State Rep. Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles, was appointed to the 59th House District seat in January after 10-year representative John Huffman was selected for a position in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

To keep the job, he’ll have to win his first election against Democratic challenger Darcy Long-Curtiss, a city councilor in The Dalles who said Huffman’s departure provided a perfect window for her to step in.

“I have been thinking for a while that John Huffman would move up, and it surprised me when he moved on, rather than running for state Senate,” she said. “I was just waiting for that opportunity.”

Both candidates promise to collaborate with lawmakers in Salem from both parties in order to assist the 59th District, which covers all of Jefferson and Wheeler counties, much of Wasco County (including The Dalles), and far-northern Deschutes County areas Sisters and Terrebonne.

In his brief tenure, Bonham said he’s already hosted multiple state representatives from the Portland area, including Democrat Rob Nosse, who visited Dufur this summer to witness the South Valley Fire.

“It meant the world to me that he would take a day off and visit,” Bonham said. “That means next time he says, ‘come check this thing out in Portland,’ I’ll be there. That’s the challenge, just raising awareness.”

Long-Curtiss said she’s worked for years to develop relationships with Willamette Valley legislators, and she won’t necessarily toe the Democratic Party line.

“We have a very diverse district, and I can see situations where it’s more of a collaborative effort (between left and right),” she said. “I might have a particular opinion, but if my district has a different opinion, I’m representing the district in Salem, not myself.”

Bonham said his No. 1 priority, if elected, is to bring more jobs to Central Oregon, possibly by reforming the state’s taxes for corporations.

“How does our tax structure in the state of Oregon attract investment in new manufacturing jobs, and new high-end wage jobs?” he said. “Right now, I don’t think businesses would look at Oregon and say, ‘I would rather open my plant here than Idaho or Texas.’”

Long-Curtiss’ main focus is on improving Oregon’s mental health system, she said.

“Both children’s mental health and adult mental health are treated separately, but I think they’re tied together,” she said. “I think mental health treatment early makes a difference in so many areas, both in homelessness and children with special needs and our veterans.”

Both candidates said they were in favor of local jurisdictions making their own decisions on marijuana regulation.

In regards to helping the Warm Springs Indian Reservation find jobs in the wake of Kah-Nee-Ta Resort & Spa’s recent closure, Bonham said Salem shouldn’t talk down to the Confederated Tribes.

“I do think the biggest key is to allow them to have a voice in how they want the state to have an involvement in their economic development,” he said. “I don’t think the state should dictate to them about economics.”

Long-Curtiss agreed, adding that working closely with local leadership for any part of the expansive district is the right move.

“District 59, we’re not the same everywhere,” she said. “I feel that as an elected official, I feel that I shouldn’t tell them what they need, or bring things they don’t want.”

Both candidates have also helped improve the quality of life in nearby rural communities.

Through sitting on the board of Q-Life, a multiagency group based in The Dalles, Long-Curtiss said she’s delivered high-speed internet to Maupin, an amenity that she says all rural communities should have access to.

“I’ve been going door-to-door, and as I’ve been meeting people, what I’ve been hearing is the (need for) affordable housing and also economic development, including access to rural net broadband that is affordable and actually high-speed,” she said.

In this year’s legislative short session, Bonham said he helped obtain funding for a new city hall and library in Maupin, added 10 call center jobs in Fossil and co-sponsored a bill that will accelerate Oregon’s forest management on federally-owned lands.

Bonham said managing forests to prevent more devastating fires was a must.

“These catastrophic wildfires need to end, and a lot of it is just our land management practices that we have control over,” he said.

When it comes to reforming Oregon’s troubled Public Employees Retirement System, Long-Curtiss admitted she’s “currently on the outside,” but said cutting retirement funds was not the solution.

“If we make major cuts to retirement, then I would expect to see the same cuts from private industry, because they wouldn’t feel the need to match that,” she said.

“We need to make it easy for the average person to save for retirement.”

Meanwhile, Bonham said future employees should be transitioned away from a defined benefit and towards a defined contribution, and that the system shouldn’t be “100 percent employer-payed.”

“At the end of the day, we have to put the money in the classrooms,” he said. “If you have 30 to 40 cents for kids going to PERS, you’re not getting the money where you need it to go.”

If elected, Bonham said he’ll speak for his constituents’ culture and way of life, which he says isn’t well-represented in Oregon’s state government.

Bonham said that he told outgoing representative Huffman right before accepting his appointment, “I don’t see a small business voice in Salem, a rural conservative voice … and I think there’s a big disconnect in Portland and rural Oregon. I’d love to be there to be that voice.”

Long-Curtiss promised to work well with both sides of the aisle to promote Central Oregon’s needs in Salem if called to office.

“I think that I am a good listener, and I will advocate vociferously for my constituents,” she said.

— Reporter: 541-617-7854;jhogan@bendbulletin.com