PORT ANGELES — The candidates for the state’s 24th Legislative District, position 2 seat disagreed on nearly every topic they touched on during a forum.
Incumbent Steve Tharinger, D-Port Townsend, and challenger Terry Roberts, R-Quilcene, spoke at a Port Angeles Business Association meeting at Joshua’s Restaurant Tuesday morning.
Roberts started by saying he wanted to “dispel a myth” that he doesn’t have necessary experience for the position.
“I have a lot of experience building relationships, working on complex projects and have a lot of political experience,” he said.
Roberts studied political science and economics in college, has worked for numerous Republican political campaigns and has spent 22 years in finance as a project manager.
Tharinger is wrapping up his seventh term in the Legislature. He serves as the chair of the House capital budget committee and is on the Health Care and Wellness Committee and Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services.
With those positions, Tharinger said he has helped support local hospitals, dental care, childcare and more.
“I think we’re on a roll here, myself,” he said.
The candidates’ first large disagreement was on the cause of inflation and ways to address it.
Tharinger said much of the country’s inflation was caused by supply chain issues during the pandemic.
“Supply chain issues did not cause inflation, period,” Roberts said, arguing that Biden administration policies were the main drivers.
Candidates also disagreed on the principles behind gas prices, with Roberts inferring that the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) is a large player.
The CCA is a cap-and invest program that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and uses resulting funds for the operating, capital and transportation budgets, according to the Washington State Standard.
Tharinger said competing with Asia for crude oil is a major factor driving state gas prices, although the Climate Commitment Act (CCA) plays a small role.
Roberts said he agreed that national and international factors have an impact. However, he said the state can’t really address those factors.
“What we can control, we should control,” he said. “My opponent has not done that.”
Roberts said he will vote yes on all four initiatives that will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot, including Initiative 2117, which aims to repeal the CCA.
Tharinger said he will vote no on all four initiatives.
“We’re going to have to deal with the climate,” he said about the CCA. “You can hide from it, but it’s not going to solve the problem.”
Initiative 2066 aims to ban cities and countries from discouraging the use of natural gas, according to the Washington State Standard.
Initiative 2109 aims to repeal the state’s capital gains tax. This is a 7 percent tax on the sale or exchange of long-term capital assets for gains more than $262,000, excluding real estate transactions, according to the Washington State Standard.
Very few residents make enough to pay the tax, Tharinger said, and it has generated close to $900 million. According to the state Budget and Policy Center, the tax affects 0.2 percent of Washington taxpayers.
Initiative 2124 would allow individuals to opt out of the state’s WA Cares program, which levies a 58-cent tax for every $100 of income, according to the Washington State Standard.
Roberts said he is opposed to the state’s current tax lineup.
“We’re taxed too high,” he said. “We don’t have a tax problem, we have a spending problem in Olympia, plain and simple.”
He said millions of state tax dollars could be saved, and taxes could be repealed, if the government focused on efficiency.
“That’s one of the things I want to hit the ground running on when I get seated in January,” he added.
Tharinger asked Roberts to provide specific examples of where money could be saved.
Roberts said the state Department of Transportation (DOT) could save money by utilizing different contractors and changing up the formula that it currently uses for projects, and the state Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) could save money by switching to wraparound services that utilize family support.
Tharinger said he was doubtful that would result in savings from the DSHS.
“There’s a gulf between us,” Roberts said in his closing statement. “The bottom line is, I don’t think the district needs to go forward with the same kind of thinking we’ve had for 14 years.”
“I don’t think my opponent has made the case for change,” Tharinger said. “I think I have a record that shows that experience does matter and has delivered for the Peninsula.”
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Reporter Emma Maple can be reached by email at emma.maple@peninsuladailynews.com.
