Fifth Congressional District candidates discuss their qualifications

SPOKANE — Six of the 12 candidates running for the Fifth Congressional District seat detailed some of their qualifications for the job in answers to questions from the Columbia Basin Herald. The Fifth District includes portions of Adams County.  

The Columbia Basin Herald sent the same three questions to all 12 candidates, half of whom responded. Their answers have been split into three stories due to space considerations. They talked about their decision to run for Congress in the first story, which ran in Tuesday’s Columbia Basin Herald.  

What qualifications do you have and what do you think you could bring to the job? 

Nathan Powell: Less than 2 percent of Congress comes from the working class. The rest are lawyers, CEOs, and career politicians who listen to party bosses and big donors and never live with the consequences of their legislation. There is a growing divide between our representatives and the lives of those who they were elected to represent. Eastern Washington families continue to work harder but are falling further and further behind. 

This isn’t by accident. Special interests have spent decades writing the rules in their favor, rigging the economy, and buying the politicians who let them do it. No matter who we send to Congress, things keep getting worse for working families and better for them. 

I’m a Marine veteran, firefighter, and a father – not a career politician. I’m running as an Independent because the parties aren’t fixing what’s broken and working families deserve representatives that aren’t for sale.  

Andrew Bartleson: The primary qualification anyone representing the diverse area comprising the 5th District needs to have is the ability to connect with voters across all demographics. My work for the state necessitates I build trust, understand their needs, and assist them. I’ve attended both Democrat and Republican forums, and I’ve connected with voters from both parties. I’m not here to represent a party. I’m here to represent the interests of the people of the 5th district, all of them! We are all in this together. We all have unmet needs. This country is intentionally being divided, pitting us against each other, so that we don’t recognize that the system is designed to extract as much from us as possible for the benefit of billionaires and corporations.   

Kevin Fagan: I have spent six years collaborating with Tribes, school districts, small businesses, and local governments to improve operational sustainability and prepare for the impacts of climate change. This professional experience is paired with my perspective as a renter and transit rider. I have first-hand experience with the rising costs of living in our district and understand the economic pressures facing our residents today. 

Carmela Conroy: I've spent two careers in public service. I put myself through college and law school, came home to Spokane, and spent four years as a Spokane County deputy prosecutor. I held impaired drivers and violent offenders accountable and sought justice for survivors of sexual assault. 

Then I spent nearly 25 years as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer, posted to Kabul, Lahore, Tokyo, and Oslo. I was Consul General in Lahore when a diplomatic crisis broke out between the United States and Pakistan. I helped Americans in trouble overseas, negotiated for our country's interests, and stood up for human rights where people had none. 

What I'd bring is a habit of solving problems instead of scoring points. As a prosecutor and a diplomat, my job was to get results for the people I served, not to make noise. And I'm from here. I know the difference between visiting and showing up. 

Michael McGarr: I have a bachelor's degree in political science, and I recently retired from the Spokesman-Review after a career in fact-based journalism. So I believe I have the needed qualifications, although even those aren't requirements to represent the people — some noted members of Congress were once bartenders and haberdashers. I pledge honesty, integrity, and an open mind. And no hypocrisy. 

Matthew Hayes: I am a retired family doctor that spent 17 years in the trenches of the American Healthcare System. We are all patients in a system that is deeply flawed.  Profits over patients is the mantra of most hospitals and clinics.  

As a doctor, I understand the system and can bring real improvements to healthcare in Eastern Washington. We need doctors and nurses with excellent training.  We need more clinics in rural areas. Let's bring better healthcare to all of Eastern Washington.