SEQUIM — The federal government should take a second look at tearing down the Elwha and Glines Canyon dams, two Republican candidates for Democratic U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks’ seat said Monday night.
Doug Cloud and Jesse Young, both of Gig Harbor and both of whom grew up in Tacoma, addressed a packed meeting sponsored by Clallam County Concerned Citizens, or FourC, at the Sequim Boys & Girls Club gym.
The 6th District position now held by Dicks, a 33-year incumbent from Belfair, covers Clallam, Jefferson, Grays Harbor, Mason and Kitsap counties and part of Tacoma in Pierce County.
The filing period for the position ends June 11.
The top two candidates in the Aug. 17 primary regardless of party affiliation will advance to the Nov. 2 general election.
Dicks was not invited to the forum.
Cloud, a lawyer, and Young, a software engineer who holds a part-time technical assistance contract with Russell Investments of Tacoma, gave brief presentations before those in attendance asked questions.
‘Elwha fiasco’
“If you proceed to Congress in January next year, will you move to cancel all expenditures on the Elwha fiasco?” asked the first questioner, who did not give his name.
Young said he “absolutely” he would move to cancel expenditures.
“We’ll find some way to pigeon-hole some funding,” Young said.
“We’ll do something. It’s ridiculous. It’s not scientifically based,” he said of reasons behind tearing down the dams, which fisheries biologists said will restore the Elwha River’s legendary salmon run.
Cloud, who unsuccessfully ran against Dicks in 2006 and 2008 — losing 62 percent to 38 percent the last go-round — distanced himself from Young but still would take a new look at the river restoration project, he said.
“I would support efforts to reopen the issue. That would be appropriate, to see what the science is right now,” Cloud said.
“I would be a little less precipitous on that, but I would support a revisit on that issue.”
Canceling the project would require Congress to overturn its own legislation.
The estimated $350 million project to tear down the dams was mandated by the 1992 federal Elwha Act. Construction is scheduled to begin in late 2011 and finish by late 2014.
One water treatment plant to filter sediment for the city of Port Angeles water supply was dedicated April 2, while another to treat sediment at the Lower Elwha Klallam fish hatchery is under construction — at a combined cost of $106.6 million.
Against seniority
During his presentation, Young, a 33-year-old father of five, said Dicks’ 33 years in Congress “is just too long” and vowed to strip House members of their seniority after three terms.
Young said he fought to succeed as the son of a single mother, grew up on the mean streets of Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood, where he “was the minority in that demographic,” and graduated valedictorian of Woodrow Wilson High School before going on to college at Notre Dame and a successful career as a software engineer.
“What we need is fresh ideas, fresh experience,” Young said, touting his business experience, adding that business principles should be applied to running the government and the federal government needs to stop overspending.
Stop overspending
“Is it OK to spend more than you make? Every one of you know it’s wrong. If we keep spending more than we make, everyone knows that’s going to be a really bad thing for us,” Young said.
“At the end of the day, it’s about getting rid of the lobbyists, lawyers and career politicians and getting rid of someone who’s been there so long.”
Cloud, a 1975 graduate of Fife High School in Tacoma, criticized the federal government for imposing mandates for water rights in Clallam and Jefferson counties and shoreline regulations in Jefferson County.
“It’s the direct result of the federal government doing a top-down solution,” he said.
Cloud, a lawyer, criticized the current U.S. Supreme Court, six of whom were nominated by Republican presidents and three by Democratic presidents.
“The Constitution is being completely overrun by a Supreme Court that does not recognize any limits on federal power,” Cloud said, adding the present court “really doesn’t care about the Constitution.”
If elected, he said, he would audit the Federal Reserve, a proposal that drew applause and cut taxes “everywhere we can.”
“We have to cut taxes, period,” he added. “We have to cut them everywhere, everywhere we can.”
Cloud added he would work to repeal the recently passed $940 billion Health Care Reform Act.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.