Election 2026: League of Women Voters Primary Candidate Forum

0:00 >> My name is Rachel Bancroft, I'm the moderator for this event and a member of the League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan group focused on voter education. Thank you to our candidates for their participation in this event, and special thanks to CVTV for hosting. The forum will be aired on CVTV and online at CVTV.org. Our first race tonight features candidates for state representative in the 17th district, position one. Joining us are Kevin Waters, Thomas Everett Haynes, and Ben Chrisley. Welcome to you all. >> Thank you. >> Candidates, please watch the league timer and stay within the timelines for each question. You will have 60 seconds to answer each question unless instructed otherwise.

0:58 We'll first answer in the order that you appear on the ballot, and we will rotate after that. All questions are prepared by the League of Women Voters of Clark County, and we are providing the timer. We'll begin with candidate Waters. Candidate Waters, tell us why you want to be a legislator. What is your history in your district, and what would you bring to the job? Your skills and abilities. What issues most affect your neighbors? You will have 90 seconds to answer this question. >> Okay, well, first off, thank you for those watching, and thanks for those who are here tonight. My name is Kevin Waters. I'm currently the state representative. I hail from Stevenson, Washington. Born and raised in Stevenson my whole life. I'm fourth generation, and my history was that I went off to Eastern Washington University from Stevenson. I went K through 12 there. Came back.

1:54 I was a very short time corrections officer, maybe not the best corrections officer. I was only there for a very short time, and then went and helped my family open a grocery store in Carson, Washington, which is just four miles east of Stevenson. And then in 2012, I started Backwoods Brewing Company. And then in 2019, and during that time from 2010 to 2019, I was a port commissioner for Port of Skamania. And then 2019, I started having kids, and decided to go, and I own a wedding venue and some cabins, and started doing that full time. And then I got plucked away very quickly to be the economic development director for Skamania County. So I serve in that role. 2022, I was asked to run for State House. I'll be candid, I had no idea what I was signing up for.

2:49 But there were some things that really mattered to me, which was I ran businesses. I know how difficult it is to run a business. I went to a school. My kids go to a school that is the same school that their great grandmother opened. So with that, thank you very much. Thank you. Canada Haines. My name is Thomas Everett Haines. This is my first time running in any sort of a political environment. So again, just like my compatriots said, no idea what I signed up for. But here I am. I'm going to do my best at it. I've been living in Vancouver since the '90s, moved here when I was in grade school. I joined the Army when I was 17, was a combat medic. Came back, went to college, struggled around a bit, came back to college, had some jobs in cybersecurity, educational research, that type of thing. And worked as well additionally in some more cybersecurity while I was finishing my computer science degree.

3:48 And I run a small business as well that is doing educational outreach, helping other students that were at the same university, WSU Vancouver, where I just finished up my computer science degree. I'm running because I personally feel a little underrepresented currently, broadly, by most of the representatives that are in the state legislature. And I know by interacting with others that other people feel the same way. So I wanted to kind of bring that slightly different unique perspective to the House of Representatives. And that's what I'm doing now. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Candidate Chrisley? >> Thank you. First, let me thank League of Women Voters and everybody for being here and then everybody watching at home. I know it's a must-see TV, so we appreciate that. You know, I would say I know exactly what this role is. It's a serious job that takes a serious person to get real work done. Make no mistake about that.

4:46 People are tired of political rhetoric, and they want real solutions to real problems. And that's what I'm bringing. I bring a background of growing up on a small farm. And so with that, you learn how to solve problems, join the military at 17 years old, while I further enhance my ability to problem solve one of the favorite items that you hear a lot when you serve is figure it out. So I did a lot of figuring it out. I've spent over two decades in healthcare, currently working as a flight nurse. I know how to dissect information, critically think through it, and come to a solution that's going to be the best for the most amount of people. And so for me, you will get somebody that's going to show up, that's going to listen, knows what the job is, and will perform it to the highest level to make sure we get full representation from every part of our district.

5:45 We have a very large, diverse district, and I will represent everybody in it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Candidate Haynes, the 17th District includes both suburban neighborhoods and more rural communities. How do you balance those sometimes competing priorities when advocating in Olympia? >> Balancing the suburban and rural communities is obviously one of the most difficult things to do. We hear a lot of rhetoric about how it's the one or the other, it's either the way the rural people want it or the way the people in the city wants to do it. And of course, this district is incredibly diverse, and that diversity is a critical strength of the region, and just listening to what everyone in the district has to say and not merely bringing forth to the House of Representatives what I think, but listening to the constituents and trying to take into account what everyone thinks from any of the

6:43 cities, any of the regions in the district, and just incorporating that into any policies that may come up. I feel like that's probably the best way to do it, to represent people is just to listen to what their concerns are continuously, have a continuous open pipeline, and continually improve. >> Thank you. Candidate Chrisley? >> So we already mentioned the diversity of this district. I've had the advantage of living in remote and rural areas, and while I haven't lived in this exact area, I can understand the resources that are limited there. We have a real healthcare crisis happening in Skamania and Click Attack County, and it's something that we have to address. I've knocked on thousands of doors. I'm not guessing what people want out there. I'm knocking on their doors, and I'm listening to what they want. And if I have one superpower, that one superpower is the ability to listen, not waiting for

7:40 my turn to talk, but actually listening to what people need and want. Thank you. >> Thank you. Representative Otters? >> Thank you. I think that you have a very diverse district. We represent basically from the 205 Bridge to Goldendale, and the things that we see are common. We see childcare that's desperately needed in both rural and here in the urban areas. We see the amount of infrastructure that is needed in both the urban and the rural areas. And I think that when we do listen to those folks, we do see that a lot of it's the same needs. A lot of it's infrastructure-based. We have childcare deserts out in Skamania and Click Attack, especially Click Attack. But we also have that same thing going on here in Clark County, and how do we divide that gap? Also, 65% of the rural area commutes into the Portland, Vancouver area for work.

