State House candidates focus on wide range of issues, ideas

Expanding water storage, putting more teeth in anti-gang laws and returning lost state revenue to cities are at the top of the list for six-year incumbent Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside.

But Democratic challenger Tao Berman has his sights set on promoting the area to lure business from the west side, improving the education system and taking a more bipartisan approach to achieve those goals.

Both are vying for the Position 2 House seat in the 15th Legislative District. The district covers Klickitat and Skamania counties and parts of Yakima, Benton and Clark counties.

Newhouse, 53, said he'd continue efforts to increase water storage in the area.

Since the Black Rock reservoir project has faced criticism for its potential environmental hazard to groundwater from the nearby Hanford Reservation, Newhouse said he's been working with a task force exploring potential funding sources for such a project.

"Droughts have underscored the need for water, and it's not just farming," he said. "The increased population needs water. We have to have an increasing supply of water to stay economically viable."

But for 29-year-old Berman of White Salmon, properly promoting the area to outside business should be a priority, something he contends current lawmakers have failed to do.

"I want to do everything that I can to get more businesses to consider expanding or locating to the area," he said.

He said he's interested in contacting business on the state's west side interested in expanding, and luring them to south- central Washington by promoting the lower rental costs here and quality of life the area has to offer.

By doing that, more family wage jobs could be created.

"I think it's what our district really needs. There's more to be done than what's done in Olympia," Berman said. "You have to take a proactive approach and set meetings and meet with people."

He also said his efforts promoting himself as a professional kayaker gives him an edge in communicating with business-savvy people.

"I'm comfortable in a boardroom full of executives because I've done it for the past 10 years," he said. "We need someone that speaks the same language as these business executives to lure business to the district. You've got to be working with business leaders to bring jobs into the district."

Newhouse, on the other hand, said reducing gang problems will make towns in his district more inviting to outside business owners.

He said he'd like to see stronger accountability inserted into the state's new anti-gang law.

The law, approved by the Legislature this year, established a legal definition of a gang, gang membership and gang crime and called for creation of a statewide database of gang members. It also increased sentencing for gang members who recruit juveniles and defined the making of graffiti as a crime.

In addition to the increased penalties, supporters had hoped to also get $10 million for pilot programs that would help counter gang recruitment and a provision that would allow local communities to seek civil injunctions against known gang members. But with state money tight and lingering concerns about the potential for racial profiling, the money and the injunctions were removed.

Gangs have plagued most Lower Valley cities in recent years, and Newhouse believes local authorities need more leeway to add penalties for gang-related crimes. He said it's tough to draft a law that would enable police to arrest someone for merely being in a gang without infringing on civil rights.

Some lawmakers were wary of such a bold move, he said.

"I think we stopped short last session in giving local towns, small communities, the tools that they were asking for to deal with this," he said.

Newhouse said his goal is to keep in touch with community groups and city councils to see how well the new law is being implemented.

"I will be talking with them in the next couple of months to see what more they need," he said.

Berman, however, sees improving education as a way to get youth going in the right direction.

He said he has worked with schools making presentations to youth about direction and goal setting, and said he'd like to see standardized test scores improve across the state.

"I really think that we really need to start preparing our kids for the global economy that we are now in," he said.

Initiating a better teacher mentoring program would help make that happen, he said.

"This is simply a starting place," he said. "I would surround myself with people who are in the educational field and push for legislation that would meet their needs."

Lastly, Newhouse said he's still fighting to return state revenue to cities that was lost nearly a decade ago when vehicle licensing fees were leveled at $30 a year.

A Tim Eyman ballot initiative that capped property tax increases to 1 percent also have left several small towns in the Lower Valley and across the state grappling with budget shortfalls even as the demand for public services has grown. Many cities have assessed taxes on local utilities just to stay afloat.

"I still go back to the commitment the Legislature had made to replace that funding that was lost to local governments and it hasn't fulfilled that," Newhouse said. "We need to make some headway in that direction."

But to make it all happen, lawmakers will have to work hard to overcome a propose $3 billion deficit, he said.

Calling himself fiscally conservative, Berman said his bipartisan approach would allow him to better reach across the isle and get more done.

With Democrats holding the majority in the House, "I've got a better chance of getting those things promoted than a Republican trying to convey the same message," he said.

As of Friday, Newhouse reported $90,715 in campaign donations while Berman reported raising $8,795, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission.