October 16, 2008

Candidates lay out plans at community forum

By SAM CRAIG
of The Chronicle

     With Nov. 4 just around the corner, several candidates for city, county and state positions marched into The Dalles Civic Auditorium on Tuesday, Oct. 14 to give their views.
     Each candidate had a chance to give a four-minute speech followed by a question and answer session moderated by Kathy Gray, editor of The Chronicle.
     A majority of the candidates are running unopposed for office, and the only contested races are for Position No. 2 in The Dalles City Council and for District 59 State Representative.
     Brian Ahier, running unopposed for city council, started the event, speaking of his desire to evaluate city proposals for fiscal responsibility, among other topics.
     Randy Cole and Dan Spatz, both running for City Council Position No. 2, were among the first to take the stage, offering their plans to make The Dalles a more prosperous town.
     Spatz, the Chief Institutional Advancement Officer for Columbia Gorge Community College, would like to keep business growing in The Dalles; the focus of new businesses being creators of clean, renewable energy, as well as new businesses brought to the downtown area. He’s also got his eyes on what a major company is doing on their port property.
     “One thing I’d like to see is the completion of the Google Data Center down there,” he said. “They have about a third of their plant that they have yet to construct so it would be good to see that built out.”
     Cole also has a mind for Google finishing up, but not at the expense of the economic wellbeing of The Dalles.
     “First of all,” said Cole, Traffic Safety Commission chair and a conductor for Union Pacific, “I don’t believe that we as citizens need to give tax exempt status to a multibillion-dollar corporation. Sure I’d like to see them here and I’d like to see them develop the rest of their property, but I don’t think we need to give them tax exempt status. Our economy hurts, we need that tax base.”
     As the sole candidate, Nikki Lesich isn’t looking at a long battle to the mayor’s desk, but she is poised to make history. As mayor, she would be the first female to take the job in the 151-year history of The Dalles.
     Lesich, an ad sales representative at The Dalles Chronicle, is focused on making the town a more attractive place to new industries. Having worked with the urban renewal committee, she believes by creating a place that would be more appealing to tourism, The Dalles could be a force to reckon with when it comes to flirting with new businesses.
     “I’ve been on that committee for nine years,” she said. “And that committee has proved to me that we can dream big, that we can attract business and we can make our community healthy with its spirit and I hope you vote for me, even though I’m unopposed, for mayor of The Dalles.”
     Sherry Holliday beat Georgia Murray in the May primary election and now will run uncontested to maintain her position as county commissioner. She says her main goals are for expansion, development and growth within the county, more funding for the Sheriff’s Department, as well as finding solutions to help the mentally ill other than housing them at NORCOR.
     Running as the only candidate for clerk is Karen LeBreton-Coats (not pictured). She’s held the position for 21 years, worked in the office for another 15 and has officiated at more than 1,100 marriage ceremonies. Her goals for her next term are for increased voter registration and to “overwhelm” the public with the content available on the new clerk’s section of the county’s website.
     Wasco County Sheriff, Rick Eisland is also running for re-election. Being sheriff of a big county can be tough, especially when there aren’t that many deputies on patrol, but Eisland said he always maintains at least two deputies on at a time. Even if sometimes they are 100 miles apart from one another. Next term he’d like to see more deputies on the force, as well as more money to make the job safer for the ones already on patrol. He’s also planning on making sure radio contact is available to deputies no matter where they are in the county.
     Also at the event were John Huffman, the Republican state representative of District 59, and his opponent for the position, Madras Democrat Mike Ahern.
Both promised to bring the concerns of rural Oregon to the forefront in Salem.      Huffman vowed to bring back the proposal for the Rural Investment Program and Ahern said, if elected, he would do his best to reinstate the Center for Rural Policy.
     Sitting at opposite ends of the same table, the two exchanged a few barbs during the night.
     When asked what he expected would be different if his opponent were elected, Huffman said, “I would hope there would be no changes, because I’ve set the bar pretty high. If Mike were to beat me, quite frankly, he’s got big shoes to fill, because I do put a lot of time in on this job.”
     Ahern, who’s also a real estate agent, was asked if he’d be willing reach across the aisle to work with members of the other party.
     “I have always served with Republicans,” the Democratic candidate said. “Jefferson County is overwhelmingly Republican. Most of my campaign donations are Republican. You think I don’t like Republicans? I love Republicans.”