Washington's primary election is just days away, and voters will make several big decisions, among them narrowing a large field of 12 candidates in the race for Washington's fifth congressional district down to two for the general election.

Another item getting a lot of attention Spokane Transit Authority's Prop one.

While it's not a new tax, the measure is seeing some pushback.

We'll hear from both sides of the debate and more.

Now on at issue.

Primary voter guide.

Hello, and thank you for joining us.

I'm your host, Dana Haynes.

Washington's primary election is Tuesday, August 4th.

If you're registered to vote, you should have already received your ballot in the mail.

Once completed, be sure to drop it in a county election drop box or mail it in time to be postmarked by August 4th.

Let's get into the issues.

The first item you'll notice on your ballot is a crowded race for Washington's Fifth Congressional District.

First term Congressman Michael Baumgartner is seeking reelection.

The Republican won the seat in 2024 after Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers retired.

But a slew of Democrat and independent candidates hope that they're going to win a nomination to challenge Baumgartner in November's general election.

Ten of those hopefuls gathered for a candidate forum earlier this month, hosted by the Spokesman-Review and the Spokane Public Library.

To start Spokesman Reporter and panel moderator Emry Dinman said Republicans have held the seat for more than 30 years.

So he asked the candidates, why is this year going to be any different and why are you the person to accomplish that?

Because we need regular people to represent us.

I'm not one of the blue suit crew.

I'm just a regular guy.

I've been working for the state for the last 11 years, raising the best daughter you could have.

And I want a better life for the young folks, older folks, my generation.

We need to take care of each other.

We need to unite.

There's too much hate out there being used to keep us separate and manipulating us so we don't get what we deserve and what we need and we need to stand up for ourselves.

And we need people that are like us, that have gone through adversity, that have gone through struggles and know what it's like to have their needs unmet, to not feel fulfilled, to not feel like the opportunities are there that they were promised when they were growing up.

Prices are too high because of the trade wars as well as the shooting war.

Our rural hospitals are at risk because there is red tape coming down the pipe, and the insurance companies are already seeing that we've got a risk to America's well-being as well as its security, because our alliances and our trade relationships are under attack.

And Michael Baumgartner voted for all of this.

So what we need is somebody who knows how the federal government works, who's here from and for the working people of Eastern Washington.

The problems that we face today were not born the minute Trump took office.

Have they gotten a lot worse?

Yes, they absolutely have.

But we have been going through 50 years of trickle down economics.

We are now in a Gilded Age at end stage, capitalism and live in an oligarchy.

On my website, you will see 19 economic policy points that need to be pursued to return the economy to the people instead of billionaires and the congressmen who take their money making decisions that affect your family, your future, and the future of this country.

But I left that job specifically to do this because I saw what was happening to our military members and to our community, which is why my priorities are family, neighbor, and nation.

I want to take care of people.

I want to take care of our neighbors, and I want to take care of our country.

I think that's where most people are these days.

My priorities.

I've got a lot of them because very candidly, our our house is on fire.

You want to tell me, ask me what my number one priority is.

We can't put out a single room.

We've got to deal with the whole problem.

As a physician, I was a family physician.

11 years in the Air Force and then ten years in the civilian sector.

Obviously, our system is very imperfect.

I believe health care is a basic human right.

I believe in universal health care.

We probably will not get that in our lifetimes.

But I will work my butt off to try to get that.

Okay.

Incremental change.

Perhaps we lower the, enrollment rate, age of Medicare down to 63.

We start with that.

Again, these are clips from a fifth Congressional District candidate forum presented by the Spokesman-Review and the Spokane Public Library on July 5th.

Moderator Emry Dinman started the forum by asking the candidates why them?

Here are the responses from the remaining candidates.

I'm in favor of a nonpartizan military.

You never use U.S.

troops on U.S.

soil against U.S.

persons.

Full stop.

Is that Democratic or Republican?

We take care of our veterans because that's the contract that we made with them.

They fired 135 workers at the Spokane, VA alone last fall.

Is this Democratic or Republican?

I'm in favor of the entire Bill of rights.

Your first Amendment.

Second amendment.

This is our district.

The fourth amendment.

The fifth amendment.

Is that Democratic or Republican?

I'm in favor of a balanced budget amendment.