8:35 So how do we make sure that those folks that live in rural areas actually have the diverseness that they need in the urban area to be able to have infrastructure in their daily jobs? I think it's really important that we support those needs. And lastly, I'll say energy. Energy is huge on the east side of this district, so how do we work with that? Thank you. >> Thank you. Candidate Chrisley, what should the state do, if anything, to protect Washington's water rights and ensure we have adequate supplies for agriculture, fisheries, households, and other uses? >> Water rights are, you know, as you mentioned in your question, they're far reaching. And so when we're talking about water rights, we have a lot of laws in place currently around water rights when we're talking about who gets rights to them in what order and how that breaks out. And so when we talk about that, when we talk about the prolific growth that we're having in East Clark County specifically, we really have to make sure that we're asking that question

9:32 up front of do we have enough water for this growth and where is it going? And so part of that is making sure that we're asking those questions up front and that we're not waiting until we have a problem but then trying to solve it. And so we've got a lot of rural, so water is important towards obviously the agriculture out in Klickitat, we've got the wildfires out in Skamania, and so we've got to make sure that we protect precious resources of water and we've got to make sure we've got enough here before trying to send it elsewhere. >> Thank you. Candidate Waters? >> Thank you. And water rights are huge. You know, some folks think that water rights are only a rural issue but they are urban as well. I have the pleasure of serving as the tribal liaison with 29 tribes. So we talk about salmon, we talk about fish recovery there and how important that is. But we did just see a fishery shut down in Washougal that was really tough. So how do we make sure that those guys have the support?

10:30 That took off about three, 400,000 steelhead. Something that, you know, I don't really like going around saying that we had to do. I think that's something that our budget cuts should address. But we also have farmland that we have right here locally farms that need more water. And lastly I'll say that with our farmers it goes from here all the way to Goldendale that we see the number one rate of death right now for farmers is suicide and how do we address that? And it all boils down to restrictions, it boils down to rules that we have for the folks that are working with water every single day from tribes to farms. Thank you. >> Thank you. Candidate Haynes. >> My understanding of the water rights issue comes from a much -- from a higher level position usually around international and treaties such as tribes, the tribal rights to water in my opinion do need to kind of come first but there also needs to be an acknowledgement that you can't just use all the water that you have the right to as water does trickle

11:29 down to the next person in line. And of course our farmers and other resources like agricultural water, municipal water supplies for people at home, things like that, we have robust infrastructure of course to handle all that. I used to speak to and work with the man who manages Seattle's water supply so I have a little bit of information about how that system works. But definitely making sure that our farmers do have the water that they need is important as well but also perhaps offering incentives to have different crops that perhaps don't use as much water to make sure that the water we do have can go as far as possible. >> Thank you. Candidate Waters, despite the new tax on incomes above a million dollars, Governor Ferguson has said that the state's budget challenges will grow in the next fiscal year. What areas would you trim or would you choose to increase taxes? Please be specific in your response. >> Thank you.

12:24 And you know just yesterday the Governor came out and said that he is going to impose cuts. And I'm really curious to see what those cuts look like. We have a number of groups that mainly in the Puget Sound area that get a lot of money. And I think that it's time that we start auditing those programs. We look at programs, and my seat mate Senator Paul Harris says this all the time, a program that sounded great six to ten years ago, and even the Governor said this yesterday, 2019 and on programs are going to get ridiculed and scrutinized. And I think that that's something that we need to do. On the income tax, you know, that's up for debate still, but my worry is it's an income tax on the rich today and on you tomorrow. That's something that I really worry about. We had amendments in there that would have said it would not go below a million dollars. That actually got denied. We weren't allowed to get that amendment into the bill, and that really hurt us.

13:20 And I'm really proud to say that our caucus fought that for 24 hours straight. And -- but, yeah, I mean, oh, that's my time. Thank you. >> Thank you. Candidate Haynes? >> Again, to continue on, the millionaire tax, again, I personally believe was passed in a very disingenuous way of -- as Waters was saying, it is very much -- very clear that it was passed with the intent to just lower it later. They didn't want to add in anything that would prevent it from being lowered after the fact, but it does point to a bigger problem of budget shortfalls and a requirement for funding for other programs. So where would funding for those come? Of course, after audits and making sure everything is being spent appropriately. And I believe some of the best places to look for that are corporate income taxes or other sales taxes for luxury goods, things of that nature. But, of course, it's a very complex and nuanced conversation, which is, of course, part of

14:20 the job. Shall we get elected? Thank you. >> Thank you. Candidate Chrisley? >> So the question was trim or where would increase taxes, right? So we already know there's a huge budget shortfall, and it's -- you know, we're going to see some cuts this year from the governor. And I think more importantly, when we talk about taxes, we've got to make sure that they're going towards programs and reevaluating those programs so that we can know that they're doing what they are intended to do. And so I think it's on us as legislators to make sure that the precious tax dollars that we're taking in are reaching out to programs that are having an impact. Our government is set up to help the general welfare and the wellbeing of its citizens. And as legislators, that's our job, is to put people first, always. And so when I look at the lens of whether we should work on our tax system, we know

15:15 we have one of the most regressive tax systems in the nation, and we have to continue to fix it. I, too, wouldn't support the wealth tax as it sits in this current iteration. There's a little bit of work that needs to be done on it, but I think we're almost there. >> Thank you. Candidate Haynes, what suggestions do you have for dealing with the financial shortfalls in public schools? >> Funding schools more, I think, would be the easy thing to say on that. But of course, just as we discussed with taxes, that money does need to come from somewhere. The state constitution does lay out that education is a paramount duty of the state, and I really think we've been lacking in that. We do have some of the best schools in the country, but that doesn't mean we can't attempt to be better. As for addressing the budget shortfalls, the traditional approaches would be on things such as property taxes, but that can prevent funding from getting to places that need it.

16:15 There are still people in lower income, lower property value areas, so some sort of comprehensive solution that would allow funding to be more uniform per child, per person that needs to be taught, I think would be a better solution than picking from the most wealthy areas to only help the most wealthy areas. >> Thank you. David Chrisley. >> Yeah, it's clear that we have not fully funded schools in a way that's getting the job done. I think we can all agree that public schools are not being funded in the way that we would like them to be. And so I think it comes down to why have we waited so long to come up with a different format, a different formula to fully fund these schools? And so we've got to go back to the drawing board, we've got to get all stakeholders at the table, and we've got to come up with a different formula that allows us, without

17:09 dipping into other pots, and figure out a way to fully fund these schools. And so how do we do that? We do that by collectively coming together, all sides, no matter where you're from or what you believe, and figuring out a way to get the job done. Thank you. >> Thank you. Candidate Waters. >> Well, first off, it's maybe not the right question to ask me, because I'm a timber guy. So you know, we've seen the lowest reduction in timber sales in over 25 years from the DNR, which directly go and fund our schools. We also saw secure rural schools, which go to our most, that's a federal payment that goes to our rural schools. The state took a 30% cut on that this year, and took out 8.4 million from our public schools. So we've got to go back and fix that. Timber is huge. Timber goes, and it directly funds. But I'll say this.

