My Town Crier

I put some final touches on my town crier column and got it sent off today to the Daily News. I went to the rec center and got my work out taken care of as well.

My town crier this time around is about electing Finch.

With the election season upon us, political advertisements are everywhere.

I have seen very few that explain to me why I should vote for a certain candidate. Instead I usually see advertisements about why we should vote against the candidate’s opponent. This kind of negative campaigning does turn people off.

My best friend was over Sunday night. He is a staunch Democrat. He told me he is considering voting for the “other person” for governor. I am not holding out hope that he is finally seeing the light. He said the ads on TV seem to all be negative toward Rossi and that has made him want to cross over.

I have never been a fan of negative campaigning. We should really question whether he should be our leader if someone is not a strong enough candidate to win on his own merits. It is in this light that I have chosen to use my column to state why I am going to vote for Jerry Finch for Whitman County commissioner.

In the decade since Initiative 695 was passed we have seen the city of Pullman and Whitman County adjust to different tax incomes. Finch was not in office when this happened, but as a county commissioner he has had to deal with it.

Whitman County, like all governments, gets its money from the people in the form of taxes. In order to get more taxes we must have a larger base to tax from or we need to raise taxes. As a conservative he doesn’t want to raise taxes. In order to make ends meet Finch has used good fiscal management to prioritize the needs of Whitman County to make sure they are funded.

Seeing a need to fix our public safety systems he worked to get a voter-approved sales tax increase to fund our emergency dispatch center, Whitcom, as well as to bring sorely needed funding to the Whitman County Jail.

Finch understands that county employees are not paid as well as their counterparts in other counties. In order to retain good employees they need to make enough money to live. Finch knows by expanding the tax base we can obtain the needed funding to not only help pay the county employees a wage closer to their counterparts, but that same expanded funding also will help to maintain and improve the infrastructure around the county.

Finch has worked hard to make the corridor development a reality. By using the corridor we will help to stop the sales tax leakage from Whitman County. This keeps dollars here and it also expands the tax base. Finch has stuck with the issue of the Hawkins development near Moscow. Even with years of appeals, Hawkins is still a future source of taxes and growth for Whitman County.

Finch is outspoken on issues and there is no question where he stands. He has been a strong supporter of the Pullman Walmart. He knows it will be a benefit to Whitman County to get Walmart here. Finch owned an independent grocery store in Pullman for 35 years. His support of Walmart demonstrates that it will not cause the havoc that we have been told about for the last four years.

Finch cares about Whitman County and wants it to be in better shape than when he found it. His work so far shows that he has been progressing in making that desire to become a reality. Finch has been a go-getter while in office. With our support he can continue this work and make Whitman County a better county.

It is for these reasons that we need to retain Jerry Finch as a Whitman County Commissioner and keep the county moving in the right direction.

Finally, more than nine months into our countdown it is going strong, and we are at T-77.