Fiscal responsibility.

I don't think that's Democratic or Republican.

And I'm in favor of free trade.

we need progress.

We don't need a pendulum.

I'm my biggest one.

I'm not my biggest fear, but one of my biggest fears is if there is a blue wave, Democrats will take the ball and run over into their corner and do all their stuff.

And then if it gets back to Republicans, it'll go back the other way.

That's not progress.

That's just back and forth.

I know one of the first things I would like to do is reform the House rules.

Ever since Newt Gingrich, the power and the partizanship has been migrating northward and no one has changed.

As near as I could tell, Pelosi didn't change it either.

It's just a status quo and that should be taken care of.

There are things that come consensus commission votes and things like that.

I come from conservative spaces.

I understand that the problems in this district are not left and right.

They're top-bottom.

I am running as an independent because both of our political parties have been subservient to corporate money.

But we need to understand and reach out to both sides of the aisle and understand that we are all living in this economy together, and that partizan fighting is not going to create the solidarity that we need here in this district to beat Michael Baumgartner in November.

I'm the oddball.

I used to be a Republican.

I got drummed out of the Republican Party.

I used to be a Democrat.

Got drummed out of the Democratic Party because I'm in the middle.

I'm not an extremist.

And the parties are turning now to extremism.

When you look at the votes in the primaries in New York City, Colorado, lately, it's socialist.

I'm not a socialist.

I'm a capitalist, but a capitalist with guardrails.

That means antitrust protection.

That means consumer protection.

And after that, I worked for a large integrated health care system in Southern California.

It was a not for profit system where I had 1100 people on staff, over 200 physicians and a budget of $700 million.

And I bring that up to talk about coalition building, because when you run an organization of that size, you have to bring people to the table.

You have to listen to all the concerns, and you have to fashion a way forward that everybody can live with and hopefully embrace.

And that's what it's going to take to move ourselves forward in Congress and to address all these issues that we have today.

Michael Baumgartner was not present for the forum.

He said he would not participate in primary debates.

Also missing was Democrat Kevin Fagan.

He was on his honeymoon.

Here is a clip from his opening statement at a previous forum hosted by Spokane Indivisible, and the organization Showing Up for Racial Justice.

And as someone who's younger, I know that we are not on a sustainable path.

My background is in climate change and sustainability, but that's just one of the many issues that's going in the wrong direction right now, Whether it's health care, housing, energy, all of our systems are in crisis, and we don't even have a representative that can show up, that can face his community, that can see the results of his own actions, like passing the Big Beautiful Bill, like gutting Medicaid and rural health care, like what he's doing to our farmers right now in the Palouse, causing fertilizer prices to skyrocket because of the Iran war.

And so I'm running because we need change, The two who received the most votes will move forward to November's general election.

Let's move on to state legislative races now in district three, which represents most of the city of Spokane.

Democrat Natasha Hill is seeking her second term in position one.

She faces a rematch with Republican Tony Kiepe, an insurance professional, and a new opponent, independent John Kness, an automotive business leader.

In position two Longtime state Representative Tim Ormsby is retiring.

The Democrat has served in the position since 2003.

To fill the seat, four candidates are lined up three Democrats Donovan De Leone, a paratransit driver.

Luke Jasmin III, who serves as the governor's regional representative in eastern Washington.

And Pam Kohlmeier, an ER doctor, along with one Republican school teacher, Natalie Poulson, In Washington state Legislative district four, which represents much of Spokane Valley and northeast Spokane County, Republican Suzanne Schmidt is not seeking reelection in position one.

Instead, she is running for Spokane County Commissioner for Republicans are vying to fill the spot.

Accountant Deborah Long, business owner Trent Maier, Air Force veteran Hillary Pham and business owner George Wagner.

In the second position, you have two Robs and a Bob to consider.

Republican Rob Chase is the incumbent.

He has served in the state House of Representatives and as Spokane County Treasurer.

Chase faces Republican and Army veteran Bob Curtis and Democrat Rob Tupper, a commercial fisherman and teacher.

Finally, let's look at district six, which represents the northwest corner of Spokane County, including parts of north Spokane, Airway Heights, and the West Plains.

Both seats in the House lack incumbents in position one.

Mike Voltz is not running for reelection.