18:03 We've seen right now the lowest record of bonds and levies passed in the state. And what do we do to fix that? And I think you're going to see, we had McCleary about six or eight years ago. We're going to see McCleary 2.0. We have to. And kind of like Candidate Chrisley said, we have to get back in the room. They have to get stuck in the room. My Senator, Paul Harris, will hate hearing that, because he was part of McCleary 1.0, but he knows he needs to be part of McCleary 2.0. And I would love to be part of that as well. So thank you. Thank you. Candidate Chrisley, what's an equitable way to finance the maintenance of transportation infrastructure in our state? Yeah, I mean, listen, infrastructure is one of the basic premises of what we do as a government. And so we're talking roads, bridges, transit. And so what we're doing now is, you know, obviously, when we collect those taxes from

18:57 our tags and gas, those are the money that's supposed to be going for our roads and bridges. And so I think, first and foremost, we need to make sure that that's where that money is going. Right now there's money being siphoned off for other programs that may or may not be having the impact that they originally intended to have. And so we've got to make sure that the money that's allocated to go towards our infrastructure on our roads is truly going to that area and not going someplace else for another program that may or may not be doing what it's supposed to do. Thank you. Candidate Waters. Well, thank you. You know, I think that we are seeing priorities. And where are the priorities? And I think when you're dealing with the majority, it's not very fun dealing with the transportation budget. It is bipartisan in some ways. But you know, the most representatives live in the Puget Sound area. So we see record number of projects done in the Puget Sound area.

19:52 I drive 14 into this district-- well, we're not in the 17th right now-- but to our district. I drive it all the time. We're seeing Highway 14 in the worst shape it's ever been in my life. We're seeing the Slough Bridge that needs to be replaced. It's been passed over several times. That is a priority. We get a billion dollars a month that go on 14, a billion dollars. That doesn't include tourism. That's just goods and services that are going up and down 14. Where are those priorities? And we have to stick to our priorities. We have to. We see in the legislature projects that make no sense, in my opinion, projects that go to programs like the candidate, candidate Chrisley said, that go to things that don't make any sense. We have to spread the wealth. Thank you. >> Thank you. Candidate Haynes? >> Funding infrastructure is, of course, as was said, a central duty of the government. And it's very important to do. And one of the ways previously we've done that is with the taxes on gas revenue from

20:51 tabs and other things like that. And I believe one of the issues that we'll be facing in the next few years is large shortfalls as people transition over to electric vehicles and that we don't have the same type of revenue to maintain our infrastructure. So I'm personally not exactly sure how we'll replace the gas tax should we be able to transition over to electric vehicles. But that is a conversation that we definitely need to have. As the other candidates have said, the infrastructure's centrally important. And making sure that the money that we set aside to go to those projects gets to those projects and is well spent is, again, a paramount duty of the state. And we need to prioritize that. >> Thank you. Candidate Waters? What issues, if any, do you see in the 1990 Growth Management Act? And how would you address them? >> Well, I think that we need to maintain the balance.

21:45 You know, you hear of we don't want to take away farmland, but we need to update our urban areas. I would say that right now when you talk to builders, they're being told from the buildable land study that Clark County did several years ago. The answer is we need to go up. We need to build more condos, more apartment buildings. I think that's part of the answer, but I also think that we need to be careful about our planning and where we're putting houses. Sometimes when you have five-acre parcels, well, do we need to put the house right in the middle of the piece of property? Probably not. Let's think about how we're going to build some more homes there if we've already got that for folks that could have residence on there. So with that, I'll just say that the GMA, I do think it needs to be updated, but it needs to be updated on a county-by-county basis and to be done thoughtfully. And so, yeah, I really think that that is the key. I want to see builders in the county get along, and I think that that buildable land study was somewhat of a detriment to our builders, and they need to feel heard.

22:45 Thank you. Candidate Haynes? Well, the act and the core idea of planning farther ahead for urban development and growth as opposed to let it happen haphazardly is, I believe, good, but it does need to be revisited. Where I live, personally, near Mill Plain, I've had urban development that I really don't see what is happening. Are we carving away our lovely rural areas for the two new car dealerships instead of a grocery store near where I am? There used to be a small municipal airport, and that's been turned into just an open field with nothing in it except for a new car, a Lexus dealership. We need to build better. We need to build more apartment buildings, higher rise, and just develop the urban centers we have already, just develop them more deeply, make them more able to house people and provide the services that urban centers need.

23:44 Thank you. Candidate Chrisley? Yeah, so smart growth, that's the answer. So when we look at the GMA and the way it's been laid out, it does need a refresh, but I think it's also important to note that at the county level, these are items that they're working on and they're tackling, right? So when we're talking about growth and infrastructure and building, each one of these is tied into this GMA. It's not there by itself, and so when we look, if we're going to build a house here, we've got a sewer line that needs to go in, we can't run 10 miles of sewer line for one house and expect the taxpayers to pick up the tab for that. So we've got to look at all facets. We've got to look at water, which we've talked about. We've got to look at the land use, which we've been talking about. We've got to look at the utility portion of that. Because those all have to make sense so that we can lower the price of homes, affordability. These houses need to come down in order for builders to build houses that are affordable. We have to build in a smart way. Thank you.

24:44 >> Thank you. Candidate Haynes, should tech companies who profit from the content of local news organizations be charged a state tax that would be used to support local news? Why or why not? >> I'm sorry, could you elaborate on that question a little bit? I'm not fully understanding what you mean. >> I'll repeat the question. >> Thank you, ma'am. >> Should tech companies who profit from the content of local news organizations be charged a state tax that would be used to support local news? Why or why not? >> I can't say that I have a concrete opinion on that either way without understanding better how exactly the tech companies are profiting from this news or how that tax would be levied. I think it would be a little irresponsible to comment with authority on that matter in any particular way. To speak abstractly about that, I don't think that would be the best use of taxpayer -- or the tax authority of the state to establish that.

25:43 I, of course, do care about local news, and especially amidst the slew of misinformation that is readily available online and affecting the voters, but I'm not quite sure if that is the best way to handle it, though, if I could understand the particular policies behind that better, my opinion might change. >> Thank you. Candidate Chrisley? >> Yeah, that's an interesting question. It's something I really hadn't given much thought to, and no one's proposed that question to me to this juncture. And so I think I would need to see more information on that from a budgetary standpoint and how that would be taxed, how we would track that, and then how would we disseminate that money and to whom. I think that gets into a lot of hypotheticals to which I don't have any concrete weight into. So we're going to talk about a new tax on something.

