Ormsby, Delaney campaign for 3rd Legislative District seat

To incumbent Timm Ormsby, a Democrat, there’s not a big difference between campaigning and fulfilling his legislative duties – his messages and methods don’t change much from one to the other, he said.

At the top of his list right now is finalizing the state’s budget, which includes finding a way to dedicate more money to K-12 education.

“Having the McCleary decision to deal with on top of everything is huge,” Ormsby said, referring to a state Supreme Court decision mandating the Legislature direct more money to basic education.

His challenger, Libertarian Paul Delaney believes the needed education funding can be found within the budget by cutting back on administrative positions and tightening spending.

Delaney lives in Spokane, but is doing some of his campaigning from Alaska where he works three-week shifts in the oil fields. That’s been a little difficult, he said, adding that if he’s elected he will take a leave of absence from his Alaska job.

In a phone interview he said he’s running for office because he’s tired of government wasting money.

“I’m not here to be liked – I’m here to make the hard decisions,” Delaney said. “I don’t see our legislators make the hard decisions anymore.” He added that he would stand up for Spokane which, he said, is not getting its fair share of funding from the Legislature.

Ormsby said there’s a list of things that have worked out very well for Spokane, including extra funding for several community centers, the Riverpoint Campus Academic Center and the Peaceful Valley Community Center.

“Don’t forget that the state funds about one-third of the cost of the school construction we’ve seen here,” Ormsby said.

Ormsby said the 3rd District ranks as poor “on many measures” and that it’s important to continue to provide services for the most vulnerable.

“Continued funding for social services, health care and higher education is very important,” Ormsby said.

Both Ormsby and Delaney agree the North Spokane Corridor should be finished, but Delaney said it’s already cost too much and he will not support a fuel tax increase to pay for it.

“A gas tax increase would be spent for bike paths in Seattle – it would never be spent over here,” Delaney said.

Ormsby supports a fuel tax-based transportation package that would include finishing the North Spokane Corridor to Interstate 90 as well as other road and bridge improvements.

Ballots will be mailed starting this week. In order to be accepted, ballots returned by mail must have proper postage and be postmarked Nov. 4 or earlier. Ballots also can be dropped off without postage at official elections drop boxes by 8 p.m. Nov. 4.