Candidates for local and state races take questions at Underwood forum

17th Legislative District, Position 1

Incumbent Rep. Kevin Waters (R), who is a fourth-generation Skamania County resident, entrepreneur, and the county’s economic development manager, is looking to secure his third term in Washington’s House this November. In his opening statement, Waters emphasized the funding he’s brought back from Olympia, including for the Hood River-White Salmon Bridge, White Salmon Valley Pool, Skyline Health and resilience upgrades after Underwood’s Tunnel 5 Fire.

His opponent is Democrat Ben Christly, a Navy veteran, flight nurse, small business founder and youth football coach who serves on the Clark County Charter Review Commission. Christly encouraged listeners to vote for someone who will be in the majority, because he wants everyone to be successful, regardless of party. 

Q: Do you support vote by mail? 

WATERS: I do support vote by mail. You might hear that I signed onto a bill that got rid of vote by mail, but the issue is that we need to expand voting areas. Bonds and levies have been failing for our schools and firehouses, especially in the Southwest Washington area, and so I tried to come up with a hybrid attempt to expand that. 

CHRISTLY: I support vote by mail, and in case anybody missed it, Waters co-sponsored ending vote by mail. I don’t agree with that, and the reason why bonds and levies are failing is because people are struggling more than ever just to pay their own bills. In Olympia, we have to do a better job of prioritizing what is important to the state. 

Q: How will you get Olympia to listen to Skamania County’s need regarding infrastructure concerns, particularly our bridges?  

CHRISTLY: It’s clear that we have a lot of issues with these bridges down here. I don’t know what Olympia is waiting on. Are they waiting until the bridge falls down? That’s certainly not what I’m going to wait on. I know Waters and Stuebe were showing the chair of the Transportation Committee around recently, and if I win, he’s going to hear from me every day. I won’t quit fighting until we get these bridges replaced because we need them. 

WATERS: We did have the chair of the Transportation Committee down. Right now, it’s taken a lot of bandwidth, and when you ask for a project, they’ll say, “Well, you’re getting the Hood River Bridge.” We also have the Bridge of the Gods and the Cape Point Bridge, which is not set up in the Washington Department of Transportation’s 20-year plan. That means people will die if that bridge fails, and it’s not acceptable.  

Q: Parking and sanitation at Drano Lake and some of the areas to the west are unsafe, especially during peak fishing season. What can be done to rectify these conditions? 

WATERS: I actually have the legislative director of Washington’s Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) coming out next week to look at Drano Lake because we do have a number of issues. This is a really complicated thing — it involves the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the county and RCO. The parking is terrible, and we’re looking at that, but let’s talk about something else: fishery cuts. We’ve seen a number of fishery cuts across the state, and it’s driving all the commercial folks, all the guides, down here to come and only fish here. 

CHRISTLY: I think Waters hit on a really important issue when we’re talking about the Department of Fish and Wildlife. We’ve seen not only the taking away of some of that recreation, but the costs to go out and enjoy recreating rise as well. I’d like to take a look at that, especially for folks who are residents of the county. I’d like to make sure that we have a Discover Pass that isn’t cost-prohibitive for people to get out and enjoy their backyard. 

17th Legislative District, Position 2

Like Waters, Rep. David Stuebe (R) is seeking reelection, but for his second term. A Marine veteran and former mayor of Washougal, Stuebe stressed that all the issues topping his priority list — housing, healthcare, childcare, infrastructure — circle back to affordability and money not being spent properly. “I’m trying to keep Seattle politics out of Southwest Washington,” Stuebe said during his introduction. 

Diana Perez (D) is a career civil servant who spent 35 years with the United States Forest Service as a wildland firefighter, fisheries biologist and public lands manager. She currently serves on Washington’s Housing and Finance Commission and Vancouver’s City Council. “I’m going to focus on the fundamentals of affordability, reliable infrastructure, public safety and an economy that works for everyone,” Perez said. 

Q: What is your position on women’s healthcare, including women’s right to choose? 

PEREZ: That’s an easy answer for me. I believe women should have the only decision-making authority over their bodies, and I am a full women’s rights supporter. They can love who they want, plain and simple. 

STUEBE: As a father with two daughters, I agree with all of that. It should be that way. 

Q: What’s your current relationship working with tribal entities, whether they are federally recognized or not? 

