31th Legislative District candidates for the State House of Representatives, Position 2, appeared at a recent Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce at Emerald Downs to explain where they stand on some of the issues of the day. Here is what they had to say.

Incumbent: Chris Hurst, Democrat

Transportation, and the need to realize long delayed and crucial upgrades to State Route 167, remain among incumbent 31st District Rep. Chris Hurst’s prime concerns in the state House.

“We must have the next mega-project down here in transportation, It’s going to have to happen. And let me tell you, there isn’t going to be a transportation budget or transportation finance package until the south end has its needs met, and that is 167,” Hurst said.

Any package for SR167, Hurst continued, must include money for local roads, too. With all the cities in the Valley concerned about the deterioration of the roads because of the heavy truck traffic, the package must include a component that does not just repair but fixes roads, right down to the road bed, so cash strapped cities are not going back and spending money over and over again.

Hurst called the Seattle tunnel “a mistake” and predicted it would go way over budget.

“And I think when that goes way over budget, the people of the City of Seattle won’t pay for that, and we’re going to have a battle, because that’s exactly what the law says. We’re not going to kick in another $2 billion that needs to spent down here to fix a project that never, ever was going to work in the first place. State Route 520 needed to be done, but it’s our time in the south end, our economy depends on it,” Hurst said.

Another issue affecting businesses,” Hurst said, has been unemployment insurance and workers comp rates. Business leaders and chambers of commerce have said over and over again that they could not survive what had been shaping up to be 70-percent increases in the worker’s comp rate and unemployment insurance rates.

As part of a coalition of moderates,called the “road kill caucus, Hurst said, he worked with Republicans and Democrats to keep those rates from rising, and that in some cases they had actually been reduced for the last couple of years.

“That’s a big deal. Some of you were looking at up to 70 percent for your businesses. That’s way too much,” he said, adding that whether businesses survive or go under has a lot to do with those rates.

He called workers comp “the big challenge”

“Right now we’re able to keep the rates level. Oregon kept the worker’s comp rates level for 20 years. They did it in one simple process call compromise tax relief We actually started that in Washington State this last year on kind of a small scale and with limits to it. We know we are going to need about $1.2 billion more the next 10 years to build up the reserve fund, and L& I wants to do it by raising your rates. We know we can get that $1.2 billion by fully implementing this process,” Hurst said.

Challenger: Lisa Connors, Republican

Auburn School District voters twice elected Lisa Connors to the Auburn School District Board, first in 2007, again in 2009.

That the District has experienced the academic success it has in the teeth of continued financial cuts to education over the last five years, is a source of great pride for Connors.

But the state of Washington’s education cuts of recent years, which have so hamstrung and frustrated district staff and administrators, convinced her of something else — that she should be in the legislature, when and where lawmakers make those budget decisions.

Unfunded mandates and reduced funding every year make it “incredibly difficult,” Connors added, for staff and administrators to do the best they can for kids. She said she wants to serve as an education advocate for all kids in Washington State and to fight for some needed reforms.

Jobs and the economy and transportation top her list, too.

“To continue to focus on priorities and come out and do the best you can for kids is so essential to our economy,” Connors said.

Her background includes 25 years plus in small business, worked in banking and finance, construction, engineering and sales.

Small businesses being the backbone of the economy, Connors said, it’s essential to ease regulations and help businesses wherever possible.

“I understand a lot of the needs and problems you face as small business owners, and I’d really like to help,” Connors said.

“The reason I am running for the state is the same reason I ran in 2007 for the school board. It’s for my kids and for your kids. The state of Washington really needs to turn around for businesses. I really tie education and businesses together. I have three teenage boys. They’re not yet ready for the work force, and they need to be. We need to be providing career and technical education better than we are doing right now,” Connors said