Portland resident Jim Karlock contacted area candidates and reports their positions on the Interstate Bridge replacement project
Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and do not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com
Two important issues, tolls and light rail have received little attention during this election. So I have prepared a guide to which candidates oppose tolls and oppose light rail and which ones support tolls and support light rail.
Who would vote to oppose tolls on a replacement Interstate Bridge (also light rail)?
Here is a guide to candidates that oppose (or support) tolls and light rail. Candidates were emailed a request to pledge to oppose tolls and to oppose light rail before the primary. After the primary, attempts were made to contact the winners that had not returned the pledges, in person at public events. A few ratings were based on answers given on television appearances.
Candidates that have promised to oppose both tolls and light rail:
CD 3 U.S. Representative, Joe Kent, R
LD 18 Pos 2, Greg Cheney, R
LD 20 Pos 2, Ed Orcutt, R
LD 49 Pos 1, Park Llafet, R
LD 49 Pos 2, Jeremy Baker, R
County Councilor No. 2, Michelle Belkot
County Councilor No. 5, Don Benton
Candidates that have said they support tolls or light rail:
CD 3 U.S. Representative, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D, Supports tolls & Light Rail
LD 17 Pos. 1, Terri Niles, D, Supports light rail
LD17 Pos 2, Joe Kear, D, Supports light rail & tolls if project killer
LD 18 Pos 1, John Zingale, D, Supports Tolls & Light Rail
LD 18 Pos 2, Duncan Camacho, D, Favors Tolls, Refused answer on light rail
Here are the candidates that ignored our email request or refused to take a stand on tolls and light rail:
LD17 Pos. 1, Kevin Waters, R
LD17 Pos 2, Paul Harris, R
LD 18 Pos 1, Stephanie McClintock, R
LD 20 Pos 1, Peter Abbarno, R
LD 49 Pos 1, Sharon Wylie, D
LD 49 Pos 2, Monica Jurado Stonier D
County Councilor No. 1, Hector Hinojosa & Glen Yung
County Councilor No. 2, Chartisha Roberts
County Councilor No. 5, Sue Marshall
More details are at http://www.no-tolls.com/pledge.html
Jim Karlock
Portland
Also read:
- Opinion: Portland’s Clean Energy Fund might be the worst climate program in the country
Todd Myers of the Washington Policy Center addresses the question of whether government climate expenditures are designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or are they excuses to send taxpayer money to politically connected communities. - POLL: Do you believe there needs to be structural changes in how governments are allowed to deal with situations such as a pandemic or health emergency?
Do you believe there needs to be structural changes in how governments are allowed to deal with situations such as a pandemic or health emergency? - Opinion: Counterproductive regulation is one reason “clean” manufacturing isn’t choosing WashingtonUnless elected officials and agency leaders in Washington recognize that government restrictions and regulation are hindering industry growth, Washington will continue to lag behind states where climate policy isn’t a priority.
- Letter: La Center City Council member thanks fellow councilors for opportunityLa Center City Councilor Myrna Leija offered a public ‘thank you’ to her fellow council members.
- Opinion: Commission recommends increasing hours-worked requirement for WA Cares, among other proposalsElizabeth Hovde writes about how Washington workers can look at their paycheck to see how much their pay is being decreased for a program they’re told gives ‘peace of mind,’ even though it doesn’t.
What a great idea! Thanks for taking the initiative to do this! I regret I already voted for one who ignored your querie.
The Clark County Council voted NOT to have tolls, today. John Ley gave a great speech at the county council today, Nov. 1. He added up the funds and they actually had more money than needed. My concern about that bridge is where are we going to get the materials and steel to build it? The US has closed most American steel and iron factories. In the SF Bay Area, the most expensive bridge ever built was the Willie Brown, Bay Bridge. The Steel was purchased from China. Within a year the bolts holding it together were rusting! Our council belongs to the UN under the ICLEI. The UN New World Order economic forum has Vancouver purchasing toxic and cheaply made products from China. Can we afford to have constant repairs, if the materials it is made from are faulty and don’t last? Most of our Chinese products from Home Depot do not last as long as they say on the box. They want you to buy a replacement warranty on most products you purchase new there. What will we do if the steel is faulty?
Dear Mr. Karlock,
Thank you for the research. It seems that the people with a “high indicator” on the common sense-o-meter are opposed to tolling and “light rail”, while the usual tax&spend suspects are all in to hose everybody that has to use “The Bridge”.
Concerning the type of people controlling what is passing for the governments of Oregon and Washington, is it unreasonable to conclude that those people will turn tolling into another cash-cow and extend the tolling indefinitely with increases every 6 to 8 months due to climate change or homelessness or depleted salmon runs or the “needs” of democrats that control both governments?
To augment your research, I ran a poll of likely voters. It appears that those that can do math, and are NOT common sense impared, reality challenged and living in a logic-free zone are ALSO opposed to tolling as well as “light rail” and ranked choice “voting”.