Selmann shares views on election issues

Running for office is an invigorating educational process. You learn a lot about yourself, and probably way too much about other people. I'd like to take this opportunity to correct some misconceptions that have been reported, lay out the most pressing challenges for our district, and explain why I am the right choice to represent us in the State legislature.

Let me start off by saying I value and respect teachers. They work hard. I never said otherwise. Some of my most ardent supporters are educators. My challenger was the one who called public employees "Generational Parasites". I'm also not a huge fan of traffic cameras, but if one has footage of my grandma getting mugged, the prosecutor should be able to use that in court. And, as for bipartisanship, I do believe in, and have a history of supporting honorable people for public office, regardless of party.

Our district has some pressing infrastructure issues. If they are not addressed, we won't see local economic growth. The most important for Grant County is groundwater. Our municipal wells, our private wells, and even our irrigation wells are drawing groundwater that hasn't been recharged in nearly ten thousand years. At current rates of use, we have less than a ten year supply in the ground. The first thing we need to do is provide our groundwater irrigators with surface water, so we can extend the time to recharging our aquifers. We need to fund and start these projects now if we are to avoid a major water crisis.

I understand the geology and hydrology of our region, and can provide the leadership to make sure the most efficient and effective projects get funded first. I have the knowledge, experience and temperament to get a variety of interests working from the same page, and moving in a common direction. My challenger is on the record of arguing against the value of infrastructure projects, including dams. His combative posturing with the Dept. of Ecology was a major driver of the complete closure for exempt wells in upper Kittitas County. We need an advocate who is on our side.

The second most pressing issue is transportation infrastructure. We need a rail line in to the Port of Moses Lake. Because many of our industries need to ship potentially dangerous cargo, the line should not run through the middle of town. We need to build a bypass line from the Wheeler Corridor to the port, and we need to continue that line to Ephrata, to tie into the BNSF line. This would allow both Moses Lake and Ephrata to operate intermodal (containerized shipping) ports. Judging from the success in Quincy from their intermodal operations, there would be more than enough traffic to pay back construction costs. This would complete the transportation trifecta of road, rail, and air that will make us extremely attractive for new business and current business expansion.

This issue requires leadership, and the ability to be an honest broker between the county, the ports, and cities, and between the rail operators and industry. I will provide that leadership, and can be that honest broker. My opponent does not have a history of being and honest broker. His extreme ideology always has, and will continue override the facts on the ground. His plan to cut government back to its constitutional mandates may sound good until you realize we don't have constitutional mandates to build dams or irrigation systems. We can't let ideology override common sense.

Our third priority is expanding the educational opportunities for our local workforce. One of the largest reasons companies choose not to locate here is the lack of an educated workforce. Current employers have proposed programs to BBCC to educate the workforce they need, and are willing to hire, and BBCC has not been able to meet that need. This needs to change. We need an advocate in the legislature who understands the need to make higher education more versatile, more accessible, and more relevant to local employment opportunities. I will be that advocate.

My challenger has had an opportunity to be an advocate for higher education. The budget priorities passed after his year as a lobbyist for CWU included the following; $500,000 retention bonus to the University President, $50,000 for new furniture for the University President, and a 14% increase in tuition for the students. Either he is highly ineffective as an advocate, or he is giving the President good reason to support his campaign. I will be an advocate that focuses on finding ways to use technology and industry partnerships to make tuition more affordable, more accessible, and opens up opportunities for local people and local industries.

This year we have a choice, between a talker and a doer, between experience in giving opinions, and experience in bringing workable ideas into the real world. We have a choice between ideological rhetoric, and practical solutions. I know we have real, pressing concerns that require those practical solutions, and I'm asking for your vote to make sure that local projects get done. Let's be done fighting, and start fixing.