26:39 I think I would rather get quite a bit more information on that in order to speak to it intelligently. So I think I need a lot more information on that. >> Thank you. Candidate Waters? >> Well, thank you. You know, I don't have much to say about that other than I would impose something else, which would be if you are a locally owned company, maybe you get tax relief. We are seeing conglomerates buy up the press, and we are seeing consolidation in the press. And I would love to see the state offer relief for those folks, especially like the Columbian. I mean, that's the perfect example. There's still a small paper, not small in means of -- I'm talking small globally because the Campbell family still owns it, and I'm still really proud that they own that paper. So I think that we have to incentivize those folks to keep up their news and keep it free and local for those that can get online and read the news. You know, I myself am really blessed.

27:38 I have a very small paper in Skamania County. I read the Columbian every day. Every Wednesday I get the Pioneer. I would love to see a tax incentive to keep it local and locally owned. Thank you. >> Thank you. Candidate Chrisley, would the public be better served if elected officials had term limits? Why or why not? >> That's a great question. You know, in the state of Washington, we had term limits for just a moment in the early '90s, and the state Supreme Court came in and said it was unconstitutional. And so in order to make a change in that now, we would need to have two-thirds of the House and the Senate make that, and then it would be put out to the voters. So I think there's plus and minuses to term limits. I think that if you look at the data set that's been out there, and there's a lot of it on term limits for state legislative bodies, the data right now points to that it doesn't have the effect that we actually want it to when we're talking about term limits.

28:36 And so I'm an evidence-based guy, and so as it sits right now, I wouldn't fully support term limits in that manner, but if we brought it to the House and there was compelling evidence to push it that way, I would be willing to push it out to the voters and get their opinion on it. >> Thank you. Candidate Waters. >> Thank you. You know, I don't really have much of an opinion on term limits. I serve with folks that served -- or I have served with folks that served in the '90s. They had a young family. Perhaps they went on and did their career, and then they came back and served again. So I don't want to cut those people off from being able to run again. I do say, you know, we get a lot of Oregon news here, and I do -- >> We'll pause for library announcements. >> Okay. >> Your attention, please. >> Forgot to warn the tires. >> Library will close in 30 minutes. If you need to get a library card, please proceed to the accounts list on floor 1 at this time. Thank you.

29:36 >> All right. Here we go. >> We good? But I would say this. I do like Oregon's, Mom. I mean, I think 12 years, that's a lot of time to be serving. That sounds like something great. Three terms in the Senate. You know, maybe you get your House term, and then you get to do three or four terms there, and then you get to go to the Senate. I would like to see something like that, but, you know, for right now, yeah, it is unconstitutional for that, so I'll keep it there. Thank you. >> Thank you. Candidate Haynes. >> Well, I'm a fresh-faced third-party candidate, so I very much agree with term limits, but I think it's important to look at why that is a good idea behind just something as simple as just limiting the number of terms. Getting not just -- not turnover, but getting fresh people, fresh ideas, fresh faces into the government so that new ideas can come in and integrate is very important, but also getting rid of the expertise that's already on hand of people who have been serving for

30:34 a long period of time is also important. So finding a solution that can somehow accomplish both of these, bringing in new blood, fresh faces, but also preserving the expertise that's already in the legislative houses is, I think, the ideal solution to that. And other solutions, such as alternative voting, like instant runoff voting, or other such solutions can, I think, assist in accomplishing both of those goals. >> Thank you. Now, it's your turn to close. You may want to elaborate on an answer that you've already given or talk about something that we didn't cover. We'll begin with you, Candidate Waters. >> Well, thank you. First off, I have to say, it has been an honor to be a representative for two terms. I'm the first one from Skamania County in over 93 years. That representation isn't lost on me. I feel a huge burden -- not burden, excuse me -- a huge debt of gratitude to be able

31:31 to carry the message home that perhaps folks in my area have not been able to feel like they've been able to get out. I've been able to make some really great improvements. We've been able to get HVAC for schools, water infrastructure, fire flow prevention. Those are huge areas that we need to focus on. And then here, you know, I've personally helped get funding for the library in Washougal. We've been working on the Slough Bridge. We hope, fingers crossed, that next year, next session, we're able to see that funding come through. But I'll just say, it's been a tremendous honor to hold this position and to be able to bring the voices up to Olympia. So thank you. >> Thank you, Candidate Waters. Candidate Haynes? >> Well, I think all I'd like to say at this moment is just thank you for everybody putting this on. And I'm sitting here in between two veterans of the democratic process, and it's wonderful

32:27 that I can join in as well and learn more about how the apparatus of government works and potentially be a part of it. So thank you again for having me. Thank you, both of you gentlemen, for being here with me today. >> Thank you, Candidate Haynes. Candidate Chrisley? >> Thank you. As I mentioned in the opening, this is a serious job with serious issues in our state, and it's time to have serious representation. I've owned businesses in Clark County. I've served the country. I work as a flight nurse currently, and some of the most sick patients you could imagine at 40,000 feet in the air with no net, right, on a tightrope, making serious decisions about serious items. I don't take that lightly. And so what I think about serving in this role and representing each one of you, because

33:22 even if you're not in my district, I'm still representing Southwest Washington, and it's time that we start bringing the money back to Southwest Washington and get it out of Puget Sound. I will do that. I will be that voice in that room that brings that money home. Thank you. >> Thank you, Candidate Chrisley. Thank you, gentlemen. We appreciate your time and your responses. The League of Women Voters has asked candidates to sign the Fair Campaign Pledge. In the pledge, candidates agree to conduct a campaign that focuses on the issues and candidate qualifications and to avoid unfair attacks on opponents and distortions or misrepresentations of fact. Please go to our website, lwvclarkcounty.org, to see the pledge and find out which candidates

34:16 have signed it. Thank you. [Applause] [Inaudible]

35:07 >> Shall we begin? Our next race tonight features candidates for State Representative in the 49th District, Position 1. Joining us are Kim Harless, Sarah Middleman, and Mike Pond. Welcome to you all. Candidates please watch the league timer and stay within the timelines for each question. You'll have 60 seconds to answer each question unless instructed otherwise. You'll first answer in the order that you appear on the ballot and we will rotate after that. All questions are prepared by the League of Women Voters of Clark County and we are providing the timer. We'll begin with you, Candidate Harless. Tell us why you want to be a legislator, what is your history in your district, what skills and abilities would you bring to the job, and what issues most affect your neighbors?

36:06 >> Yeah, first, you know, thank you so much for putting together this forum. It's really great to see all of you out in the audience. I have been on Vancouver City Council, now in my second term, and really excited to bring the experience that I have there, connecting with our neighbors, connecting with the issues that matter most to us here in the 49th because there's a huge significant overlap there, and bringing that to the state level. I, you know, have a lot of experience myself, having been a young mother, going through poverty, having to be dependent on public transit, you know, all of the things while also looking at the future and being able to earn my degree to be able to support my family. I want to bring that experience with me to the state level. I also have experience at the county, too, having been a former employee at Clark County. I have experience at the city and the county locally, so plan to bring that experience to the state level as well.

