Thurston County Commissioner District 5 candidates talk business at chamber debate

One of Thurston County’s most contentious races, the Thurston County Commissioner District 5 race, is heating up after a candidate was eliminated in the August primary.

Incumbent Emily Clouse and challenger Nicolas Martinez-Dunning, also known as Nic Dunning, were the top two vote-getters in the Aug. 4 primary and will continue on to the Nov. 3 general election.

Dunning was the frontrunner in the primary, garnering 38.36% of the vote, representing 5,662 votes.

Clouse came in second with 34.68%, representing 5,119 votes.

North Thurston Public Schools Board member Michelle Gipson came in third with 25.22%, representing 3,722 votes.

The primary was decided solely by voters within the fifth district, which covers much of the Lacey area, stretching from Pattison Lake up to Johnson Point.

The general election, however, allows all Thurston County voters to weigh in.

The Thurston County Chamber of Commerce invited the two remaining candidates in the District 5 race to participate in a debate during its monthly forum on Wednesday, Sept. 9.

The debate was moderated by former Olympia mayor and current Chamber of Commerce Public Policy Division Director Doug Mah, and focused primarily on issues important to Thurston County’s business community.

The candidates were asked about their approach to address Thurston County’s homelessness crisis, their plans for creating more housing, their approach to the county’s budget, how they intend to build community trust in county government, and how they intend to improve Thurston County’s business climate.

Clouse leaned on her three years of experience on the Thurston County Board of Commissioners and her desire to keep the momentum of her current work going.

“I’m running for re-election because the county is in the middle of the most important work it’s done in a generation, and I want to keep that work moving,” Clouse said.

On homelessness, Clouse proposed exploring social housing models as a way to increase the supply of affordable housing for all income levels and move away from transitional housing, which can consolidate poverty into certain geographical areas and create problems for nearby businesses, she said.

“We really need to move away from that model and toward something that works for everybody,” Clouse added.

In all areas of her work as county commissioner, Clouse said she aims to prioritize meeting people where they are and including as many voices as possible in important policy conversations.

“We really need to build systems that actually bring the community together to share their voice with us. And we can’t just be asking the same people every time,” Clouse said.

Regarding community trust, Clouse said that transparency, especially regarding the budget, is a key part of building and maintaining that.

“That’s our main job is to manage the budget. So if we can’t do that well, then we’re not going to be building trust with the community,” Clouse said.

While she had reservations last year regarding the county’s budget process, even voting against adopting the budget in December due to concerns about transparency, she said the county has made positive changes to the process.

“Our budget conversations this year are happening in a much different way than last year,” she said.

Dunning, a business owner and former Lacey City Council member, opened Wednesday’s debate by stating he decided to run for office “strictly because of the incumbent.”

Of Clouse, he said, “I don’t think that that type of government and that type of style is what Thurston County needs.”

His answers to the debate questions reflected his motivation to run for office.

When asked about homelessness, he criticized Clouse’s role in the work the Regional Housing Council has done in the last three years, saying it has “been frankly kind of a disaster.” When asked about how he intends to build community trust, he criticized Clouse for the frequency in which she argues with her fellow commissioners during board meetings.

When asked about housing, he criticized county permitting fees and requirements, which he called “unfunded mandates” and said they were “disincentivizing actual building.”

When asked about his approach to the budget, he criticized Clouse and her seatmates for ongoing “financial mismanagement,” saying he intends to go line-by-line through the budget to cut waste.

Dunning’s plan is to go back to the 2019 budget and look closely at spending increases to see if they fill their intended purpose.

“If they are, good. Maybe we even need to do more about it. But we actually need to start spending money responsibly first,” he said.

When asked about how he intends to improve the local business climate, he brought up Clouse’s affiliation with the Democratic Socialists of America and, pointing to Seattle, which has a Democratic Socialist mayor, said, “You think businesses want to go to Seattle right now?”

He additionally referenced current Commissioner Carolina Mejia’s bid for the state legislature and said whoever is elected to the District 5 seat will have a role in appointing someone to her seat if she wins.

Dunning implied that Clouse would seek to appoint a fellow Democratic Socialist to the seat if she is re-elected.

“Do you think, be honest with yourself, that Thurston County is going to be a better place when the county commission is run by Democratic Socialists?” Dunning asked

Clouse later asked Dunning, “Why are you so afraid of Democratic Socialism?” to which he replied, “I’m not afraid of Democratic Socialism at all. I’ve just never seen it work, and I find that to be really, really interesting that we push it.”

He added that he felt Democratic Socialists in general were dishonest because they focused on what’s “popular” with the public at a given point in time.

“You can’t go back and forth. People see through it, and I call it out,” Dunning said.

Dunning, a self-proclaimed “moderate Democrat,” leaned on his experience as an “award-winning small business owner” and his economics degree, which he said will translate well to county government.

Ballots for the Nov. 3 election will be mailed to most voters on Oct. 2. For more information on candidates, ballot measures, voter registration and registration deadlines, visit https://www.thurstoncountywa.gov/departments/auditor/elections/November-3-General-Election.