Walla Walla County Commissioner, District 2 Candidates - Mike Bates

WALLA WALLA – Democrat Mike Bates is the current Director for the Walla Walla County Corrections Department, overseeing the Walla Walla County Jail and the Juvenile Justice Center. Bates has worked for the county since 1975 and believes his experience in criminal justice and the court system will benefit the citizens of Walla Walla County.

"Nearly 75% of the county current expense budget is consumed by the courts, juvenile justice, county jail, Prosecutor's Office, County Clerk, and the Sheriff's Office. The county is also impacted by gangs, drugs, homelessness, lack of affordable housing and quality jobs that provide livable wages," Bates said.

Bates says he has strong ties to the Waitsburg area. His family moved to the family ranch in eastern Oregon, near Elgin, when his father retired from the Air Force. Bates began working at the Green Giant Cannery in Waitsburg in the summer of 1963 and continued to work there through high school and college.

His first wife, Judee Mackey was a Waitsburg resident and 1968 WHS graduate who passed away from cancer in 1990. Bates remarried Barbara Bates and in 2012 the couple moved to their current home on Lewis Peak Road. They have two children and five grandchildren, all living in Walla Walla.