37:02 Again, environmental science is my degree, so my values definitely are very much in alignment with all of our climate issues that we're facing right now. And the climate action framework that I helped make sure that our city had of carbon neutrality that was not based off of fossil gas or natural gas was important to me. You know, some of the things that our community is struggling with the most first and foremost is of housing affordability. So that is something that the winds and also the limitations at the city level I'm very much aware of, and I want to bring that to the state level. Thank you. >> Thank you. Candidate Middleman? >> Thank you, everybody, for having me here. That's great. First and foremost, I'm a nurse, and I'm a psychiatric nurse practitioner. I wanted to represent us in the state capital because I'm deeply concerned with what is happening to our citizens here.

38:00 I have been working in health care in emergency departments and in psychiatric departments as well as on the streets here of Clark County, and I'm deeply concerned about how we view people in crisis. I hear directly from my neighbors and people along the fourth plane corridor that they are concerned about their public safety, their neighborhoods, and the mental illness and drug addictions that we're seeing out on the streets. Being a nurse, I have learned how to assess complex situations, prioritizing competing needs, working collaboratively, and making decisions when there are very limited resources. In addition to this clinical experience to take with me to the Olympia, I'm also a union leader. I organized a hospital, so I've had to learn how to communicate with many different types of people with different varying perspectives and competing interests. It's a very important skill to have.

38:57 When I'm talking to my neighbors, they are also very concerned about the tribalism we're experiencing right now in politics, and they want to see somebody who can go beyond that, talk about the issues, create alliances, and move our region forward. Thanks. >> Thank you. Candidate Pond? >> Thank you to the League of Women Voters for having us today and CBTV for broadcasting. My name is Mike Pond. I am born and raised here in southwest Washington. I'm a fifth generation Washingtonian. I have deep roots and ties to this community. I am a organizer by trade. I'm a community organizer, but I organize with SEIU 775. That's the Home Health Care Workers Union, and that has given me quite the education on the health care system that we're all navigating today, and so the skills and attributes that

39:53 I bring to the table are somebody that is able to collaborate and listen and bring folks together, you know, folks that are not traditionally at the table, dragging them, kicking and screaming to the table often, and being able to bring people together to reach solutions that are practical for our community. You know, the issues that I'm hearing at the door, of course, are all things affordability when it comes to housing and homelessness, when it comes to education and fully funding our education system, and finally, health care is a huge issue that we're all facing here in southwest Washington, not just here on the 49th. So I bring skills as a communicator and a collaborator, and I'm going to roll up my sleeves and get to work here for southwest Washington and here on the 49th. Thank you. >> Thank you.

40:50 Candidate Middleman, the 49th district continues to grow rapidly, bringing debate about housing density, affordability, and neighborhood character. How should the state balance the need for additional housing with concerns from existing communities? >> I think Washington is a diverse state, and one of the challenges is governing well and recognizing that different regions have very different needs and priorities. I think what makes sense for Seattle and other dense urban areas may not always make sense for southwest Washington, Clark County specifically, and/or eastern Washington. That's why I've been very cautious about one-size-fits-all policymaking from Olympia. We can talk about housing, transportation, energy, infrastructure, but the policies that we need need to reflect the realities of the communities they affect. In southwest Washington, we are experiencing significant growth, but too often the infrastructure

41:46 and state investment has not kept up pace with our community. Issues like bridge capacity, transportation, housing, and energy reliability matter deeply to our residents. So my role as a legislator would be to ensure that the 49th district has a strong voice in Olympia, and that our region is not treated like an afterthought. Good policymaking requires balancing statewide priorities while respecting regional differences. So I think that growth, especially with housing, is going to work best when the policies reflect local priorities. >> Thank you. Candidate Pond? >> Yeah, housing is the number one issue on everybody's mind. There's not enough housing. We're constantly counting the folks that live on our streets that are unhoused, and we have a responsibility to house those folks. So we need housing built at every single level of the spectrum, from ADUs in the backyard

42:43 to mother-in-law apartments to townhomes to single-family lots. I believe that the state has a role to play in the permitting process and streamlining that permitting process. I believe it was referenced earlier that any policy pre-2019 and the pandemic is a little outdated now, and so we need to reevaluate those permitting processes for our counties, for our cities, because the state has mandated that lots can have four housing units on them. Is that right for the city of Vancouver? Is that going to be right for our neighborhoods? But we need to balance those priorities with housing our neighbors. Thanks. >> Thank you. Candidate Harless? >> Can you repeat the question? >> Certainly. The 49th District continues to grow rapidly, bringing debate about housing density, affordability, and neighborhood character.

43:40 How should the state balance the need for additional housing with concerns from existing communities? >> Yeah, so first and foremost, housing is a human right. It's a human need. And for something that is a human need, commodifying it as a moneymaker is always going to inherently cause problems, as we are seeing. Very familiar with this conversation at the city level, we just went through our comprehensive plan update, which had a lot of anti-displacement strategies, you know, other ways of helping people stay where they're at as a community continues to grow, such as Tenet Right. >> Pause for library announcements. Apologies. >> Your attention, please. The library will close in 15 minutes. Please take your materials to the self-checkout stations or the patron accounts desk on floor one at this time. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Just keep going. >> Sure.

44:33 >> What I was going to say, as well as ways like Tenet Right of first purchase when a building goes up for sale, so it gives tenants the opportunity to purchase first. There's other means, such as like expanding our covenant home ownership program that's a state, so there's 1300 racial covenants that used to exist in the city limits, and so we need to make sure that program continues to be robust at the state level. There's a number of different ways to make sure that we're keeping and helping families stay in the homes that they are in right now, and so that's the kind of approach that I will be taking. >> Thank you. Candidate Pond. What is an example of a state policy that may work well in one part of Washington but creates challenges in southwest Washington, and how would you address that tension as a legislator? >> Yeah, I think the housing policy that we just were discussing is a tension for it working

45:32 in the sound in King County, but not being a one-size-fits-all for Clark County or Vancouver. I think when it comes to regional priorities, I'm a collaborator and I'm going to be able to bring folks together to address our regional priorities. I think we've had quite the delegation that has put our needs before politics here in southwest Washington. I plan to continue that legacy. I think that we have huge mega projects in the 49th, specifically the IBR that is not necessarily a done deal, and we all need to be rowing in the same direction on that project to get a shovel in the ground, and I think that I will be somebody that's going to champion not just the 49th but all of southwest Washington in Olympia to, as Ben said, to kind of bring the money home here to this district and bring home the bacon here, so thank you.

