We put the same questions to all four candidates in the race to replace Kathleen Kler as the Jefferson County District 3 Commissioner.  You can read the answers from Craig Durgan and Jon Cooke by clicking on their names.  Friday we will publish answers from Greg Brotherton.  Now it is Ryan McAllister’s turn.

Ryan is running as a Democrat.  As I have previously disclosed, long before I started the Free Press, when Ryan was the only candidate in race, I gave him my support.  We met during the campaign to stop Prop 1, a regressive property tax increase  in the name of “affordable housing.”  But it would have made housing less affordable with no real prospect of doing anything about the county’s housing crunch.  He stuck his neck out for the working poor and low-income homeowners in the county and incurred the wrath of the PT political establishment behind that very bad idea imported from Seattle. He judged the issue correctly.  District 3 voters saw it for what it was.  Quilcene voted “no” by an 8 to 1 margin, with  Brinnon and Port Ludlow not far behind.  District 2 crushed it.  Even Port Townsend voted it down.  Prop 1 lost in all but 2 precincts throughout the county.

1.  What do you see as the most critical need facing District 3 and what specifically will you do to address that need?

As stated above I seek to streamline the Department of Community Development permitting process. The task force that I will create will be made up of professionals in the industry such as contractors, septic designers, developers, and other stakeholders. The goal of this task force will be to find SPECIFIC areas where the county can make changes to better and more effectively serve the community.