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600 S 6th Street PO Box 878 Sunnyside, WA 98944
Phone: 509.837.4500 |
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| Chandler highlights Washington's trouble areas for GOP club |
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 | | Photo by Corey Russell/Daily Sun News | Washington State Representative Bruce Chandler speaks to members of the Sunnyside Republican Club Friday morning.
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By Corey Russell
Bruce Chandler thinks the government needs to be more accountable.
"Spending is out pacing our revenues," he told the Sunnyside Republican Club Friday morning at the Sunny Spot restaurant. He added the growth in the state's government will not be able to be sustained.
Chandler, who is the state representative for the 15th district, is running for re-election. He highlighted some trouble spots he sees for Washington state, the first being our pension system.
"We haven't been making our payments to the pension fund," he said. "We've been shorting the system to pay other current bills."
Chandler sees problems ahead for Washingtonians if the problem isn't fixed. He said he took a bill to the legislature last year that would have forced the government to catch up with its payments, but the Democrats weren't interested. He added that 60,000 public employees are expected to retire from now until 2014.
Chandler also mentioned the growing health care problem, calling it the most urgent problem facing small employers. Inflation is growing at 15 percent every two years for what the state pays for health care. "We need to let the insurance companies have more flexibility," he told the club. Chandler said the state needs to make sure patients make the decisions with their doctors, not a bureacrat in Olympia.
Washington's growing crime problem was also discussed at the morning meeting. Chandler said the problem faced in the mid-90s was gangs. That has now changed to meth. Citing the elimination of most of the drug labs in the state, he pointed out what is needed now is interception.
"Meth is the worst scourge I've seen in my life time," Chandler told the Republicans. He advocates strong, aggressive law enforcement. "It's important to intercept the flow of meth into Washington from out-of-state sources," he said. Chandler supports coordination between the different law enforcement agencies and said the state would probably have to build more prison space.
Chandler also thanked the Sunnyside Republicans for their help and support over the years, adding he needs their help again in his re-election bid. He also told the club a special part about being a state representative is being able to serve with Dan Newhouse and Jim Honeyford.
"Both Jim and Dan represent the very best in our form of government," he said.
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