46:32 >> Thank you. Candidate Harless? >> Yeah. When Olympia forgets southwest Washington exists, it definitely makes an impact on our families and our community, so my job would be to advocate for this community like I have been doing for the city of Vancouver. You know, we're an overburdened community when it comes to our environmental health disparities map means that we're having increased environmental harm to all of us that are residing here for a number of different reasons, so we need to make sure that we're bringing that attention. IBR is definitely another area that we need to make sure that we're advocating for and that it is what is in the best interest of this community right here. There's other areas where, like, we need to actually have a presence in certain committees, like the housing committee. It might be important for us, so we need to make sure that we're representing -- being represented in those specific committees in the house as well. It's really important that we continue building these relationships within the southwest Washington delegation and also at large.

47:31 I'm really proud of the endorsements I've already received from state legislators who are ready and eager to work with me. Already have a lot of those government-to-government relationships on all levels of the government. >> Thank you. Candidate Miniman? >> Can you repeat the question for me? >> What is an example of a state policy that may work well in one part of Washington but creates challenges in southwest Washington, and how would you address that tension as a legislator? >> I think there are actually quite a few. I think housing, again, is one of these one-size-fits-all for all the state of Washington, and we know the needs of Spokane are very different than the needs of Vancouver, Washington. I think also we have just heard from Kevin Waters. We know that we have this bridge, and we desperately need safety and to relieve congestion, so we need this new bridge, but as he said, for many sessions now, they've passed up replacing the slough bridge or fixing that as well. Seattle has its other issues.

48:30 I think that we need to be able to let regions choose the policies that work best for their infrastructure and growth, and I think that's what I have to say about that. >> Thank you. Candidate Harless, as communities experience an expanding decline in local news providers, would you propose any legislative solutions to ensure people have access to responsible local news? Please explain. >> Yeah, so there was a bill that was proposed that would do just that. It would tax social media and other platforms that, you know, they steal what the Columbian has written and then put it out there and then make money off of it, basically. So this would have been a way to tax those large social media and other platforms, and then it would go back into a program to help local news, and the Columbian was one of those folks that went up there and provided testimony and support.

49:29 We also already do a fellowship to support new journalists in local news, and so this would be another way to continue to support that, because it has been cut, like everything else in the budget has significantly been cut, and it's really important that we are helping support our local journalism and local newspapers, because when -- there's a direct link to declining civic engagement, which is also why it's so good that the League of Women Voters does stuff like this. And a lot of that has to do with folks just feeling hopeless and helpless when all that's in front of them is what's happening at the federal level. We need to get local news in front of them, too. >> Thank you. Candidate Middleman? >> Yeah, I've never heard about this before. What I can say is I support our local independent papers, and I believe that we should get back to the basics when it comes to journalism. I would really like to be able to open up the paper and know that I'm getting a very

50:25 straight and honest accounting of what is happening locally and globally. I think that any funding that comes to these independent papers, that they should be using it to promote and research accurate evidence and reporting. >> Thank you. Candidate Pond? >> Sure. I think that we in Clark County are kind of a microcosm of this local news efforts. We have the Columbian, which is a great family newspaper that we're all happy that we have. It's the paper of record for a city. And then we have outlets like the Reflector, who has just been purchased by a multimillion dollar company. That is scary, and that's concerning. We also have online news outlets like Clark County Today, also owned by a millionaire in this community. Those are really concerning factors when it comes to local news.

51:21 I think that we need to bolster and support our local newspapers because they are the watchdog of local government, of state government, and we need to support them. You know, Kevin mentioned, you know, Candidate Waters mentioned a tax credit for local journalism. I'd be interested in pursuing options like that to support local newspapers because that's what supports this community and bolsters civic engagement in our community, the local newspapers. >> Thank you. Candidate Middleman, do you believe there's a need for campaign finance reform? What changes, if any, would you support? >> So I believe transparency is one of the -- sorry, I'll get closer -- one of the most important principles we have in campaign finance. And Washington State already has a strong framework for the public disclosure through

52:18 our PDC commission. This already helps ensure campaigns disclose contributions and expenditures so voters can see who is funding campaigns and how many is being spent. But the transparency does matter because public trust matters. So when I'm out on the doors knocking and talking to moms, campaign finance is really what people want to talk to me about. What I'm hearing about is the rising cost, the public safety, growing frustration with the condition of our communities. I hear moms are worried about stepping over needles at the park when they're taking their kids to the swing set. They're worried about the fentanyl use in their neighborhoods, the untreated mental illness, and they all talk about the safety and the deteriorating of their neighborhood scene. So those are issues that people want addressed. And so while transparency in government really does matter, I believe we also need leaders

53:17 who are willing to focus on the urgent matters that the neighbors are talking about. >> Thank you. Candidate Pond? >> I believe that Washington State has one of the strongest campaign finance laws with the public disclosure commission. That's the PDC.wa.gov. You can go and check out what every candidate is receiving in funds and what they're spending their campaign funds on. That's really revealing when you're trying to make your decision on who to vote for and support. I believe that other states, like Hawaii, are making efforts in combating the federal decision of Citizens United. I would love to be able to support legislation like that. I do not believe corporations are people. I do not believe that that is their free speech to pour millions of dollars into elections to sway voters. And I think that when the voters have the loudest voice in the election and not multinational

54:17 millionaire corporations, that's when democracy is working at its finest. >> Thank you. We'll pause for the library announcement. >> The library will close in five minutes. Please gather your belongings, mention the answers at this time. Thank you. >> Candidate Harless, would you like me to read the question again? >> I think I'm good. >> Okay. >> One thing I love, anytime there's an opportunity to say what our state does really well or what our city does really well or what our county does really well, I'm always excited to say that. And one of them is our Public Disclosure Commission and the policies that are there for campaign finance. Of course, there's always room for improvement. There always isn't anything. But it is something that I like to often tell to Portlanders and Oregonians, we do it better. And there are some interesting things happening. This wouldn't be at the state level, but there are some interesting things happening in Seattle with public financing, not getting in the way of local jurisdictions who are trying

55:15 to be innovative with other ways of doing it as long as it meets PDC campaign finance laws. It's really interesting and helps increase the number of donors and first-time candidates. One thing, though, that is to keep an eye on, though, is frivolous PDC complaints. Something when people are just submitting stuff to clog up the machine is not good, or when it's being used as a weapon in campaigning, that's also not good. So that would be the one thing I'd keep an eye out for. Thank you. Candidate Pond, what should the state do, if anything, to protect Washington's water rights and ensure we have adequate supplies for agriculture, fisheries, households, and other uses? I believe that water rights are essential. I believe that everybody has the right to clean water and air to breathe.

