We grill candidates for county’s top post

Pam Brokaw says that if letting local residents sell salvaged cars from Oregon was one of Tom Mielke’s top two accomplishments in Olympia, he must not have been too effective.

Tom Mielke says that if Pam Brokaw cared about the poor, she’d come out against tolling as a way to pay for a new Interstate 5 bridge.

But both of them agree that the county could create more jobs by cutting the requirements for small construction projects, and both say they’d sign a new deal with the Cowlitz Tribe if the terms are right.

Brokaw, a Ridgefield Democrat, and Mielke, a Battle Ground Republican, have plenty of ideas for what to do if they’re elected to the Board of Clark County Commissioners. But in election season, it’s easy to get a politician to tell you why their ideas are good.

What’s hard is to find out whose ideas are better.

With that in mind, The Columbian is sponsoring a Sunday morning print debate between the candidates. We asked 10 questions of each, then invited their opponent to respond to each answer.

The result, on Page C8, shows some different philosophies and some shared goals. It also shows the very different personal styles of two very different politicians.

The other county commissioner race, between Marc Boldt and Jeanne Harris, will follow next week.

10 questions for Tom Mielke:

1) You’ve made overregulation of business your top issue, but struggled in the primary to win business support. Maybe a specific example of overregulation would help.
If Clark County is to ever really address job creation or encourage businesses to relocate here, we need to show a better permitting process, stop regulating their every move and either help them open their doors or get out of their way. In my own business, I had two big drawbacks: Government involvement and one tax after another. The other was employee mandates and more accountability than with my own children. As for the business support, what is left of them we have now.

Brokaw response:
Regulation needs to be reasonable, predictable and fair. We saw what happened on Wall Street with too little controls. I have the support of business leaders — most recently the Clark County Association of Realtors — because I know we must get our economy moving by taking action in a range of areas, not just regulatory relief.

2) What were your top two accomplishments in the state Legislature?
“Common sense” road construction, such as the Interstate 5/Northeast 219th interchange vs. 179th Street interchange. Second, created a process for a Clark County resident to inspect and bring automobiles to Washington state.

Brokaw response:
While many stakeholders worked on the 219th interchange, the vote to fund it came after my opponent left office. While I respect his years of service, I question his effectiveness if the above are his top two legislative accomplishments.

3) You’ve been semi-retired since 1995. Are you ready to work the long hours this job takes?

Between 1978 and 1995 I worked between five to seven days a week and an average of 10 hours on duty and 14 hours a day on call. Worked 14 years before actually taking a full seven days off in a row. As a legislator during session, I worked from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and was back to work by 9 p.m. another few hours every night. What was your question?

No Brokaw response

4) You oppose a new I-5 bridge and say the county needs to “break off on its own.” With a third of us choosing work in Portland, is this realistic?

I oppose replacing a perfectly good bridge with six lanes with a new $4 billion bridge with six lanes and light rail that the people of Clark County don’t want. If you are referring to the 67,000 people that go to Portland to have employment, I’m disappointed that with a county government department and two private organizations to bring jobs to Clark County, they haven’t provided good-paying jobs here. I don’t think the people choose to work there — it’s where the jobs are.

Brokaw response:
The bridge needs to be replaced to protect public safety and our economy. Built in 1917, the aging bridge represents an unacceptable risk when a major earthquake occurs. The federal government should bear the major cost. A sound bridge and effective transportation will keep people safe, keep our economy moving and help us recruit new companies to Clark County.

5) Can the county afford to hire eight new sheriff’s deputies every year?

If our growth is such, yes we can. A ratio of one deputy per 1,000 population is the ideal for law enforcement, and we have fallen short of that, for other social programs. Property taxes should by priority provide for safe neighborhoods.

Brokaw response:
County revenues, so dependent on housing and development, are deeply depressed. This next biennial budget will reflect cuts but public safety must continue to be our priority. We’ll need to take another step and address the core problems of our stagnant business climate by pulling together the leadership of our community to create a new business plan to get our economy moving.

6) What’s one thing the county can do to help farmers?

Leave them alone! Stop taking their land through seasonal creek setbacks and regulating their products. Make products being shipped into Clark County have the same insecticide requirements required of our local farmers. We have seen nearly all the dairy farms regulated out of business.

Brokaw response:
Government regulation should be based on common sense and common good. I’m committed to working with our colleagues at the state and federal level to help farmers and encourage farming through reasonable safeguards and reduced red tape.

7) Should big rural lots have more subdivision rights, such as cluster development?

I’m not sure how you might think large rural lots have more rights. Actually the small lots demonstrate more rights when you look at how Vancouver is being allowed to build right up to the edge of the Columbia River with no previous land at all.

Brokaw response:
People who live in rural areas have chosen a different life with less density of development and levels of services. The challenge is providing for reasonable development, fairness and predictability for property owners while maintaining rural character.

8) What would the Cowlitz Tribe have to offer for you to sign a new deal with them?

Pass the same requirements that any other business that size would see. Pay the same ongoing infrastructure taxes like any other business that size. Pay the same impact fees they would create. Have the same state protection for nontribal employees.

