In the Sept. 14 Republican primary race for Island County commissioner, voters in south Whidbey Island will get to choose between a 12-year incumbent and a former head of the local Libertarian Party.
Mike Shelton, of Langley, is seeking his fourth term as commissioner. He said the county’s budget and growth management plans are solid and should not need major revisions.
Reece Rose of Clinton is challenging Shelton, particularly on the budget. An advocate of smaller government, she criticized past property tax increases and said spending should have been cut instead.
The winner will face Dean Enell, a Democrat who is running unopposed in the primary.
Rose said she is the better candidate for a tight economy.
“I think that Shelton, my opponent, was a good manager during times of increasing resources,” Rose said. “But now that it’s time to do some budget cutting, I think he has a problem.”
Shelton countered that 50,000 worker hours have been cut out of the county’s current expense fund since 2000.
“Local government is statutorily required to do certain things,” Shelton said. “We are doing very few frills. I’m here to tell you, it’s already been cut. To cut more extensively is not a workable thing.”
Shelton questioned Rose’s sudden conversion from the Libertarian Party to the Republican Party.
“My belief is that the responsibility of any elected official is to take money that the taxpayers give and spend it wisely,” Shelton said. “It certainly in my mind doesn’t mean that government should cease to exist. I sometimes get the impression from listening to the Libertarian candidates that that’s exactly what they believe.”
Rose said she resigned in February after six years as head of Island County’s Libertarian Party. But she always retained her membership in the South Whidbey Republican Women, she said.
“The reason I went to the Libertarian Party was because they seemed to actually believe in small government and limited taxes, and I wasn’t seeing that, certainly at the local level,” Rose said.
To achieve that goal, Rose advocates setting budget priorities instead of simply cutting spending equally across all departments. She also wants more consistent and fair land-use regulations. She pledged to serve no more than two terms.
Shelton said his many years of experience would come in handy as the county updates its growth management plan next year.
The biggest issue for that update will be state government guidelines suggesting stricter environmental restrictions on development, he said.
“I believe the science has not changed a lot to require major updates to that plan,” he said.
Reporter Scott Morris: 425-339-3292 or smorris@heraldnet.com.
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