17th District candidates far apart on key issues

Middle-school teacher Monica Stonier and businessman Paul Harris have at least one thing in common: The Evergreen school district.

Paul Harris

Republican

o Age: 57.

o Occupation: Businessman.

o Campaign finance: Raised $44,855, spent $18,119, debt $9,400.

o Campaign website: www.electharris.com.

o Quote: “We need new leadership with no obligations to special interest groups.”

Monica Stonier

Democrat

o Age: 34.

o Occupation: Middle school teacher.

o Campaign finance: Raised $58,909, spent $33,888, independent support $4,385.

o Campaign website: www.electmonicastonier.com.

o Quote: “Any teacher who is ineffective and not willing to change their practices to meet student needs should not be in the classroom.”

But when it comes to their views on school funding, teacher compensation and state spending, they’re worlds apart.

Both are seeking the open seat held by state Rep. Deb Wallace, D-Vancouver, who is leaving the Legislature when her term expires in January. Her departure created an open seat in the 17th, a swing district that covers Vancouver east of Interstate 205 and south of 119th Street.

Harris, a Republican, served as a member of the Evergreen School Board. He ran unsuccessfully in the 17th in 2004, against former Rep. Jim Dunn, a Republican, and in 2006 against Wallace, who spent nearly $300,000 to defeat him. In January, he dropped out of the contest for appointment to a vacancy on the Vancouver City Council and threw his hat into the legislative ring, saying, “I feel my commitment to the community will be better served at the state level.”

A 30-year resident of the 17th District, he owned his own paint company and later worked for a Tacoma-based paint company, but lost that job in a recent downsizing. He has started a new business as a medical supply distributor.

Stonier, a Democrat, is a language arts and social studies teacher and teaching coach at Pacific Middle School in the Evergreen district. She represented Clark County as a delegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. This is her first run for public office. Wallace endorsed her early in the race.

Harris won decisively in the primary, with 55.7 percent of the vote to 32.8 percent for Stonier. A third candidate, animation software developer Martin Hash, a Democrat, got 11.4 percent and threw his support to Stonier.

Stonier is active in the Washington Education Association and serves as the teacher union representative for her school. She says she would be a strong advocate for teachers and quality instruction if elected but would not be a mouthpiece for the Washington Education Association. As a legislator, she said, she’d base her votes on what is best for students. She notes that no teacher currently serves in the Legislature.

“I got involved in the union because I felt there were teachers in my building whose voices were not being heard,” she said.

Harris has tried to hang Stonier’s WEA membership around her neck. In a new flier, he claims that Stonier supports creating a state income tax, promised the WEA “$3 billion in more spending from your taxes,” and opposes teacher accountability.

Not one of those statements is true, Stonier said.

Harris knows she opposes the initiative on the November ballot that would impose an income tax on high earners because he sat across the table from her at two candidate events where she made her position clear, she said.

Although she supports adequately funding education, “the promise he states is a lie,” she said. “I have said from the beginning of our campaign that I would not be in favor of raising taxes.”

As for opposing teacher accountability, she said, “That is the union’s position. That is absolutely not my position. Any teacher who is ineffective and not willing to change their practices to meet student needs should not be in the classroom.”

Harris is no friend of the teacher union or of public employee unions in general.

“I believe one solution to the state budget crisis is to take a hard look at union contracts,” he told The Columbian’s editorial board before the primary.

He’s also concerned about the cost of administrative overhead. At Mountain View High School in the Evergreen district, he said, the number of administrators has not gone down in recent years even though enrollment has plummeted by nearly half.

“When we reduce enrollment, we need to reduce administration,” Harris said. “I think it is going to be difficult for someone who is tied to the union to make those cuts.”

Harris and Stonier also disagree on whether Washington schools are underfunded.

The state budget deficit is hurting education, Stonier said. “We’ve had some schools with new construction that went to portables the next year. We are still scraping by. I still have too many kids in my classes.”

Harris says the state is in for some belt-tightening, including in the areas of education, social services and public safety. “We’re going to have to cut the budget and cut people in jobs that we don’t need,” he said.

He had to make similar tough decisions in his own business, he says. “I was forced to let employees go that had worked with me for over 10 years. It was painfully difficult but unavoidable.”

Harris got some embarrassing press coverage in August when 17th District Democrats revealed that he was continuing to drive his 2005 Dodge truck with Oregon plates two years after the Portland-area paint company to which the truck was licensed went out of business.

He called the failure to get his truck licensed in Washington “an oversight” and paid $1,160 in sales and use tax and licensing fees to the state of Washington.

Harris said at the time he didn’t think the incident would hurt his campaign. “I think this will resonate with some of the public,” he said. “We all forget about things from time to time.”