STUEBE: I don’t have that much of a relationship with the tribes from the things I’m working on, which is mostly transportation and a lot of healthcare. Being up in Olympia for only two years with the committees I’m serving on, my focus is on building these roads and bridges.  

PEREZ: I love working with tribal entities. I have experience in government-to-government consultation. I have worked on stewardship contracts when I worked up in Alaska. As a fish biologist, I worked with tribal fish biologists to plan and implement salmon recovery projects. I am looking forward to working with the tribes here. Tribal sovereignty is really important to me, and that’s a value I will carry forward. 

Q: Parking and sanitation at Drano Lake and some of the areas to the west are unsafe, especially during peak fishing season. What can be done to rectify these conditions?  

PEREZ: First, I would request some capital planning to address the parking issues and the broader impact on water quality in the area, alongside vehicle damage. Second, I think a seasonal sanitation program could be beneficial if it’s cost-effective, and third would be seeing what else we can do to sustain the area so that we aren’t addressing these problems long term. 

STUEBE: It’s a zoo up there — it’s not even fun. You just have 80 boats going in a circle trying to catch fish, and there aren’t fish. They’ve closed a lot of hatcheries and are trying to save money. They’ve raised the ramp fees, the parking fees and the cost of a fishing license, and it’s making it really hard for the guides. This state brings in over $2 billion from our recreational fishing; if they’re closing hatcheries, what’s our return on investment? It’s a bad thing to close hatcheries. 

Skamania County Commissioner, District 3

Asa Leckie (R) has served as a county commissioner since the beginning of 2023 and said he will “continue to push for practical solutions to protect homes, support our timber and keep decision-making as local as possible.” With the role of federal land acquisitions eroding Skamania County’s tax base being a central part of his tenure so far, Leckie also highlighted his work addressing east side issues, like new playground equipment and speed limit signs in Underwood. 

Paul Mosbrucker (D), an Underwood resident, served on the White Salmon Valley School District Board for 15 years, where he helped turn a declining budget into a surplus. Fundamentally, Mosbrucker said that Skamania County’s failure to stabilized its budget after timber revenues fell four decades ago, and the fact that “our kids don’t live here,” are critical problems that need fixing. 

Q: Can you address the rumor that the Underwood Transfer Station is to be closed?  

LECKIE: Every year, Skamania County has a budget challenge, and this year we’re already dealing with a $1 million deficit. We’re trying to close that gap, but keeping the Underwood Transfer Station open is one thing I’ve been fighting for since I’ve been in office. We might have to look at some minor fee increases, but it’s not closing on my watch. 

MOSBRUCKER: I’ve also heard the rumor, and that’s a reason for planning and figuring out how to get our budget leveled out, knowing that it will change from year to year. We have to plan for things to be bumpy so that we don’t have some of our critical services possibly on the chopping block. 

Q: What do you see as the top two issues facing the county, and how would you plan on addressing them if elected? 

MOSBRUCKER: Of course, as I said earlier, is figuring out our budget long term, but I’ve also heard a couple of things at board meetings lately that shocked me. For example, a few days before the SNAP changes went into effect, which put additional volunteer and work requirements on recipients, one commissioner said that we don’t have enough volunteer positions in our county for people to continue having these benefits. We knew this was coming, so why haven’t we planned far enough ahead to set up more positions for people? 

LECKIE: In my opinion, the two biggest issues long-term are going to be our long-term timber forecast and how that’s going to be affected by how Washington’s Department of Natural Resources manages. Our budget is supplemented by timber trust lands, anywhere from $600,000 to $5.4 million a year. Especially when Secure Rural Schools has lapsed, that covers the gaps in our budget. The other thing is the average age of the county worker, which is over 55 years other. That’s going to affect a lot of things, from our kids attending school to our fire ratings. 

Q: Underwood experiences a great deal more dog that other areas in Skamania County, yet most of the roads have no fog lines. How can this be remedied? 

LECKIE: In my first year as county commissioner, this issue came up, and that’s when I got an education on how specialized this paint is. Also, we don’t have our own machine to stripe the roads. Because of the road budget and the way the County Road Advisory Board works, they don’t dole out money to stripe the auxiliary roads, but I’m working on a grant to get that done. 

MOSBRUCKER: I think that goes back to what I’ve been harping on tonight: We need to prioritize our budget. We have a lot of wants in different communities, but we also have to pinpoint where our needs are. The safety of our roads and making sure they are striped properly, I think, comes under the need category and not a want, and should be prioritized.