He's running for Spokane County Treasurer after being appointed to the position last year.

Six candidates are competing for a spot in the general election.

Republican Sueann Davis a former Deer Park school board member, Democrat Michela Kelso, an Army veteran, Republican Jennifer Morton, an Airway Heights City Council member.

Republican Allen Nolan, an Air Force veteran, Democrat.

Nicolette, Ocheltree, a Spokane City employee and Republican Isaiah Payne, a business consultant and housing advocate.

Position two is also being vacated.

Republican Jenny Graham won't run for reelection after eight years in the House of Representatives, after losing his seat on Spokane City Council last year.

Jonathan Bingle is running as the lone Republican in this traditionally conservative district.

Also running independent Aaron Croft, an Air Force veteran, and Democrat Julia Payne, an administrator and community volunteer.

If you want to learn more about some of the congressional and legislative candidates before you cast your vote, we will be live Streaming Range Media's Spiciest Candidate forum this Thursday.

Candidates from the fifth Congressional District, State Legislative District 3 and State Legislative District six will participate in this unique debate that includes spicy wings prepared by a local chef and spicy questions from Range journalists.

Attend in person at Over Bluff sellers in downtown Spokane.

Tickets are available on the Range Media website, or watch the live stream on KSPS.org or the KSPS YouTube channel.

Switching gears now to some of the local measures, voters across much of Spokane County will decide whether to continue a sales tax for Spokane Transit Authority.

Prop one renews an existing 2/10 of 1% sales tax for STA.

And proceeds, would be used to maintain and enhance the existing systems, as well as improve and expand public transportation through new modes and programs.

The measure would continue the current voter approved rate through 2048.

Joining me now to talk more about this measure is former Washington state senator and local business owner Andy Billig, and the president of Spokane Business Association, Gavin Cooley.

Thank you to both of you for joining us for this discussion today.

Andy, we're going to start with you.

You helped draft the argument for this measure that's in our voter's guide.

And this is not a new tax.

It's actually a continuation of a voter approved sales tax that is set to expire in two years.

If you could kind of tell us why you believe voters need to vote yes on this to continue STA services.

Yes.

Well, first of all, thank you for hosting this conversation.

It's great to see you and great to be here.

And with my good friend Gavin.

You know, I think the most important thing for people to know about this ballot measure is just what you said, that this is a renewal so we can prevent cuts to bus service without anyone's taxes going up.

And, you know, STA has really delivered for this community.

It's a very well route, nationally recognized, transit agency for the great job that they do.

And they provide 34,000 trips a day.

Think about 34,000 of that, 34,000 students and people going to work, and seniors who don't have another way to, take to get out.

Otherwise, people going for entertainment, taking the bus so they're not driving when they've been drinking.

There's so much to STA and they're doing a really good job delivering for our community.

But it's also important for people who don't ride the bus, because think about those 40, 34,000 people.

If they didn't ride the bus, that's more traffic, more competition for parking and, you know, more air pollution.

So this works on an economic level, works on a personal level.

It works for people who ride the bus or works for people who don't ride the bus.

That's why I'm supporting it, and that's why I'm asking others to support it as well.

All right.

Moving on to Gavin now.

And the Spokane Business Association is opposed to STA prop one.

Kind of give us a reason why and why you think current services wouldn't be hampered if the voter says no to this.

Thank you, Dana, and thank you for having us here.

And likewise, so good to be here with my friend Andy.

I agree with everything Andy just said.

I'm a big supporter of transit, and I think we all should be, probably the only part of what Andy just said that I disagree with As the CFO of the city for 17 years, I studied their financials very carefully.

And the one thing I would say is not renewing the 2/10 will not in any way cut services.

They still have 6/10 that are permanent.

That's over $100 million a year.

They have interest income, they have fair income and many grants that are coming in.

They'll be fine as far as current services.

So I just want to frame the real question that I think is before voters is, is this the priority right now?

You know, we have current services and we don't want to see those cut.

Absolutely not.

The question is do we want to enhance services.

And that's what this two towns is about.

And so what I really want to highlight, and I almost can't believe we're having this conversation because what's happening in Spokane is we have the number two overdose death rate in America of larger jurisdictions.

