Auburn Area Chamber endorses candidates
Published 2:55 pm Thursday, July 10, 2014
For the Reporter
The Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors recently voted to endorse candidates in the 8th Congressional, 30th, 31st and 47th legislative districts, not just on position, but on individual candidate qualifications.
The chamber invited all candidates running for the positions to participate in its interview process. Each candidate who participated completed a pre-interview questionnaire and scheduled a private interview with the chamber’s Government Affairs Candidate Interview Task Force.
The chamber voted to approve the following endorsements:
Endorsed Highly Qualified
• Cathy Dahlquist, 31st District Senate
• Joe Fain, 47th District Senate
• Linda Kochmar, 30th District Representative, Position 1
Endorsed Qualified
• Chris Barringer, 47th District Rep., Position 1
• Jack Dovey, 30th District Rep., Position 2
• Christopher Hurst, 31st District Rep., Position 2
• Mark Miloscia, 30th District Senate
• Jason Ritchie, 8th Congressional
• Pam Roach, 31st District Senate
• Mike Sando, 31st District Rep., Position 1
• Shari Song, 30th District Senate
• Drew Stokesbary, 31st District Rep., Position 1
• Pat Sullivan, 47th District Rep., Position 2
Endorsed
• Jonathon Dunn, 31st District Rep., Position 1
• Mark Hargrove, 47th District Rep., Position 1
• Barry Knowles, 47th District Rep., Position 2
• Lynda Messner, 31st District Senate
Not Endorsed
• Carol Barber, 47th District Senate
• Phil Fortunato, 31st District Rep., Position 2
Candidates invited to participate but chose not to:
• Keith Arnold, 8th Congressional
• Gregory Baruso, 30th District Rep., Position 1
• Roger Freeman, 30th District Rep., Position 2
• Dave Reichert, 8th Congressional
“Our Government Affairs focus is on relationship building with the candidates, ensuring they understand our key business issues and asking for them to include us in their decision making processes,” said Nancy Wyatt, president & CEO of the Auburn Area Chamber. “This approach leads to decisions that are more balanced and help to improve the economic vitality of our business community.”
About the endorsement process
The task force uses the following criteria to determine its endorsement recommendation to the board of directors:
1. Candidate recognizes the Auburn Area business community as a meaningful constituent.
2. Candidate includes the business community in their decision making process, i.e. contacting, engaging, listening, and trying to find positive balanced solutions.
3. Candidate uses a fair and balanced approach in finding solutions for all parties involved.
4. Candidate’s connection with the Auburn area business community’s priorities on key business issues.
The task Force uses three ranking levels as endorsement possibilities:
1. Not Endorsed: Candidate does not satisfy enough of the criteria to earn an endorsement.
2. Endorsed: Candidate meets minimum criteria, needs substantial exposure & experience in understanding our key business issues.
3. Endorsed Qualified: Candidate satisfies all the criteria to earn an endorsement, but their knowledge of all the key business issues needs our assistance to improve.
4. Endorsed Highly Qualified: Candidate satisfies all the criteria to earn an endorsement and in addition truly holds a very strong understanding of the key business issues.
