Benson Confident He’Ll Get 3Rd Term But Pair Of Foes Seek To Keep Him From Return To Olympia

Incumbent Rep. Brad Benson is confident that he’ll be returning to the Legislature for a third term.

He’s given nearly half his campaign fund to help fellow Republicans in tighter races, and has been accused by his underdog opponent, Democrat Bernie Nelson, of skipping chances to debate.

Benson, 41, took 60 percent of the vote in the September primary against Nelson and Libertarian Jesda Gulati. He’s maintained a low-key campaign on his record of fiscal conservatism and his position as co-chairman of the House Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee.

Instead of spending his $57,600 war chest on ads, Benson has taken to door-to-door campaigning in his district. In September, he transferred $25,000 to the state Republican Party, which is waging a pitched battle to win back a House of Representatives that’s now split 49-49 with Democrats.

The same week as the transfer, John Ahern, a Republican in a tight battle for the other 6th District House seat, got $25,000 from the party.

Benson said any money that can help the GOP win the House will benefit his donors.

“My contributors want me to get re-elected, and in a position of power,” he said. “I want to go back as chair of Financial Institutions, but that doesn’t happen unless we have a majority.”

Benson said he’s avoided attending candidate forums with Nelson where he felt the crowd was stacked against him. “I’d rather be out talking to voters on their doorsteps,” he said.

Nelson, who ran unsuccessfully against Benson in 1998, calls his opponent a “stealth candidate” who is overconfident.

“He’s invisible, except to special interests,” said Nelson, who has raised $4,008. “He’s a nonentity, because he doesn’t have to be.”

“This guy is a genuinely nice guy. He loves his family. But I disagree vehemently on some of the issues with him.”

The two are in sharp contrast, particularly on the key issue in the campaign: spurring local economic development.

Benson said high taxes and overregulation cost him an ice cream shop he ran with his wife.

Eliminating state business and property taxes is the solution to rejuvenating Spokane’s moribund economy, he said.

“We keep thinking that if we squeeze a little more out of the taxpayer, everything’s going to be all right,” he said. “We need to let go of those taxes and put them back in taxpayers’ pockets, and the economy will take off. It’s been shown time and time again, if you cut taxes you increase revenues.”

Nelson suggests investing more to improve the skills of Spokane workers. Providing workers fresh off welfare rolls and current members of the labor pool with training to boost their computer skills will draw betterpaying jobs here, he said.

“I strongly support the direction of the Chamber of Commerce,” which is advocating advanced skill training, Nelson said.

The differences don’t stop there. Benson is sharply critical of public school districts, including Spokane’s District 81, for being more interested in keeping the teachers’ union happy than providing quality education.

“If you say schools are a public works project for teachers, I guess I am anti-public schools,” he said this week. “I think it’s a bunch of people robbing the taxpayers without getting anything in return.”

Despite the state spending half its budget on K-12 education, students come out with limited preparation for jobs, he said. He took his children out of public schools after disliking the quality of instruction.

“Their solution for everything is to ask for more money,” he said. “Where’s the return on our investment?”

He suggests giving parents publicly subsidized vouchers so they can shop for better education at private schools. He also suggests breaking Spokane School District 81 into five districts, and the Mead District into two, to dilute the influence of the union.

“You’re more likely to be treated like a human being in a smaller district than a large one,” he said.

Spokane School Board member Christie Querna, when asked to respond to Benson’s comments, said “this is one of the few times I’m speechless.”

She noted that voters approved all three District 81 levies and bond issues since 1998 by at least 78 percent “yes” margins.

“I think when our citizens support our bond issues and levies the way they do, they’re not feeling like they’re getting robbed,” said Querna.

Nelson agreed. Benson’s support for vouchers would rob public schools, the challenger said. “He would love to put public money into religious indoctrination. You can pray in private, but you shouldn’t put public money into that.”

Nelson said he would like to spend more to reduce class size and to help special education students.

Also running is 19-year-old Jesda Gulati, owner of a computer networking business and chairman of the Spokane County Libertarian party.

He supports smaller government, reduced taxes, gun owners’ rights, legalization of drugs and protection of citizens from police forfeiture laws.

This sidebar appeared with the story:

STATE HOUSE DISTRICT 6, SEAT 1

Questions for the candidates

1. Schools. What is your education priority?

2. Initiatives. With more and more initiatives appearing on ballots, should the state’s initiative process be changed?

3. Health care. What should be done to ensure wider local access to health coverage? 4. Poverty. What’s the most important thing you would do to reduce poverty in the region?

5. Spending. What does the state spend too much or too little on?

BRAD BENSON, Republican 1. Reduce education bureaucracy at state and federal level. Include information on certificate of mastery valuable to employers, such as senior year attendance record. Supports charter schools initiative and vouchers.

2. No changes. Initiatives “really good for sending messages to the Legislature and governor.”

3. Eliminate law requiring all plans to be equal or better than the state basic health plan. Lure more insurers back to encourage competition.

4. Ease business-permitting process and cut business and occupation taxes to encourage competition for labor. Ease permits for water rights.

5. Spending too much on public education for results. Spending too little on roads, particularly Spokane arterials.

BERNIE NELSON, Democrat 1. Supports Locke administration’s direction. Continue to hold schools accountable through student testing. Spend more on special education and to reduce class sizes. Opposes vouchers.

2. No changes. “Initiatives force people to look at things they wouldn’t otherwise.”

3. Subsidized insurance needs changes; form a committee to make suggestions. Reduce prescription drug prices through a buying pool. Disagrees that overregulation is forcing insurers to flee.

4. Improve economy by improving worker skills. Train low-income workers for higher-paying jobs, and retrain current workforce to improve computer skills.

5. Spending too much on inefficient government bureaucracies; conduct more audits of state programs. Spending too little on health coverage and public education.

Jonathan Martin can be reached at (509)459-5484 or by e-mail at jonathanm@spokesman.com.