Tax Realty Consultant

First will come a trip to the Cowlitz County Administrative Building in Kelso, where, beginning at 9:30 a.m., each of three finalists will be grilled by six county commissioners, three each from Clark and Cowlitz counties.

Then, the wait, while the commissioners deliberate behind closed doors.

Then, the vote, followed by a formal swearing-in of the winner by the Cowlitz County auditor.

Then, a fast drive to Olympia, where the new legislator will be introduced on the House floor and, barring a challenge, be seated among 97 fellow representatives and allowed to vote on two momentous measures in the first special session of the Legislature since 2001.

“It’s our assumption that that is exactly what will happen,” said Allen Hayward, senior legislative counsel for the House Republican Caucus. It’s doable, he insisted: “We do not anticipate taking votes in the House of Representatives before 1 p.m.”

GOP precinct officers from the two counties met Nov. 18 and narrowed the field of 11 candidates to three. In order of preference, they are Jaime Herrera of Ridgefield, a congressional aide to U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Colville; Scott Higgins of Camas, a member of the Camas City Council; and Ann Rivers, a La Center political consultant.

All three have spent the past week promoting their candidacies to an electorate of six.

Cowlitz County commissioners decided not to hold meetings with individual candidates in advance of the Nov. 29 session.

“We have been getting calls from all over the state,” said Cowlitz County Commission Chairwoman Kathleen A. Johnson. “There are obviously political pundits who would like to see one candidate selected over another. We have asked them to give us the opportunity to interview the candidates. We would like to have our opinions unsullied.”

Clark County commissioners have taken a different approach.

“I’ve heard from all of them,” said Commission Chairman Steve Stuart. “We have received written materials from each one of the candidates and phone calls from their supporters. For them, this is a series of campaigns.”

Stuart said that when he was nominated to fill a vacancy on the county commission, he found it valuable to meet with the two incumbents to learn more about the job.

“So I have had those conversations with Jaime Herrera and Scott Higgins already,” he said.

Johnson, a first-term commissioner, is a veteran of two legislative appointment processes in the 19th District already. The 18th District is “a little difficult for Cowlitz County,” she said, because it’s dominated by Clark County candidates who don’t necessarily understand the problems facing the county to the north, including inadequate rail capacity and methamphetamine trafficking through the county’s ports.

“We don’t know these people,” Johnson said. “They’ve never checked in with us as a government.”

Stuart estimated that each candidate would be questioned for about an hour. Johnson said sessions of 15 to 20 minutes are more likely. Candidates who have not yet been questioned will be sequestered during interviews.

“Then we will most likely go into executive session to make initial deliberations,” Stuart said. “We will come out and each commissioner will have an opportunity to give his or her reason for support.”

Though five of the six commissioners who will pick the new Republican House member are Democrats, Stuart and Clark County Commissioner Marc Boldt, the lone Republican, agreed that picking the best legislator will be everyone’s goal.

“We’ve been given three great candidates by the Republican precinct committee officers,” Stuart said. “Not only will we start by respecting their process, but we will choose one from these three good candidates based on who would best represent the district.”

Following the vote and the swearing-in, the new legislator will proceed to Olympia with a transmittal letter from the county commissioners and upon arrival be seated in the House chamber.

On the one-day session’s agenda are restoring the 1 percent limit on property tax increases recently overturned by the Washington Supreme Court and expanding a property tax deferral program to make it available to middle-income households.

“I’m hoping it works out fine,” Hayward said.? Governor defends Thursday’s special session on 1 percent property tax cap.

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