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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Primary candidates share views with Chamber

Hopefuls from 6th, 7th and 9th districts talk about their priorities at lunch

The primary election for state legislators is coming up in August, and the West Plains Chamber of Commerce brought in candidates from the Sixth, Seventh and Ninth legislative districts to speak during its monthly luncheon at the Airport Ramada.

Matthew Pederson, the executive director of the Chamber and the mayor of Airway Heights, laid down the rules for the candidates, who had five minutes to discuss why they wanted to run for office and could answer questions from the audience at the official adjournment of the luncheon.

Candidates vying for the seat in the Ninth District spoke to the crowd first.

Joe Schmick, a Republican from Colfax, is the incumbent candidate and was appointed to the position last November.

He said he wants to focus on four issues during this election season: he wants to work to help small businesses in small towns, help lower health care costs, support education and work for strengthened private property rights.

Tyana Kelley was the only Democrat of the group to speak at the luncheon. She said she wants to help small businesses, knows that education is important and wants to increase financial aid opportunities. She also wants to work to keep graduates of the local universities in the area. She wants to extend health care to all Washington residents to help ease the costs of many small business owners.

“I’m young and inexperienced, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” she told the crowd.

Christopher Winter, the third candidate in the Ninth District from the Green Party, did not attend the luncheon.

In the Seventh District there are five Republicans in the race for the Legislature.

Mike Davis of Deer Park was unable to attend the event.

Sue Lani Madsen from Edwall is an architect and a small-business owner. She also spent years volunteering as an emergency medical technician and firefighter.

She said that as a small-business owner she felt wading through as much paperwork for the government as she has done was inefficient. She hopes to streamline that process.

Madsen also wants to take a look at growth in the state and see what is working or not working and where it’s working.

She wants to focus on the state’s health care policy and problem-solve in a bipartisan way.

Shelly Short from Addy, Wash., used to work for George Nethercutt and wants to focus on reining in government and making it work.

“George Nethercutt and I were a team” she said. “(We attended) meetings to go to bat for the community members.”

She said that in the capacity of working for Nethercutt, she made sure that small businesses, communities or cities were not impacted by large projects such as mining projects, water systems and new dams.

Peter Davenport is from Harrington, Wash., and sits on the city council there.

He said he’s worked for the State Department as a translator – he has a degree and a translator certificate in Russian – and holds advanced degrees in genetics and biochemistry. He also taught international business at the University of Washington.

“We’re spending a king’s ransom on education and we are not getting our money’s worth,” Davenport said.

Along with improving education in the state, he also wants to work on revising our voting system.

Kelly White of Kettle Falls said he has worked on farms and forests in his lifetime.

“I know firsthand some of the challenges you have in owning a small business,” he said.

He’s served on the Forest and Wildlife Commission and has invested in real estate.

White feels he has what it takes to convince people to his way of thinking.

He wants to focus on property rights issues and education. He feels many students come out of schools knowing little about how to use credit responsibly.

“That’s something I definitely want to fix,” he said.

In the 6th District, Don Barlow, a Republican, was unable to attend.

Marcos James Ruiz Jr., an independent from Spokane, said he wants to make owning a house affordable. He wants to boost the economy by paying workers a real wage so they can buy a home and keep it. He added that he is running his campaign with his own funds and encouraged the audience to donate their money to causes and not candidates.

Mel Lindauer, a Republican from Spokane, owns three eye clinics in the area and wants to focus on affordable health care, quality education, economic growth and support for seniors and veterans. He also wants to work for funding for projects in Eastern Washington, such as the North-South Freeway.

Kevin Parker, a Republican from Spokane, said that when he was in high school he wasn’t very engaged academically. He had a 1.8 grade-point average entering his senior year, and if it wasn’t for a counselor, he probably wouldn’t have made it into college. During his senior year, he worked hard and was accepted at Whitworth.

He wants to focus on education, keeping young people in the area after they graduate from school, as well as affordable health care and transportation.

Pederson said the winners of the primary election will come back to the Chamber luncheon in September before the general election.