Five candidates for King County Executive gathered Wednesday morning at the Woodmark Hotel in Kirkland for one final forum before the Aug. 18 primary.

County Councilmembers Dow Constantine and Larry Phillips, state Rep. Ross Hunter of Medina, former news anchor Susan Hutchison and Sen. Fred Jarrett of Mercer Island answered questions from an audience of about 30 business owners and various elected officials at the breakfast forum, which was co-sponsored by Greater Redmond and Kirkland chambers of commerce.

Humor was more prevalent than contentious words during the event, as each candidate had just one minute to answer the same complex questions.

“Anyone who can explain how to solve this problem in a minute, you should vote for them,” joked Jarrett about a general question on King County’s budget.

The one-minute time limit for answers, along with no direct questions for individual candidates made for very little debate. Budgetary issues, transportation, public health and land use were the primary topics.

The forum began with a question about how the candidates management styles differ from former King County Executive Ron Sims.

Phillips said that Sims was a visionary but that “King County needs a new day.”

Hunter said that he differs from Sims on the actual functioning of the system.

“The system we have today with the King County government doesn’t work very well and needs a lot of attention,” Hunter said. “That is a place where I am willing to take on entrenched interests and resolve problems.”

Hutchison said she is different type of leader than Sims.

“The differences between Ron Sims and me are substantial,” she said. “He was political and I think he had thin skin. I have thick skin. I don’t hold grudges.”

On the issue of King County’s continued budget crisis, Phillips touted his efforts to reduce the $5 billion budget by $93 million.

“I know how to go line-by-line through a budget and make cuts,” Phillips said.

Hunter took issue with the cuts that were made by the county.

“We have to look at the priorities that we have,” said Hunter. “Should we have done the level of cuts in human services in the worst economic downturn in 80 years, while at the same time giving raises some to employees? I just don’t think that is the right direction.”

Constantine pointed out that the county should continue to support annexations such as the one being considered by various cities such as Kirkland.

“Strong performance-based governance is what we need to be able to deliver real value over time,” said Constantine.

Hutchison had a different perspective on the budget: “The budget is all about leadership … I urged a hiring freeze months ago and the interim King County Executive finally implemented that freeze. The question is, ‘What has taken so long?'”

All the candidates put the highest priority on transportation when it came to infrastructure.

“We have to get the west end issue settled,” said Constantine, referring to the Seattle side of the replacement of the 520 bridge.

He also included flood prevention as the second biggest infrastructure improvement.

“We have to put in place measures to fix our levees,” Constantine said.

A question about the candidates’ environmental philosophy sparked differing answers from the panel.

Phillips touted his participation in 165 acres of land that has been preserved, Constantine said that he introduced the first climate change legislation, while Hutchison called into question carbon emission reductions projects that, “while a good idea, should not be a burden on home owners or builders.”

Hunter said that one of the ways to reduce carbon emissions is to work to have people live closer to their jobs.

“We need to rethink our environmental regulation,” said Jarrett. “We are doing things I think were appropriate 30 or 50 years ago.”

Jarrett cited the committee he was on that produced the Puget Sound Partnership legislation and said that they started with the science and made judgements about what is working and what is not.

“We need to start monitoring the condition of [Puget Sound] on all of those metrics,” said Jarrett.

When asked what the top three services the county should provide, all the candidates said that public safety is No. 1.

Phillips said that incentives should be given to land owners not just laws and zoning, while Hutchison told a story of a man that had the county come put willow trees next to a stream on his property against his wishes, only to have beavers use the trees to build damns. The reaction from Jarrett got the biggest laugh of the event: “I guess beavers are more effective than the county in solving some problems.”

The problem of inequity with taxes versus bus use was the topic of the final question.

When asked about the level of taxes that the Eastside pays for transit compared to use and other cities, Jarrett said that King County needs to focus on “what works.”

“We want to reward cities for making decisions to permit development that is consistent with improved transit development,” said Jarrett. “We want to be able to give a signal to the private sector that these are places where they can develop because concurrency has already been met. We are already doing this in Bellevue.”

Hunter added that “We have to be smarter how we allocate our routes in suburbs. But you need five votes on the (King County Council) so the decision is political. But that is good because you don’t want all the resources in just one city.”