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| Harold Hochstatter, Republican |
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| Candidate: Governor |
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| Harold Hochstatter |
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| Age: 62 |
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| Residence: Moses Lake |
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| Occupation: |
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Electrical contractor |
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| Education: |
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B.A. in general studies, Washington State University |
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| Political history: |
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State representative, 1990-1992; state senator, 1992-2000 |
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| Endorsements: |
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Human Life, Washington Property Rights Alliance, Washington State Rifle & Pistol Association |
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| Campaign Web site: http://www.haroldhochstatter.com |
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| Campaign theme: Take back Washington. |
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| 1. |
What is your position on the initiatives proposed on this year's November ballot? |
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I-713 - Animal trapping |
no |
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I-722 - Property taxes |
yes |
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I-728 - School district financing |
no |
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I-729 - Charter schools |
no |
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I-732 - Teacher raises |
no |
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I-745 - Transportation funding |
yes |
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| 2. |
Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has declared blanket primary elections like Washington's violate political parties' constitutional rights, what form of new primary election system would you propose adopting? |
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I favor the open primary, where the voter chooses the party ballot when he gets to the polls. |
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| 3. |
A judge struck down Initiative 695's provision that would have required a public vote for all tax and fee increases. Would you support a Constitutional amendment that would require the public vote? Why or why not? |
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I was one of the first legislators to support Initiative 695. However, like the founders of our country, I fear direct democracy. Washington requires a 60 percent supermajority for school levies. A simple majority may provide taxpayers with less protection rather than more. |
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| 4. |
Do you support allowing state services to be contracted out to private firms? Why or why not? |
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Monopoly is un-American. Government-guaranteed monopoly is worse. Competition provides the best service for the least cost. Ask yourself if you were a monopolist, would your price go down and your service improve? |
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| 5. |
A commission studying transportation funding says a new financing mechanism is needed to keep Washington transportation projects on track. How would you propose financing future transportation projects? |
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The commission is self-serving and wrong. The problem is buses and bureaucracy. Rail is no solution. Charleston, S.C., is developing high-speed elevated monorails that are flexible, incremental, leasable, and can be prefabbed. |
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| 6. |
With some states reconsidering the death penalty, what is your position and what changes, if any, do you think are needed in Washington's law? Under what circumstances would you support a moratorium? |
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Lawyers are destroying the people's justice. Justice has become slow, expensive and complicated. Justice delayed is justice denied. Go for a walk in the park tonight in a major city. Criminals are protected, you are not. |
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| 7. |
Do you think any innocent person has been executed in Washington? |
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Yes. Since the death penalty was reinstated we have only had three people put to death under the judicial system with its safeguards. In that time we paid to execute 85,400 innocent children. Last year we paid $5,407,374 to execute 9,715 children by abortion, all of them innocent. |
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| 8. |
What would you do to improve the economy in rural Washington? |
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Return to local land-use planning. Stop financing the salmon folly with electric rates. Require the Department of Ecology to do its job concerning water rights. Allow property-tax credit to families to finance nongovernment schools. |
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