56:10 Clean, reliable water is essential for families, agriculture, business, and our environment. I think that this question pops up often because of the discussion around data centers, and I think that folks are particularly paying attention to water rights. I think Washington has something like 144 data centers online already, and they're trying to permit another 11 across our state. And I think the usage is concerning and alarming, but the effects that it has on groundwater and the water that's coming out of your tap is also majorly concerning, because no matter where you live, you should be able to turn on the tap and drink the water that comes out of your faucet. Thank you. Candidate Harless? Yeah.

57:04 First and foremost, and this was actually mentioned in the prior forum, treaty rights. They're the highest law of the land per our state, or per our U.S. Constitution. So this conversation, or this topic, reminds me of the Columbia River, of course, where there's a lot of topics, or a lot of conversation, and that is a treaty river. So first and foremost, making sure that we are doing our due diligence and meeting the obligations of those treaties. Data centers is one of the biggest impacts on that river that is of conversation right now, as well as a number of other things, too. So there was a bill that was proposed last year that would have required data centers to actually disclose their water use, aka transparency, and there was a ton of pushback. So those are the kind of things that I would push for to ensure that the water is being used in the way that benefits Washingtonians the most, and because water is life. Thank you.

58:03 Candidate Middleman? Sure. We know that water is one of our most essential and finite resources, and we need to be thoughtful about how we manage it as our state grows. We cannot assume that water, land, natural resources are unlimited, and we do need to balance the needs of existing communities, agriculture, environmental stewardship, and development. But I think this question points to something bigger. Canvas scene, people have this growing frustration they're telling me that government keeps approving growth much faster than the infrastructure can keep up, and water is just one good example of this. It's the same thing that's happening with our roads, bridges, housing, and energy capacity. So too often we approve these ambitious growth plans first, and then we ask for the infrastructure to catch up later. When that happens, working families pay the price through congestion, higher costs, strange services, and declining quality of life.

59:03 Southwest Washington is growing quickly, and our region needs stronger advocacy, especially around ensuring that infrastructure and water rights and the resource planning that keeps up with the pace of our responsible growth. Thank you. Candidate Harless? We'll pause for the library announcement. Candidate Harless, despite the new tax on incomes above $1 million, Governor Ferguson has said that the state's budget challenges will grow in the next fiscal year. What areas would you trim, or would you choose to increase taxes? Please be specific. This is going to be one of the most important things that we tackle, this legislative session

1:00:01 coming up, and probably for several moving forward, is how do we flip this tax system that is upside down where those that are not able to really afford putting much in are paying the most out of their paychecks and their incomes. So we're starting on that work to get there, over the revenue. It's not going to come in immediately, but we're going to get there. And in the meantime, we need to treat the budget as a moral document. What are our values as a state? What are the values of the 49? That's what I'm going to be advocating for and making sure are prioritized in the budget. So we see minimal cuts in those areas. I'm definitely a supporter of the millionaire's tax and the capital gains tax, and again, there's always room for improvements. And one of the ways that we can also help is by closing some tax breaks for large corporations. They were on the table last year, and we should have went for it. I want to bring that back and make sure we close those loopholes. We're the second strongest economy in the nation, and part of that is because of investments

1:01:00 and innovation. But we're not feeling it. We want that investment back to everyday residents. Thank you. Candidate Middleman? Great. Taxes are ultimately about priorities, trust, and accountability. And right now, families across Washington State are feeling squeezed from every direction. Housing up, groceries cost more, utilities, fuel, childcare, and rising property taxes. Before government asks us and working families to pay more, it really has the responsibility to show what it is doing with every dollar. I do not support the millionaire's tax. I don't support a new state income tax. My concern is not ideological alone. History has shown that broad-based taxes, such as this, once it's created, it rarely stays limited. Attempts were made to put guardrails in to keep the tax from affecting anybody who made less than a million. It was declined. Another amendment was put forward to say anybody who makes less than a hundred thousand should

1:02:00 not be affected. Also declined. We need to be auditing programs. I'm sorry we paid 800 million out in lawsuits to the DCYF this year. These things matter. Thank you. Candidate Pond? This question essentially is about the recent legislation with the millionaire's tax. Let me be clear. I support the millionaire's tax. I lobbied on behalf of the millionaire's tax during this last short session. I believe that the courts will uphold the millionaire's tax, and I believe the voters will have their say, and the voters will uphold this millionaire's tax. There's a lot of misinformation that's being sown out there by a hedge fund millionaire collecting your signatures so we can put a referendum on the ballot. We need to stay strong that there is provisions in this legislation that it is tied to inflation,

1:03:00 so it'll never come down below a million dollars. It'll only go up as time goes on. The amount of people that are actually going to be affected by this millionaire's tax in the 49th legislative district is 129 households. Do you know how many of them were contacted about this? Do you know how many of them went to the legislature to support it? Because millionaires want to live in communities that pay for their roads, pay for their schools, and take care of their citizens. Thank you. Candidate Middleman, what do you see as the most important needs or concerns specific to your district, and how would you advocate for them in Olympia? I think homelessness is a big ... Homeless behavioral health, public safety are the biggest issues facing us here in Clark County. Homelessness is one of the most complex and emotionally charged issues.

1:03:59 I think we need to start by being honest about what we're seeing here. There's not one problem with one solution, of course. There are people struggling because of rising rent, job loss, and family instability. That's true. But I'm a psychiatric nurse provider, and I work in outreach, and I can tell you that many of our highest acuity individuals we're seeing are also struggling with severe mental illness, profound addiction, and cognitive impairment, or a sum of all three of those things. And I think we need to be careful not to confuse housing stability with clinical recovery. To fight these things, to bring them to Washington, I think we really need to look at our competency laws, our restorative laws. We need to look at the definitions of what grossly disabled means. We need to invest in behavioral health treatment as far as treatment capacity, workforce development, and work on changing this fragmented system that allows people to languish in tents and rot on our streets.

1:04:58 Thank you. Candidate Pond? Housing and homelessness is the number one issue in the 49th Legislative District. If anybody's telling you anything else, they're not paying attention. It has been for years. And the city of Vancouver and Clark County have made great strides in those efforts, but we need an all of the above approach when it comes to housing. We need to streamline the permitting process so we can start building and incentivize building up, not out. We need those apartments. We need those condos. We need those middle housing options for folks because we're getting squeezed at both ends. I'm from a cohort of a generation of renters. I'm a renter. Over 50% of the city is renters. And of those 50%, over 50% of those renters are rent burdened, meaning they're paying more than 30% of their annual income on housing. That's a problem.

