Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Three candidates on primary ballot
MOSES LAKE — Two candidates-Eduardo Castaneda-Diaz (D) and John Malan (Classical Democrat)-are running to unseat three-time incumbent Tom Dent for state representative Pos. 1 in District 13. District 13 represents a mostly rural and agricultural area that includes portions of Lincoln, Kittitas, Yakima and Grant counties.
Ballots are expected to be mailed the week of July 17 for the primary election on August 4. The top two vote-getters from the primaries will advance to November’s general election.
Incumbent Dent focuses on aviation funding, rural fire protection program
Incumbent Tom Dent, 70, has served in state legislation in his current position since 2014. He’s currently seeking re-election in an attempt for what would be his fourth term in office.
Dent, a professional pilot, is focused on funding the aviation infrastructure in Washington. It’s a project he’s been working on for three years.
“We need to take a little better care of our airports,” Dent said.
Dent is also working on establishment of the Rural Fire Protection Association in Washington, which if formed would “set them up so you could have a group of ranchers in Davenport come together and form an association and then they would be eligible for surplus equipment,” he said.
“I’m also going to be working on a law enforcement prosecuting (project) about video surveillance that can be used if there’s a crime and there’s any kind of video surveillance,” Dent continued. “Law enforcement and prosecutors would have to review that within a short amount of time of when the crime happened so we don’t have people charged with a crime that are perhaps innocent.”
When discussing response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dent noted that mental health issues are on the rise, including attempted and successful suicides.
“We don’t want the cure to be worse than the disease,” Dent said.
Mental health issues are of importance to Dent and his campaign.
“We need to work on removing the stigma of mental health,” Dent said. “Anyone can have mental health issues, regardless of who you are. We need to remove that stigma … suicide awareness is something that really goes along with this, as well.”
Dent noted that agricultural people tend to have the highest suicide rates in the United States, according to a 2019 report from the Centers for Disease Control.
He added that there needs to be a balance of re-opening the economy while protecting those with underlying health conditions.
Dent is also looking to try and gain the state legislature a say in how the state re-opens. He noted that currently, legislature has no control in how their areas re-open and wants to see the state “ending the governor’s over-arching control.”
Castaneda-Diaz hopes to represent immigrant and working-class families
Born to parents who immigrated to California from Mexico, Eduardo Castaneda-Diaz, 27, spent most of his life in Quincy. Now, after joining the Army National Guard and becoming the first member of his family to earn a college degree, he’s running for office to represent immigrants and laborers in the agriculture industry.
“I want to make statewide change,” Castaneda-Diaz said. “I wanted to be an agent for change and particularly help undocumented students.”
“I want to make it known that undocumented people … are welcomed not only in our country, but in our state,” Castaneda-Diaz continued. “My opponent has voted against assisting undocumented students in our state by attempting to strip their in-state tuition status … I want to expand financial aid opportunities for undocumented students.”
Castaneda-Diaz said one of his biggest passions in life is protection for farm workers and wants to ensure that they are safely guarded against COVID-19. He expressed frustration with the practice of corporations trying to sell personal protective equipment (PPE) to farm workers instead of making PPE a free company provision.
“As a legislator, I would make these types of evil tactics to sell PPE to your own employees in the midst of the worst global pandemic our generation has seen,” Castaneda-Diaz said.
He added that he wants to see better and safer work conditions for these farm workers.
“I’m sick and tired of these agricultural industries taking advantage of workers,” he said.
“As a lawmaker I’d want to make it known that the well-being of these farm workers is a priority over the profit lines of the agriculture industry…it’s time for the little man to be represented in state government.”
Castaneda-Diaz supports Gov. Jay Inslee’s measures in response to the pandemic and said he would continue to support the governor’s endeavors if elected. He added that an eventual COVID-19 vaccine should be provided to citizens for free.
Education is also very important to Castaneda-Diaz, who supports a progressive income tax rate to fund schools.
“I want to invest in our schools as a legislator,” he said. “I want to promote an equitable tax base for our schools.”
Note: Malan-who is running under the nickname John “the man” Malan-classifies himself as a Classical Democrat. Malan did not return phone calls or emails to The Times. Malan ran for the same position in 2016 and was eliminated after the primaries.
Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.
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