Brokaw response:
Before we sign anything, let’s not leave out environmental protection, lost revenues, public safety, transportation, housing, social services and schools.

9) If you could pass, change or kill one county rule, what would it be?

Combine all three environmental departments. ESA, Clean Water and Commissioner (Steve) Stuart’s new environmental department.

Brokaw response:
The county is considering combining the Endangered Species Act Program, Clean Water Program and the Sustainability Program as well as other environmentally related programs and services. I’m for it if it saves money and increases efficiency.

10) What else isn’t on the county’s radar, but should be?

What is the future plan for all the parkland we have, how are we to maintain it? We need a different design for the water retention ponds that the county mandated and now have no dollars to maintain over 700 of these mosquito-dwelling ponds.

Brokaw response:
The metro park district funds maintenance inside the urban growth boundary only. Parks outside the UGB are worth saving — stronger private partnerships and less general fund reliance may help. Ponds: The county has dealt with stormwater by using ponds, then larger expanses, and then ponds to protect water quality. I support a new design but am concerned about cost.

10 questions for Pam Brokaw:

1) You often criticize sprawl, but rarely detail your solutions. Name a specific policy you’d change.

We must do a better job of implementing policy that requires infrastructure to be in place if development is to occur.


Mielke response:
This answer doesn’t address the issue of “sprawl.” My vision: smart growth policies where infrastructure changes, consistent with development needs for our rapidly expanding population, are tied together.

2) What two specific career accomplishments are you proudest of?

Developing a partnership to bring affordable housing and the Boys and Girls Club to the Fruit Valley neighborhood and managing the Water Resources Education Center.

Mielke response:
It is unfortunate that my opponent lacks relevant experience for this position. My business and legislative background has provided me with the best qualifications for this office.


3) You’ve held seven jobs in the last 25 years. Why so many?

For 25 years my focus has been community service. I spent seven years as a reporter at The Columbian and The Oregonian, seven years at Clark County in communications, and seven years with the City of Vancouver. I was Congressman Baird’s district director and executive director of a housing nonprofit.

Mielke response:
Reciting a résumé doesn’t answer the question. I owned my business for 18 years and served the people here for four terms in the Legislature. Job stability is an important indicator for elective office.


4) You support light rail to Clark College. Have you ever regularly commuted by mass transit?

In my youth (in San Francisco), with limited income and without a vehicle, I routinely used public transit as well as later in the 1990s. More people are choosing not to drive because of the high cost of fuel, concern about the environment, age, income or disability. We need transportation options.

Mielke response:
There is no state or federal money for this. My priorities: no light rail, a third bridge and no tolls. Tolling hurts the poor and one of us has to care about them. Let’s give the people a vote!

5) Can the county afford to hire eight new sheriff’s deputies every year?

Public safety is a priority. That said, I can’t commit to a number until there is a broader discussion with the board of Commissioners and the elected officials which will factor into development of the 2009-2010 budget.

Mielke response:
Public safety is our first priority. We must commit to hire the deputies we need. We must find solutions for our problems, not talk them to death, and hiring personnel for our safety is one of them.

6) What’s one thing the county can do to help farmers?

More folks want to buy food and products that are grown and raised locally. We have an opportunity to link farms and their goods to compatible business development in our rural centers and plans for sustainability efforts at the old WSU Extension property (on Northeast 78th Street).

Mielke response:
Government must focus on government responsibilities. Increase incentives to keep farmland in production, much as we need incentives for economic development to keep jobs on this side of the river.

7) Should big rural lots have more subdivision rights, such as cluster development?

I’m open to the conversation. We need to ask: How do we develop responsibly while maintaining the rural character and quality of life so many people were drawn to in the first place?
Mielke response:
Again, my opponent has not answered the question. Smart growth is the key. Our rapidly expanding population demands nontraditional thinking about our growth issues, and cluster development can be a useful tool in that effort.

8) What would the Cowlitz Tribe have to offer for you to sign a new deal with them?

An agreement with the tribe needs to mitigate the casino’s impact on our community in a range of issues including the environment, lost revenues, public safety, transportation, housing, social services and schools.

Mielke response:
My opponent fully supports the casino development as indicated by those funding her campaign. Additionally, the mitigation the tribe plans doesn’t begin to address the real impacts to our community.

9) If you could pass, change or kill one county rule, what would it be?

It shouldn’t be so tough and expensive to build a small-scale, low-impact project. How many projects don’t move forward because administrative oversight is too costly in time and money? How much does our economy lose in jobs and local business?

Mielke response:
Again, my opponent fails to answer the question. This position calls for decisive and knowledgeable responses, not glittering generalities. Streamlined permitting processes MUST become our watchword for economic development.

10) What else isn’t on the county’s radar, but should be?

We need to address the needs of our older neighborhoods where the lack of safe roads and sidewalks are a real issue.

Mielke response:
I disagree, since that is mainly a city problem. Besides parkland maintenance and water retention ponds, affordable housing and a full-court press for economic development must become a top priority.