We have the number two rate of hospitalizations for non-fatal overdoses.

We have a 35% vacancy approximately in downtown office buildings.

We see the effect of what's going on with this, like health and safety crisis every day in front of us.

And, you know, anybody that doubts it.

So get off the Division Street exit and just you see it immediately.

We're losing a person a day.

And so when we think about that and then we think is that is that our priority or is enhancing, say Division Street.

I can't believe we're talking about expanding transit services.

We should sure maintain them.

But I just that's where I'm at on this.

This current tax that would be extended, renewed with no increase.

If that goes down, that would be a 20% cut to the revenue to STA So I want to the idea that this wouldn't affect service is just simply not true.

Think about your household budget getting cut by 20%.

And can I just interlude on that?

Because just while you're on that specific point, when they put it in place and I sat down with the then CEO and their finance people back in 2016, when it came in place, they passed the 2/10.

We said they didn't need it.

And over the course since then to now, they brought in 169 million.

Over that same period, they increased the reserves from 40 million to 274 million.

In other words, the tax that you're saying they need so desperately to maintain service has done nothing other than increase their own appropriated fund balance, which is in our household terms, it's like your savings account.

And I keep hearing people saying, well, Gavin, you don't know what that means.

I'm like, I think as the CFO of the city for 17 years.

I know exactly what that means.

I get a chuckle that opponents are using the reserve against STA It's actually a highlight of really good financial stewardship that there's a healthy reserve.

When I was Senate Majority Leader, we always looked at these government entities and said, who had a reserve and wanted the state to have a healthy reserve that reserve is used for projects and STA doesn't use debt.

When they use projects, they use their reserve.

That's why it's there.

(Gavin) Well, it hasn't been used... Think about so many public entitities use debt, so they're sending interest off out to some bank or somewhere else.

STA uses the reserve so all the money stays here.

But I just one of the one other point I want to make to Gavin's original point is this idea about public safety versus busses, you know, and I've heard that that there's going to be a jail tax, that and this is somehow going to interfere, which is a political person for many years, I don't believe.

But even so, you know, I think it's a terrible slogan to say, you know, fewer busses, more jails, but it's even worse policy because think about this.

It's a false choice.

We should believe a little bit more in Spokane that we can do both.

We can do public safety and have great transit.

this idea that there are these other priorities in Spokane.

The voter voting no, though on prop one doesn't just designate then money going into these priorities.

So how do you justify that shift?

How do we say no to this then?

And then we get that money towards addiction prevention and some of these other things.

Downtown revitalization.

How would you somehow make that work?

Because saying no does not mean the money goes directly to those problems.

No.

Absolutely not.

What it does is it opens the avenue in the conversation or it closes it if you if you pass it and Andy just said it's jail, it's not.

So just this week, the commissioners and the city council and the mayor said, yeah, we're not ready to go out this November.

We need to have dialog with the county and or the citizens and make sure everybody agrees with what we're doing and get the feedback.

So we'll wait until next year.

Well, if we pass this tax this year, and then we come back and ask for another 2/10 next year, it won't pass.

It's just that simple.

All right.

I want to move to Andy.

Something we've been talking about is this Division Street bus rapid transit corridor for voters that don't know what that means, it's a it's a corridor that in the future will will be kind of a direct route with stops.

But from the Mead area generally to downtown, I think voters want to know, are we at a point where we need to start talking about this?

Do we have the ridership that means we need this money to start talking about this?

There are bigger cities that are congested.

Seattle, Portland.

We don't have that kind of congestion yet.

Is it time or can we put this off?

So thank you very much.

Well, we've already decided to do bus rapid transit on Division.

That was part of the North Spokane corridor funding.

When the state gave the funding for the North Spokane corridor, it was in tandem with the Division bus rapid transit, because the idea is that that traffic goes off division.

And then it's not about just the bus service, it's about what does that catalyze?

What does that look like in terms of increased housing, increased, economic activity and better esthetics?

And so we've already made that decision.

The state has provided us with funding for that.

And, the federal government has committed funding, and then we need to have a local match which would be provided, by this.

But, you know, so yes, we've already done that.

And our North Spokane corridor funding is absolutely tied to bus rapid transit.

