Forum Shows Elections Heating Up

DAYTON - Close to 200 people packed the Dayton Liberty Theater last Wednes­day evening to hear candi­dates in this year's controver­sial general election sound off during the annual Ameri­can Association of University Women forum. "We only have 150 seats, so rarely do we get this many people coming in here," said theater manager Reid Hel­ford. Helford said the last time anywhere close to this many Columbia County vot­ers flocked to the forum was the first time Terry Nealey ran for state representative. Sherrie Flaman Keifer, co-president of the Dayton chapter of AAUW, said in the 10 years she's been with the association she's never seen local voters this interested in an election.

This year's races for coun­ty prosecutor and sheriff are a hot topic among residents in Dayton and surrounding communities. As election day draws near (ballots for the November general elec­tion

go in the mail Friday), the heat has been turned up among opponents and their supporters. Wednesday night's forum showed some real firebetween candidates as well as supporters in the audience.

Running for prosecuting attorney, a position which also fills the county's role as coroner, are incumbent Rea Culwell and newcomer Randy Lewis. Among con­tested

local races, Culwell and Lewis were first on stage Wednesday to answer audi­ence questions. Both candidates received loud applause and cheers following their speeches and after each reply to audi­ence questioning. The sup­port seemed pretty evenly divided. Pointed questions were asked that aimed at individ­ual candidates, and AAUW's Keifer suggested candidates may have planted folks in the audience to do so. Keifer was quick to refute any heresy that AAUW planted audience members with pre-planned questions. "We are required to be neutral," she said. The asso­ciation's goal in organizing the annual forum is to sup­port its national mission to educate voters.

Candidates were not un­der the same obligations to hold their tongue. Most con­tention was felt in between Lewis and Culwell. One audience member asked Culwell why she didn't hire Lewis as deputy prosecutor when he applied for the job. "To be honest, some of the comments he made to me and my assistant after the interview made me worry he wouldn't be able to prosecute without prejudice," Culwell responded. She made several frank replies throughout the evening that ap­peared to take the audience by surprise. Lewis countered Culwell, saying he thought her disclo­sure of information from that interview were, in his opinion, a breach of confidentiality. He promised voters he would do a better job than Culwell in many areas but most especially in saving county voters money.

"I will not ask for a raise during the time I'm in office,"he said.

Up next were the two can­didates for sheriff including incumbent Walt Hessler and Mark Franklin, who currently works in the sheriff's office. Both candidates received hearty welcomes from the crowd. Many expressed pleasant sur­prise at how prepared and civi­lized both Franklin and Hessler appeared during their time on the stage. The final pair of candidates Wednesday evening were Co­lumbia County's two Chucks - County Commissioner Chuck Reeves and his opponent, Charles Amerein.

Candidates for District 16 state representative position 1 opened the forum with a question and answer period. Incumbent Maureen Walsh and her opponent Brenda High answered a variety of questions about state-wide issues.

Columbia County residents seemed particularly interested in state financial support for Eastern Washington, how can­didates

felt about privatizing liquor sales and support for developmentally disabled resi­dents. Keifer, with Dayton's AAUW, said feedback follow­ing the forum indicated attend­ees were pleased with the event. Some wished there had been time to talk about referenda and initiatives on the ballot, some­thing Keifer said the group usu­ally does at the annual forum. "There are so many this year, there just wasn't time this time," she said. Other problems included running out of programs - AAUW printed 200 but late­comers had to go without. Guests also had troubling hear­ing those asking questions in the audience. Keifer said as­sistants had trouble getting the microphone to people quickly. Finally, those who attended but couldn't findseats or comfort­able

standing room spent part of the evening in the lobby and wished for some kind of speaker system to continue listening in.

These issues will be con­sidered while organizing next year's forum, Keifer said.

Contested races in Walla Walla County include:

County Coroner - Rich­ard Greewood Virginia M. Romine County Sheriff - John Turner Bill White

Prescott Park Pool Levy Prescott Park and Recreation District Board of Commission­ers will have a levy measure on the Nov. 2 general election ballot to secure operating funds to run the city park and pool in 2011. Passage requires a 60 percent majority of voters

The levy is for $100,000, approximately 43 cents per thousand dollars of assessed property value to be used along with any carry over monies from the 2009 levy to operate the pool and Fieldview Park in 2011. After the failure of the past two levies, the board of com­missioners has listened intently to anyone who had constructive suggestions for how to operate on a much-reduced budget.

A group of Prescott citizens approached the board about lending assistance in helping with the operations of the pool and park. A facilities committee was formed that will lend tech­nical expertise and volunteer assistance to the board.