The ballots have been mailed for the Nov. 2 general election and the political races are in the homestretch.

During the next two editions of The Reporter the candidates from the 47th and 5th legislative districts will be answering four questions posed by the editorial staff.

First up is the race for 47th District State Representative Position No. 1. The candidates are Rep. Geoff Simpson, D-Covington and Mark Hargrove, R-Covington.

With the mounting deficit facing the state budget, what solutions, program cuts or tax increases do you propose for the upcoming Legislative session?

Hargrove: We do not have a revenue problem in this state. We have a spending problem. Therefore, the solution is to reduce spending.

Our state auditor has identified several areas where we can save money. The Legislature just needs to act on them. We should eliminate or privatize government functions that can be more efficiently run in the private sector, such as the government printing office. Other obvious choices include eliminating the requirement that 1 percent of capital building projects be spent on art. And we can improve government efficiency by combining departments, better managing overtime, etc.

Then, since the budget grew at an inordinate rate of 33 percent during Gov. Gregiore’s first term and has continued to grow since, we need to examine what bureaucracy has been added and consider eliminating it.

Simpson: Our state has a balanced budget. Thankfully, Washington state is not able to have a deficit like Washington D.C is. I’m the only candidate in this race with experience in balancing our state budget. I know how to cut strategically to minimize the negative effects and how to find new revenue without placing more of the burden on the middle class. Your question ignores a third option – growing our economy. I’ve supported policies that have Washington state ranked as one of the best in the nation for business by multiple nonpartisan sources. My opponent has claimed over and over that we have failed to follow the state auditor’s recommendations to find efficiencies – a claim the auditor himself debunked last week in the Tacoma News Tribune. If you can’t trust Mark Hargrove to give an honest answer to a simple question, how can we trust him to represent us in Olympia?

What realistically can the Legislature do to meet the mandate of fully funding schools? Is enough being done now by the Legislature?

Hargrove: We spend about $11,000 per child per year on education, about the national average. If we gave my daughter, who teaches math at Auburn high school, $330,000, she could provide a great education to her class and still have a fantastic salary. We are obviously not efficient with the money we spend on education when only 59 cents of each dollar makes it to the classroom and we have more nonteachers than teachers in the system.

The Seattle teachers’ union recently agreed to the concept of “innovation” schools that allows possible exemptions from state policies and collective bargaining agreements, more autonomy, and the ability to select the best teachers, not just the most senior and reward them for excellence. This is exactly what we need in Washington state to improve our schools and compete for federal race to the top funding.

Eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy at the state level and getting money and decision making to the local level where these types of reforms can be implemented is the solution to properly funding education.

Simpson: The legislature is clearly not doing enough to meet our Constitutional mandate of fully funding basic education. I’ve opposed budgets that cut education spending and supported efforts to provide better teacher pay, smaller class sizes and other reforms so our education system can be more efficient and effective. How do we compare to other states? Washington is 42nd worst in average class size. We’re 44th in state funding per pupil. A superior court judge ruled in February… that Washington is not doing enough to fund education. The legislature is hamstrung by the fact that radical legislators who, like my opponent, think we are doing enough for education, oppose more revenue no matter what – even when it comes from closing tax loopholes for out-of-state banks or asking the very wealthy to pay their fair share. Only by electing truly proeducation candidates can the legislature improve education.

Is the legislative process in Olympia functioning well or badly? If badly what can be done to repair it. If your answer is it is functioning well, describe why?

Simpson: Ninety percent of legislation passed in Olympia gets an unanimous, or near unanimous, bi-partisan vote. As someone who passed 16 of my prime-sponsored bills in the last biennium (more bills than 98 percent of the other legislators in Olympia passed), I know how to work across the aisle and with a diverse group of interests to get things done for my constituents and Washington State. I passed legislation last session that was praised by the Association of Washington Business, the Associations of Washington Cities and Counties, Futurewise, the Washington Conservation Voters and the Washington Farm Bureau to protect land along our shorelines while preserving existing uses. I passed a bill in 2009 to create 3,000 private sector family-wage jobs building a consolidated rental car facility at SeaTac airport. I think overall the process works well, but I’m always looking for more ways to be efficient and effective for my constituents.

Hargrove: It is functioning horribly! With a one party super majority in both houses of the legislature and the governorship, bills sail through with little or no debate. And that is the reason we find ourselves in the financial mess we are in. We had the largest surplus in state history just a few years ago. That surplus was spent BEFORE the economic crisis hit. And my opponent was part of the problem, sponsoring bills in the 2008 legislative session alone that would have cost us $35 billion over the next 10 years. Government has grown far beyond its primary purpose of protecting our lives and liberty so we are free to pursue our happiness.

The solution is to elect fiscally responsible legislators who will legislate and budget for the real priorities of government. We should never hear that police or firefighters or teachers will have to be cut unless we raise taxes or pass a levy!

What can the Legislature do to improve the employment outlook in this state?

Simpson: The best thing we can do is to authorize the rebuilding and expansion of infrastructure by private sector workers. Not only will we be making an investment in our future by building roads, rail, schools, energy efficiency improvements, power generation capacity and other critical needs, but we will literally pave the way for the economic growth necessary to lift us out of this lingering recession. Washington is the most trade dependent state in the nation. If congestion slows our ability to move goods, our economy suffers. Without sufficient capacity in our schools, we can’t educate our children for the high-tech future. New energy sources will be needed to accommodate growth in energy hungry industries and investing in energy saving improvements pay for themselves. And while we are accomplishing all this good, we will be employing tens of thousands of people in the construction industry where we have 25 percent unemployment.

Hargrove: While we need to keep employer giants like Boeing and Microsoft, most of the jobs in this state are in small businesses. Helping them thrive is the way to improve our state’s employment.

Our excessive state spending has led to an excessive tax burden on these businesses. So, cutting spending has to be a priority.

The business and occupation tax, which taxes gross revenue instead of profits, is extremely harmful to new companies who have to pay taxes even if their start up costs exceed their income. The business and occupation tax needs to be replaced with a more fair tax on profits.

Allowing private companies to compete with the state for labor and industries insurance and driving down health insurance costs by torte reform and eliminating insurance mandates will drive down employers’ costs.

And no, the state borrowing half a billion dollars (and paying back almost a billion) to refurbish schools is not the solution to our employment problem.