There was no shortage of sparring between Kirkland’s contingent of Democratic state representative and their Republican challengers at the Woodmark Hotel Oct. 13 for a candidates forum, hosted by the Rotary Club of Kirkland.

The panel gave members a chance to review the candidates running for seats in the House of Representatives in the State Legislature. Fighting for the chance to represent residents of Kirkland and other neighboring communities in the 45th and 48th Districts, all eight candidates debated the merits of Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire’s spending priorities, transportation, taxes and the Route 520 bridge.

Registering guests and club members for the event, Kirkland Rotary members Steve Brown and Barbara Seaton said the event gave members an up-close look at how the elected officials planned to better the community.

“We’re a service club,” Brown said. “We exist to do good things for the community and that help us make better decisions.”

For all four races in the two districts, incumbent and challenger were seated next to each other. The candidates attending were 45th District Rep. Roger Goodman, D-Kirkland and his challenger, former Rep. Toby Nixon, R-Kirkland; 45th District Rep. Larry Springer, D-Kirkland and his challenger, Kevin Haistings, Republican; 48th District Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Bellevue and his challenger, Charlie Lapp, Republican; and 48th District Rep. Deb Eddy, D-Kirkland and her challenger, Ron Fuller, Republican.

All the candidates introduced themselves with brief statements, followed by a question and answer period from the audience of about 50 people. The forum was moderated by Rotary program chair Patti Smith.

In his opening remarks, Nixon took the opportunity to attack his opponent, Rep. Goodman, over an alleged statement the democrat made in support of a state income tax.

“We need a government that is transparent and accountable to the people,” Nixon said.

Goodman denied it.

“In the current budget environment I do not favor any tax increases,” Goodman said. “No tax increases.”

Rep. Eddy echoed Goodman, saying her constituents were opposed to any increase in taxes and she was listening.

“My incumbent colleagues have described the situation quite accurately,” she said. “It is the third rail of politics … But if you want a progressive tax system, that’s not what we’ve got.”

Her challenger, Ronald Fuller, urged a lowering of the business and occupation tax, saying the state led the nation in the number of failed businesses.

“We should change it to encourage entrepreneurs,” he said.

Haistings, a 47-year-old police sergeant in Seattle and resident of Carnation, took the opportunity to press his biography as an young outsider who would bring fiscal responsibility to Olympia.

“Quite frankly I’ve got a lot of years left to work,” he said with a chuckle. “My youngest one announced he wants to be a surgeon, so it’s going to be at least several more years before I can retire.”

On the issue of spending, most of the candidates generally favored a careful examination of spending priorities and cutting waste and various programs. Republican challengers hewed closely to a philosophy of eliminating “waste and bureaucracy” and managing the state’s continued income growth. Lapp took direct aim at the increased number of government employees and criticized the recent teacher’s strike in Bellevue, citing their average salary at $60,000 per year.

“We should give people a market wage,” he said. “There are 2,500 (teachers) applying for 60 jobs … I think that’s a buyers market. If we’re going to pay that we should make sure we’re getting very good quality for it.”

On the other hand, the incumbents tended to defend Gov. Gregoire and all identified education spending as a top priority. They characterized other state spending growth — such as the recently-shelved Paid Family Leave program — as important but too expensive when facing a potential $3.2 billion deficit for the next biennial budget.

“It happens with a cyclical revenue stream that cycles every six to eight years,” Hunter said. “The typical response is to slow down wage increases. My guess is that we’re going to do that this year.”

An interesting exchange focused on the candidates views over transportation funding and the 520 bridge, when the number of either six or eight planned lanes was discussed. Presently, a replacement bridge is planned for six lanes and scheduled to be opened by 2016, which drew criticism from all the challengers as short-sighted.

Nixon cited the need for a dedicated lane for Montlake’s heavy traffic and indirectly criticized Rep. Springer, saying the lack of alternatives was an example of failed leadership. Springer is Majority leader in the State House of Representatives.

Lapp asked for a show of hands from the audience for how many lanes they thought the bridge should have.

All but one member in the audience supported eight lanes. Rep. Springer, who earlier criticized a question over whether buses or highways should have a higher priority, said he had been working on the 520 bridge replacement for nearly 12 years and he said he was happy with the agreement that was reached.

“I can not begin to tell you how difficult consensus building was in a room of 47 people,” he said. “You can say eight lanes in the future is not an option … But the exact negotiated settlement was for a wide enough right-of-way on either end of the bridge is to accommodate (eight) lanes — and we all know they’re coming.”