CAMAS — U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler and challenger state Rep. Jim Moeller were scheduled to face off Monday evening at Camas High School.
It was the public’s first opportunity to watch the candidates distinguish themselves in a side-by-side forum with less than a month to go before the election.
But Herrera Beutler took the stage alone.
Moeller was sick, the student moderator announced.
Herrera Beutler, a Camas Republican, used the time to address the students’ questions. She advocated for reducing student debt, reforming Social Security and when asked, said she would be pleased if Washington citizens decided to vote to make marijuana illegal again. No such marijuana proposal is on the ballot this year.
“I want government to make sure it’s enabling and empowering citizens and takes its marching orders from citizens, not the other way around,” Herrera Beutler said.
Moeller, who is giving up his seat in the 49th Legislative District to run for Congress, said previously that he was looking forward to debating about the minimum wage and Affordable Care Act. The Vancouver Democrat also has repeatedly called on Herrera Beutler to take a stand on GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.
After Trump’s most recent crude comments about women, Herrera Beutler said she would not vote for him and will cast a write-in vote for House Speaker Paul Ryan instead.
The congresswoman is completing her third term.
Candidates vying to represent the 18th District in the state Legislature also faced each other at the Camas High School candidate forum. The 18th District encompasses much of the area north and east of Vancouver.
State Rep. Brandon Vick, R-Felida, who is seeking re-election to the 18th Legislative District, found some common ground with his challenger, Justin Oberg, a Democrat. The student moderators, who asked each candidate a question, asked whether standardized testing needed to be scaled back. Both candidates agreed it did.
“We want you to go to school and enjoy it,” Vick said. “When you go to school and enjoy it, you learn.”
Vick said he would like to see an end-of-course assessment. Oberg said that “dedicating a huge percentage of the school year teaching to the test” is not leading our education system in the right direction.
State Rep. Liz Pike, R-Camas, faced Democratic challenger Kathy Gillespie; the two hope to represent the 18th District in the Position 2 House seat. Gillespie and Pike seemed to disagree on most of the topics they addressed, falling along party lines. On the proposed oil terminal, slated to be the nation’s largest, at the Port of Vancouver, Gillespie said she’s against the idea.
“I don’t think putting our communities at risk is a choice we should make,” Gillespie said. “I think we have a community that is so full of human assets and the beauty we have in our community, why would we want to threaten any of that?”
She said the region could create better jobs by exploiting wind, solar and hydroelectric sources.
Pike said there was a war on energy in our country.
“We have the opportunity today to truly become energy independent,” said Pike, who is in favor of the oil terminal being built.
Political newcomer Eric Holt, a Democrat, is vying to unseat state Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center. Holt said he was inspired to run to bring integrity to politics. The two both discussed the need for a new Interstate 5 Bridge at the forum.
Holt said the now-defunct Columbia River Crossing project, which Rivers worked against, “was a great step in the right direction.”
Rivers told the audience that she was working with a bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers to find another solution.
“So, what we need to do first and foremost is replace the antiquated structure that is there currently and (take) stock and create a regional transportation solution,” Rivers said.
