State Senate, House candidates appear at forum

Apr. 20—In a potential preview of the November election, candidates for the state Senate and House went behind the microphones Tuesday night at a candidates' forum in Astoria.

Betsy Johnson's decision to launch an independent campaign for governor created an open seat in state Senate District 16 and a domino effect in state House District 32.

State Rep. Suzanne Weber, a Tillamook Republican, and Melissa Busch, a home health nurse from Warren and a Democrat, are seeking to replace Johnson. They are running unopposed in the May primaries.

Weber's run for Senate left an open seat in House District 32, which covers the North Coast. Cyrus Javadi, a dentist from Tillamook, and Glenn Gaither, a retired corrections officer in Seaside, are competing in the Republican primary. Logan Laity, a community organizer and small-business owner in Tillamook, is unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Weber, Busch, Javadi and Laity appeared at the forum Tuesday at Clatsop Community College organized by the American Association of University Women Astoria Branch.

The questions from Chris Breitmeyer, the college president, who moderated the forum, touched on a range of topics, including housing, fishing regulations, abortion and climate change.

When asked to address one issue between mental illness, drug addiction, homelessness and poverty, each candidate took different approaches in their answers.

Laity focused on homelessness, calling it a "humanitarian crisis" and saying he would funnel money to nonprofits that work on the issue.

Javadi eyed tackling drug addiction, a problem which he partially attributed to the fallout from the 2020 vote on Measure 110, which decriminalized the possession of small amounts of drugs and sought to channel money to addiction treatment.

"If we deal with homelessness, if we deal with mental illness, if we deal with poverty, we're dealing with the outcomes rather than the source ... I think if we fix our drug addiction problem, we're going to see a huge reduction in all those other areas," he said.

Weber, a former mayor of Tillamook, pointed to addressing homelessness, similarly noting that solving one challenge could improve the others.

Busch did not identify one issue, but instead suggested investment in comprehensive health care that would take on all four.

"These are all intertwined issues. I think if we are looking (at) them in separate silos then we will not solve the problem," she said. "We need ... (to) address them simultaneously so that we can actually get real solutions that are sustainable, not just for an immediate Band-Aid, but a long-term solution."

As communities across the North Coast struggle with the lack of housing options, Javadi said tackling the problem should start with the adjustment of outdated land use laws.

Laity pointed to several potential solutions.

"We're losing our workers, and as your next state legislator, I will work to rework our zoning codes to allow for multifamily housing, expand down payment assistance and make zoning more efficient by providing incentives to our local planning departments to make permitting more efficient and effective," he said.

Weber and Javadi frequently pointed to government regulations as obstacles, citing what they see as the need for local control in areas like logging, fishing and schools.

"Local control is important. I think this was pointed out to us very poignantly during the pandemic because children were at home and parents finally saw what children were learning and they weren't happy," said Weber, a former elementary school teacher.

Busch said the conversation around education has become too politicized. Her concern is not with government overreach, she said, but with a lack of funding.

With the U.S. Supreme Court about to weigh in again on Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling on abortion, abortion rights could be an issue in the November election. Busch and Laity indicated their strong support for abortion rights. Weber described herself as "pro-choice from conception to natural death," while Javadi described himself as "pro-life."