www.Columbian.com
Wednesday, July 29
BY KATHIE DURBIN
COLUMBIAN STAFF WRITER
Rep. David Taylor wasted no time making his mark after his appointment to the Legislature in late March. Commissioners from Clark, Skamania, Klickitat and Yakima counties named Taylor to fill a vacancy after Gov. Chris Gregoire appointed Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside, to head the Washington Department of Agriculture.
Plunged into the final weeks of the 2009 budget debate, Taylor sponsored a bill requiring a 72-hour budget review period before legislative hearings or votes on appropriation and revenue bills.
The bill went nowhere, but Taylor made his point. Now he faces one active candidate, former social services administrator Donicio Marichalar, in his campaign for election to a two-year term.
If Marichalar wins at least 1 percent of the vote cast in the Aug. 18 top two primary, the two will face each other again in the Nov. 3 general election.
The 15th District, redrawn after the 2000 Census, includes a small corner of southeast Clark County, all of Skamania and Klickitat counties in the Columbia River Gorge, and the south half of Yakima County. The heavily agricultural Yakima area has had a lock on the district for 25 years.
Marichalar jumped into the race on the final filing day. He did not return calls from The Columbian, but told the Yakima Herald-Republic he believes the 15th District needs a representative in Olympia who will speak up for the farm worker and struggling families in Sunnyside, Mabton and other farm communities in the lower Yakima Valley.
Marichalar said he favors increased state funding for programs to prevent drug abuse, teen pregnancy and domestic violence. People who rely on those programs need to know the state stands behind them, he said.
He has reported no campaign contributions or expenditures.
Taylor’s résumé includes stints as planning director and head of community development in Kittitas County. He owns a ranch and is active in the Washington Cattlemen’s Association and the Washington State Farm Bureau.
“My goal is to represent the entire district,” Taylor said in an interview. One challenge he faces while campaigning in Clark County’s corner of the 15th, which has 4,780 registered voters, is that it includes no incorporated community. Nevertheless, he has visited the west end of the district several times during this year’s campaign, most recently Tuesday night for a candidate forum in Washougal.
The issues voters care about are consistent throughout the 15th, Taylor said: They oppose tax increases during a recession, want economic development in the largely rural district, and depend on the state to resolve long-standing water rights issues.
“I’m a firm believer in expanding economic development opportunities,” Taylor said. “I look at the Gorge itself as a tremendous asset that we can market for economic development.”
He has not, however, taken a position on two economic development projects SDS Lumber Co. has proposed for Skamania County: the proposed Whistling Ridge wind farm and the Broughton Landing resort.
“It would be inappropriate to do so,” Taylor said. “I spent 10 years in county government. One of our biggest complaints was, ‘Why is a state agency sticking its neck into a local issue?’”
The son of two schoolteachers, Taylor called education “my background, my passion.” He wants to see high schools work with businesses to prepare more noncollege-bound students for work in trades such as meat-cutting. “There is not a ready work force coming out of the schools,” he said.
As of this week, Taylor had raised $23,840 and spent $11,283 in his primary election campaign.
