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INSIDE
Election
2006
On September
27, the local voters association invited all the candidates
running on the November ballot to address the local electorate.
While only one candidate for federal office accepted the invitation, Republican
Doug Roulstone running against incumbent Rick Larsen, a dozen candidates for
judicial positions and the state legislature came to the Point to have their
say.
District
court judge David Grant, running unopposed, said “Point
Roberts would be a great place to put an Internet kiosk,” a
project he is promoting to increase access to court services
for county residents. At the kiosk residents could pay
or contest traffic tickets and access county and court
information remotely. |
Republican
state representative Doug Ericksen, first elected in 1998,
is asking voters to send him back to Olympia. Running against
him is Democratic candidate Jasper MacSlarrow (seated),
former aide to Congressman Rick Larsen. Ericksen and MacSlarrow
faced off over access to health care, which both said was
a top priority for the legislature. Ericksen favored tax-free
health savings accounts. ”That empowers you as a
consumer of health care,” he said. MacSlarrow said
putting the burden of health care on individual users cut
out those who couldn’t afford to put money into a
savings account, and said he favored “a hybrid approach,” that
involved some state support for a universal healthcare
mandate.
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Incumbent
state representative Kelli Linville(D) is running against
Lynden’s Craig Mayberry(R)(seated) for another term
after 13 years in the state legislature. “I still
love my job,” she said. Mayberry said with government
spending increasing more than wages, voters needed to send
some fiscal responsibility to Olympia. Linville said she
didn’t disagree that spending needed to be kept in
check. “What should government do and what should
someone else do so we can put our scarce resources to good
use,” she said. |
Running
unopposed for county prosecutor, David McEachran said that
while he didn’t support the building of a physical
wall along the northern border, he did feel additional technology
and security measures needed to be in place to cut back on
cross-border criminal activity. “If you look at our
border it’s really frightening,” he said. “It’s
a ditch!” |
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Campbell
McClusky (left), the host of the voters’ association
forum, shares a laugh with candidates David McEachran,
David Grant, and Dale Brandland. Doug Roulstone (R),
at right, is running against Rick Larsen (D) for the
U.S. House of Representatives. At the forum Roulstone
shared his platform, chatted with voters and handed out
campaign literature highlighting his position defending
the rights of sportsmen to bear arms.
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Keeping
soapbox time limited, this year’s candidates' night
gave those running for office time to meet one-on-one
with local voters. Here MacSlarrow, at right, Kevin Melsheimer
and Craig Jacks share a laugh. |
| Former
county sheriff and incumbent state senator Dale Brandland
(R) is running against Jesse Salomon, who was unable
to attend the September 27 forum. Brandland said he opposes
a single-payer or universal coverage system to provide
insurance coverage to all state residents. “If
you think health care is expensive now, wait until it’s
free!” he said. He suggested the focus should not
be on the health care system but at changing lifestyles. “We
are eating, drinking and smoking ourselves to death and
complaining about health care,” he said. |
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