The general election Nov. 4 will decide the race for state representative (Position 2) in the 5th District between incumbent Glenn Anderson, a Republican who has held the office since 2000, and David Spring, a Democrat.

The district includes Maple Valley, Sammamish, Issaquah and Snoqualmie.

In the primary election in August, Anderson received the most votes – 14268 (51 percent) – and automatically advanced to the general election against Spring 13,657, 48.8 percent), the only other primary candidate. The district has approximately 91,000 registered voters.

To help inform voters about the candidates, Anderson and Spring responded to a questionnaire from the Reporter about their campaigns and issues.

Reporter: In terms of your background and what you would do in office, what are the major differences between you and your opponent?

Anderson: What I’ve learned in my career as a business consultant over the last 25 years and serving as a state legislator for the last eight years is that you are most successful when you spend the time to build personal relationships and find common ground to resolve issues. That doesn’t mean that you can’t disagree, and sometimes quite strongly and loudly, but it is important to be civil and a decent human being. In all the elections I’ve been through, I’ve never run a negative campaign based on phony information, character assassination or quick sound bites trying to con the voter. The issues are tough and complicated enough without trying to be clever with the taxpayer and voter. I never forget that I work for them and them only. Their trust is the strongest tool I have in Olympia to get the job done on their behalf.

Spring: The major differences are that I have a Master’s degree in education and was a teacher for over 20 years prior to running for office. My opponent was a corporate lobbyist for banks, insurance companies and oil companies. I’m also a parent. These two differences explain a great deal about the differences in priorities between myself and my opponent. I want to increase funding for education by rolling back corporate taxes on major corporations. Having corporations pay their fair share of state taxes wouldn’t harm these corporations, as they could deduct their state taxes from their federal taxes. But it would transfer a billion dollars a year from the federal tax rolls to the state tax rolls.

My opponent wants to protect corporate tax breaks by increasing property taxes on local homeowners. He has proposed raising the statewide school levy lid from the current 24 percent to 30 percent. I’m opposed to any increase in taxes on the middle class, because middle class homeowners in our state are already paying the highest state taxes in America.

Reporter: During this campaign, what is the single biggest issue voters have wanted to discuss with you?

Anderson: The most important issue communicated to me is that the economic pressure building on families has become almost unmanageable, even for those that are better off than others. That results for the heavy load of combined state and local taxes are hard to see. That doesn’t mean that we don’t need to invest in the future, but we must get better results and value for the tax dollars we are already investing.

People know we need to invest in expanded roadways and better bus service, assure our schools are providing our children with the skills and knowledge to better compete in a changing world, make sure that we have the energy to grow our economy and create jobs and have a business climate that encourages creating new family-wage jobs, not discourages it.

People are insisting that they get a better deal from government, at all levels, for their tax dollars. They want to know that there is a reasonable plan to get things done. And that means establishing priorities and doing these things within existing government revenues.

Spring: I have talked with several thousand voters during this campaign. They have told me they want better schools. We are near the bottom of the nation in funding per pupil, in class size and in teacher pay. There are over 100,000 children in our state who are going to school in particleboard boxes. My own daughter is in a third-grade class with 29 children. This is 10 children more than the national average for third-graders. One voter I talked with said that 70 percent of the kids in her daughter’s high school math class flunked the required class and will have to repeat it because the teacher didn’t know how to do the problems.

Voters are angry that the Legislature is sacrificing the future of our children by failing to adequately fund our public schools. It is morally wrong to give billions of dollars a year in tax breaks to major corporations and then not have enough money left to adequately fund our public schools.

Reporter: What can be done at the state and district levels to improve people’s confidence in their economic futures?

Anderson: The 5th District mostly consists of suburban and rural bedroom communities where people drive to work elsewhere or own or work at a small business near their home. Most families work very hard to carry their own weight and give back to our communities in many ways. In fact, the 5th District has the lowest government social service caseload of any district in the state.

Investing in expanded roadways and transit bus service will assure our families will continue to have the mobility to get to work and earn a living to support themselves and their communities. Investing in good schools assures that property values remain stable and provide a strong financial investment for retirement.

Most importantly, state government needs to stop runaway spending deficits. Over the last four years, the state has spent $8.5 billion in new money. The actual state budget deficit in January will be over $4 billion. Than means that each household in our district will be facing a $1,700 unpaid tax bill from state government, even if they used almost no government services. Stopping runaway government deficits with no new taxes is the best medicine – if tough – for getting things back on track.

Spring: Stop giving huge tax breaks to major corporation and start investing in families and children. The middle class is the engine that drives our economy. We need to stop taking billion of dollars a year away from the middle class and handing it over to the richest one percent. We can no longer afford to let corporate lobbyists dominate public policy in Washington, D.C. or in Washington. I will protect the interests of parents and children and not corporate lobbyists.

Reporter: On a similar note, but more specific to businesses, how do you plan to help cultivate economic development in your district?

Anderson: Since first elected in 2000, I’ve consistently been recognized by the National Federation of Independent Businesses and the Independent Business Association as a guardian and strong supporter of small businesses. Small businesses create over 80 percent of the jobs in our state. I’m going to be working for revisions to the Growth Management Act to make sure small businesses can grow and stay in their communities, and that government business regulations are streamlined to encourage job growth, not discourage it.

Spring: I was a small-business owner for nearly 10 years. I understand why the majority of small businesses in our state don’t succeed. While major corporations receive huge tax breaks, even when they make huge profits, small businesses are forced to pay state taxes even when they don’t make any profit. This is crazy. I have proposed tripling the small-business exemption from the B and O tax so that 75 percent of all small businesses wouldn’t have to pay any B and O taxes. I would pay for this exemption by eliminating the sales tax exemption on stock transactions. This would help small businesses succeed, greatly increase employment in our state and reduce the rampant stock market speculation that is currently destroying our economy.

Reporter: If you aren’t elected, will you continue to play a role in public issues in some other way?

Anderson: We all get the government we vote for. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Many have a very negative perspective of politics and serving the public. Is it difficult? Yes. Are there days when you are as angry as a can of rattlesnakes? Yes. Can you make a very real difference in the life of one child, one family or one community? Yes. I strongly believe in public service and will always encourage the best, brightest and willing that serving as an elected official is a very rewarding experience. Wherever I can help make the process of self-governing work better, I will.

Spring: Win or lose, I will continue going door to door in our community advocating for fair funding for our public schools and requiring major corporations to pay their fair share in state taxes. Forty-four other states require these multi-billion dollars corporations to pay state taxes, and so should we. Our children deserve much better than they have been getting from our Legislature, and my opponent is a primary reason why. My opponent has publicly announced a plan to raise our property taxes in the next legislative session. This plan is extremely unpopular with nearly every homeowner I have talked with. So if I don’t win the election this time, I will certainly win two years from now.