24th District House candidates spar before business group
October 14th, 2008 - 6:00am
(Port Angeles) -- Two candidates running for one of the state house races in the 24th District sparred before a local business group.
Incumbent Democrat Kevin Van de Wege and challenger Republican Thomas Thomas spoke to the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce.
The candidates stuck to the issues.
Thomas talked about his take on creating jobs.
"It's been said you can't create jobs. That's not true," said Thomas. "My company
creates jobs, not just employees or anything else, we facilitate other
businesses that operate in the area."
Thomas also says he would take on the state department of
Department of Labor and Industries.
"My opponent says he doesn't thing there is a problem with L & I. I think
there is a real problem with L and I. In fact, I think the system is
broken," said Thomas. "As your legislator I would work to fix L & I or make it a two
payer system. I can go to Oregon and my insurance rates would be one
third the rate they are here because they have a multi-payer system."
Van de Wege talked about the budget shortfall in the state.
"We need to ensure that spending is done wisely and that we can fund the
program that are vital to us, like health care and education and at the
same time insure we have a balanced budget, said Van de Wege."
Van de Wege said he wants to protect the Olympic Peninsula from the national and state economic crises.
"To do that, we need to make sure our back-bone economies, like the timber
industry are protected. We can do that be creating jobs based on the
timber industry especially in the area of renewable energies," said Van de Wege.
Following the talks with the Chamber, Van de Wege and
Thomas appeared on the Todd Ortloff show on KONP, each
getting nearly a half-hour to state their case.
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