1:05:56 And we see the tents on the street. We know that that's a problem. We know that we need to address those issues. But we need to make sure that the housing trust fund is filled by the state, and we need to leverage that money for a community that has willingly taxed ourselves twice to address this problem. Thank you. Candidate Harless? People are working harder than ever and still feeling that they are falling behind. And again, being in the second strongest economy in the nation, we should be doing better. I've been knocking on doors. I'm already on city council hearing regularly from residents, and the top issues that come up are housing affordability and homelessness and tackling that, as well as just wages keeping pace. And a lot of folks are really worried about their kids and their kids' future, the federal attacks that are coming towards our state, to the local levels, to nonprofits, and so

1:06:54 many communities that are trying to be pushed and be told they need to be invisible. And that's not the future that I want, and that's not the future this community wants. And I'm going to continue to fight at the state level so that we can make sure that the state is a firewall to those attacks and also a safe harbor for neighbors outside the state too that are coming here for refuge. Folks are also worried about the climate crisis and how that might limit folks' opportunity for their children and how that crisis is going to impact their health and their children's health and access to housing and everything else. Thank you. Candidate Pond. Would the public be better served if elected officials had term limits? Why or why not? I got to tell you, when this question was asked the previous time, that was probably the first time that I'd thought about, do we need term limits? I don't know. So I don't have a strong feeling on term limits.

1:07:49 I would say that I have not heard a proposal that makes sense, that it would pass constitutional muster. I think that every two years we have term limits in the House, and the voters get to decide via elections if an incumbent has reached their end. Oftentimes more experienced legislators, as time goes on, that's when they become more effective and hit their stride and really bring things home for us. So I don't want to arbitrarily put an age, I don't want to arbitrarily put a term limit of a number of terms. I'd love to see a policy or a proposal that makes sense to address the problems of accountability and transparency, which are really the issues there. Thank you. Candidate Harless. Yeah, as was mentioned by the last group as well as Mr. Pond, it would have to be through

1:08:48 our constitution. And I haven't really heard from residents at the state level that this is of a high priority or concern, so I wouldn't want to dedicate too much to it as a result. We're also, the conversation really in the House has been about actually the turnover and all of the new freshmen representatives that are coming in. And this is an example, this seat right here that we're all trying to ask for your vote for to be elected to is an example of that. It's an open seat. And so the tool for accountability is an election. And I would encourage voters to increase their participation, and that's where you hold folks accountable and create that turnover that you want to see in those new perspectives. We need to increase our voter turnout. And yeah, that's pretty much it. Thanks. Great. Governor Middleman? Term limits are an important discussion, and I think it's worth remembering that.

1:09:43 And as Michael Pond said, in Washington, we have elections every two years for your House members and then the senators every four years. So that does mean that voters can regularly decide whether their elected officials are still representing their needs. If people are unhappy, they can vote differently. But to me, the bigger problem is not how long someone serves, it's what they keep voting for once they get there. Changing the names without changing the policies doesn't solve the problem. Right now, too many Washington families are watching government costs more. They are delivering less. They're double-downing on policies that are clearly not producing the outcomes. At some point, we have to stop rewarding failure simply because it's familiar. Thank you. Candidate Harless, now it's your turn to close. You may want to elaborate on an answer that you have already given or talk about something that we didn't cover. Yeah, I'm trying to go through my head of what we might have not covered yet.

1:10:43 But yeah, I am really excited about this opportunity. You know, I've already governed for the resident, most of the residents that this district serves, and I'm really excited to bring that now to the state level. I've been delivering to the people in the 49th that are within city limits, and I want to continue that legacy. And you know, what you see is what you get. I'm here and honest and accountable and authentic, and I want to have conversations with you. I'm ready to, you know, listen and learn and roll up my sleeves and all the good things. Some of the topics we didn't cover, but I want to mention, you know, health care was briefly mentioned. But you know, health care is a huge issue in this community that I hear often, and I can't do much about it at the city level. So this is an area I'm really excited about. Education is another topic area I'm really excited about. Can't do anything at the city, really. Helped promote our Safe Routes to School program so I can help the kids get there safe. But that was about, that's kind of the limitation at the city level. Some other, you know, energy.

1:11:42 Where are we going for energy future? What is that going to look like? How are we going to get it to households? And higher ed and public safety is really important too. Thank you, candidate Harless. Candidate Middleman. Oh my gosh, tonight we had so many different ideas about the future of Washington. I think what I would like to hear more about from people is education. We didn't do a very good job this last biennium funding education, and that is written into our constitution. I'm very concerned with the education that my kids are getting. I have two boys in public schools, and I'm not sure what they are actually learning compared to what I learned 40 years ago. So I would like to see us talk more about how we are going to fund in the future and whether this new income tax is actually going to help the school system recover.

1:12:41 I'm also very concerned that there's not more conversations about our public health crisis, which is the homeless and behavioral health. We really need to work on increasing treatment capacity for the most marginalized people living on our streets today. We need more touch points, we need more crisis responders, and we need systems in place to move people through real, meaningful -- oh, sorry, I'm looking that way. Thank you, candidate Middleman. Candidate Pond. Thanks. Again, I want to thank everybody for being here. Full room on the 3rd of July is astonishing. I appreciate you all for coming out. Some of the subjects that were touched on, health care, education, I think that the McCleary decision was mentioned before. I think that was probably a Band-Aid at best. I think that we owe our young people more investment.

1:13:38 I believe that pre-K and early learning childhood education is important to us. I would love to see Washington lead the country on publicly funded associates degrees, and then as well as health care is a huge priority for myself and this campaign, and often something that I hear at the door that is a priority for folks. So addressing that at the state level in the face of federal cuts from the administration is going to be important to backfill that funding and to take care of our folks. So again, thank you for being here, and you can check more out at VotePond.com. Thank you, candidate Pond. That concludes this evening's forum. Special thank you to our candidates for participating in this event and to CVTV for their support in putting it together and to everyone watching.

1:14:36 Remember, Washington residents do not need to request a mail-in ballot. They will be mailed to all registered voters on July 17th. You can make sure you're registered by going to VoteWA.gov. The deadline for registering online and by mail is July 27th, but you can go and register up until 8 p.m. on election day, August 4th, if you go in person to the Clark County Elections Office in Vancouver. For information about all your candidates, please check out Vote411.org. Thank you, and don't forget to be a voter.