He supported a gang law recently approved by the Legislature that established a statewide database on information about gangs, a legal definition for gangs and increased sentencing for gang members who recruit juveniles. It also increased sentencing for gang members who recruit juveniles and made gang-related graffiti a crime.

But more funding needs to be shifted to local agencies for graffiti abatement and intervention programs that discourage youth from joining gangs, Chandler said.

“Programs should be locally controlled and locally driven,” he said. “I think they know what they need in their towns.”

To that end, Chandler said he continues to support restoring the state revenue small towns lost when annual auto licensing fees were leveled at $30 nearly a decade ago, a promise the Legislature has failed to keep.

“I feel that it’s one of the more disappointing measures in my time in the Legislature,” he said. “I’m going to continue to push for that. I think if we made a promise, that we should live up to that.”

Despite the projected $3.2 billion budget shortfall, the state can afford to offer more help to small cities, it’s just a matter of good budgeting, Chandler said.

“We will collect more in state revenue next year than we ever have, almost a billion dollars” more, he said, noting that state budgets the past two years overshot revenue.

But Gotts said he sees the drop in the timber industry as responsible for much of the social issues plaguing the district as a lack of jobs has led to more drugs coming into communities.

“If you go through the town of Klickitat, there (once) was a mill there and everyone had new cars,” he said. “Now, there’s a meth problem.

“Let’s start the chainsaws back up, but let’s work with environmentalists to assure sustainable forests,” he added.

In that, Gotts said, the pursuit of developing renewable energy sources would also create more jobs.

He said he’s now working with a company that is interested in converting the aluminum plant in John Day into a plant that would manufacture diesel fuel from algae.

“We have sunshine here, we have wind,” he said of the area.

As of Friday, Chandler reported raising $63,509 for his campaign, while Gotts hasn’t reported any contributions,  according to the Washington Public Disclosure Commission.

Gotts said he’s more focused on developing solutions rather than campaigning. He said he’s turned down donations and that he’s not going to ask people for money when most of them are struggling in minimum-wage jobs.

“Things around here are so thin right now,” he said.