In Our View: Jim Jacks in 49th District

Just because the 49th Legislative District (south Hazel Dell and Vancouver west of Interstate 205) is predominantly Democratic, and even though outgoing 49th District state Rep. Bill Fromhold is a Democrat, Fromhold’s replacement should not automatically be a Democrat.

Republican Don Carlson represented the 49th District for 12 years until 2005, serving the district well and repeatedly winning The Columbian’s support.
But in the race for the state representative’s seat that Fromhold is giving up, Democrat Jim Jacks is by far the best suited for the job.

Jacks is superior in civic experience, intellect, knowledge of the issues and the players, ability to express himself clearly and succinctly, and has sensible positions on the issues. Voters in the 49th can rest assured that in Jacks they will have a state representative who will hit the ground running and who shows the potential to become a force in Olympia.

Ballots for the Aug. 19 primary go in the mail Wednesday. Two of the three candidates in this race will advance to the Nov. 4 general election.

One of the two Republicans on the primary ballot is John Nyberg. He has been virtually invisible and simply has not campaigned. Nyberg has no campaign literature, and he cannot be reached by e-mail because, he told us, he has no computer.

The other Republican, Debbie Peterson, teaches in a private school and has worked as a financial specialist for the Vancouver Housing Authority. She is passionate about her causes, but she lacks the breadth and the ability to clearly and concisely discuss an issue, jeopardizing her effectiveness in the Olympia cauldron.

Moreover, many of Peterson’s views struck us as unrealistic. For example, she opposes construction of a new Interstate 5 bridge over The Columbia River. Instead, she prefers that a new third bridge be built downstream that would also replace the existing railroad bridge. But when asked how such a third bridge would connect to Interstate 5, she said a new highway should be built from that new bridge all the way to Longview, separate from Interstate 5.

Until recently, Jacks (www.jimjacks.com) was the Southwest Washington representative for Gov. Chris Gregoire. Before that, he was the citizen advocate for the city of Vancouver. In those jobs he has become familiar with local and state issues and has worked with lawmakers and local government as well as education, civic and business leaders and groups.

Jacks doesn’t have the private-sector experience that Fromhold brought to the job, but he is a quick learner, and since leaving the job as Gov. Gregoire’s representative, has worked in business development for the MacKay & Sposito engineering, surveying and planning firm.

Jacks correctly believes that a new Interstate 5 bridge is necessary and should have a light rail connection, and he discusses the subject with knowledge. He notes, for example, that much of the congestion and safety problems are owing to the entrances near the bridge on either side of the river and that leaving the old spans in place won’t fix that.

Jacks is the best of the three candidates and also has the most promise to improv