On on Division, I think, you know, if we think more holistically about, you know, whether it's about Division or it's about STA services as a whole, STA is about economic vitality and quality of life.

And think about all of those rides and all of those people going to work are going to businesses, or going to their doctor's appointment.

This is about economic activity, sure, on Division, but it's about the county as a whole.

And that's why there's so many people that support this.

That's funds coming here.

More construction jobs, more bus service, more quality of life for Spokane County.

All right.

Thanks to both of you.

This is a very robust conversation, and I hope we, educated our viewers and voters out there.

Also on Spokane County ballots this year is a levy to help fund Spokane County libraries.

The current levy rate on homeowners is about $0.33 per $1,000 of assessed value.

The county library district is asking voters to increase that rate to $0.45 They say the increase is necessary to continue the current level of services beyond next year.

Now, this is separate from the potential Spokane Public Library service cuts that you might have seen in the news recently.

The city libraries are warning that cuts may happen If the city of Spokane doesn't help bridge the funding gap in the 2027 budget.

City Council President Betsy Wilkerson says the council is aware of the situation.

They are currently exploring potential solutions ahead of their annual budgeting process, which happens in the fall.

Voters on Spokane's West Plains will see a ballot measure to enact an aquifer protection area.

If approved, it would impose an annual fee of $15 per household for water and an additional $15 fee for households on septic system.

Funds would go to planning, continued testing and maintenance facility operations, and public education.

Hank Bynaker, a former Airway Heights City Council member, is here to talk more about this proposal.

Hank.

Thanks for being here.

The fee would pay for aquifer monitoring, education and infrastructure improvements.

Can you kind of get more specific on where you see this funding going?

Well, the important aspect, I think first of all about the funding is it's dedicated funding it.

You don't contribute to this, right, with the fee each year and have that money being spent somewhere else.

It's dedicated to this West Plains aquifer protection area.

And that dedicated funding gives us the ability, the resources, right, because everything you do takes money.

And so it gives us, a fund to draw from, to do things like monitoring, for example, contamination of our aquifers isn't limited to PFAS, which I think most people are aware of now.

And many are impacted by it.

But, you know, where is the water moving because the PFAS and or any other contaminants are going to move with it, and it could be coming to a neighborhood near you.

So we want to put measures in place.

And the funding from this will give us the ability to to do the monitoring and to do a lot of things that we would otherwise have to depend on grant funds to do.

There might be a homeowner out there that says my wells already contaminated.

So why why should I care?

Like why should I pay money?

I'm already dealing with this.

What could be very expensive situation.

I have attended an awful lot of meetings, you know, various kinds, and I've listened to these people that are directly affected and my heart goes out to them, really does.

Because imagine if you're if you're unaware that your well is contaminated and you're feeding your grandchild, you know, your baby, your grand baby formula made from that well water.

And I've heard these people say, gosh, I'm I was poisoning my grandchild without any knowledge of that.

How do you live with that, you know, and what are the repercussions from that downstream?

I don't know, but but all I can tell the voters, and I can't stress this enough.

I know we're taxed to death.

I feel no differently.

But please understand, we have a golden opportunity right now to put something in place that could stand for today, tomorrow, future generations, to protect what we have.

And yes, it is contaminated, but let's not further contaminate it because there's a lot of development going on.

There's just a lot of moving parts to this.

And this measure, I think, is a really important first step that all of us in the West Plains can make to protect what we have.

All right, Hank, that's a great way to wrap it up.

Thanks for joining us and explaining this very important ballot measure to our viewers.

I appreciate the opportunity.

Thank you very much, Dana Well, I hope you feel more prepared to cast your ballot now.

A reminder that ballot drop boxes are open across Spokane County.

You can find the full list of locations on the green sheet enclosed with your ballot and at votewa.

go.

That drop boxes will be closed, promptly at 8 p.m.

on Election Day, which again is Tuesday, August 4th.

You can also mail your ballots.

USPS recommends you do so a week before Election Day, which is tomorrow.

We hope you'll trust KSPS PBS, and At issue for continued election coverage until November.

We're already planning candidate debates and another voter guide episode of At Issue to help you prepare before you cast your ballot in November.

And we're always following big local topics on our At Issue podcast and blog available at ksps.org.

From all of us here at KSPS PBS.

Thank you for watching.