County commissioner faces two primary challengers

Mason County Commissioner Sharon Trask, a Republican, faces a challenge from fellow Republican Mark Carlson and Democrat Miguel Gutierrez, a first-term member of the Shelton City Council, in the Aug. 2 primary election.

The top two vote getters advance to the Nov. 8 regular election in a bid for a four-year term representing Commissioner District 3. The ballots will be mailed July 12.

The three candidates answered five questions sent by the Shelton-Mason County Journal.

Sharon Trask

What are the biggest challenges facing Mason County?

One of the biggest challenges facing Mason County is economic growth. We can be more inviting to businesses to include multifamily housing. We have growth coming to all areas of Mason County and we need to make sure we can meet their needs. We are also going to face growing pains. Those will include all areas of our first responders. The county is working to meet those needs by supporting our law enforcement with the tools that help them.

What would you try to do to improve the lives of Mason County residents?

Mental health is a priority of the county. I am part of a Homelessness Task Force working with the city, nonprofits and business owners. Together we are working on legislation to help with mental health and other issues. I am also a member of the Washington Association of Counties Legislative Steering Committee, where we focus on issues that affect all counties. This committee has been instrumental in halting bad legislation and helping good legislation move forward. I will continue to work hard for this county.

Name a public figure, past or present, you admire, and why.

One of my favorites is Abraham Lincoln. President Lincoln was able to bring people together by appealing to them. He was a working president during some very trying times. He was able to restore the Union.

What sets you apart from the other two candidates?

I am the incumbent and truly believe that my knowledge, skills and passion for Mason County sets me apart. I am able to work with everyone to accomplish many things for Mason County. The relationship with the city has grown stronger since my election and I know it will continue to grow. The county is stronger and has been shown to be a role model for other counties. I am in relationships with people at the state level and am able to use those to help our citizens. I know Mason County will continue to move forward with my leadership.

What does Mason County need the most?

I feel Mason County needs a leader who can work with others and is willing to put in the time to do that. Mason County is growing and I understand what a county leader can and should do. I have the passion and the desire to help Mason County as a whole.

Miguel Gutierrez

What are the biggest challenges facing Mason County?

The biggest challenges facing Mason County are all related to our crisis of truth.

We have a crisis of facts regarding the state of our environment, our finances and our democracy. We have internet trolls who pass misinformation and stir up anger, resentment, and focus on bad solutions based on bad information.

For example, we are seeing once-in-a-lifetime or once-in-a-century natural disasters. 100-year heat waves, 100-year fires, 100-year floods, 100-year cold snaps. The water is heating up, fish are dying. The air is full of particulates and the winters are colder. Water quality is in danger from human activities, including illegal dumping and resistance to forward-looking solutions. The climate has changed. Past tense. Yet, there are still those who would deny it.

Moreover, income inequality is the highest it has ever been since the Great Depression. Daddy Warbucks and corporations are experiencing the highest profits and pay their top executives hundreds of times more than the average employee while using the profits for stock buybacks or technological investments instead of paying employees what they are worth. It's a hard knock life for 99% of us, but it's a party for the 1%. Housing is unaffordable at all levels and worse yet, the continued growth of houseless individuals creates a cycle of mental health disorders, depression, self-medication, and anger.

Finally, the voices of the majority of people are not being heard. A small group of wealthy out-of-touch people are making terrible decisions for the majority of the American people. Worse yet, a coup was instigated by a group of false patriots who had no qualms in stabbing police with flagpoles. Our democracy and everything we hold dear as Americans is in jeopardy. Women can no longer make choices for their own bodies and well-being. Children are being bullied at schools for being different and children are being shot at school because some love high-capacity magazines more than children.

What would you try to do to improve the lives of Mason County residents?

I promise that I will engage in fact-finding and face the truth, however uncomfortable and inconvenient the truth may be. I promise that I will learn from the mistakes of the past. I promise that I will organize and merge the best ideas and best practices. I promise that I will connect good ideas with these best practices and find funding for them with all my heart and all my enthusiasm. I want to emphasize that we are connected to each other to such an extent that even NON-action affects outcomes. We cannot simply stand by and watch.  We need to engage with each other, listen to each other, and challenge each other to be better. We cannot continue to consume mass quantities without identifying how to be caretakers of ourselves and our posterity.

Name a public figure, past or present, you admire, and why.

Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez, Oscar Romero, Corazon Aquino, and Bernard Sanders made my list of admiration last year. This year, I want to add Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.  Comedians (fools of the court) have become powerful storytellers in our age when the truth hurts so much it has to be delivered with humor.  

I have to add Katie Porter and Stacey Abrams to my list of admiration. They are smart, organized, determined, and they ask hard questions while providing common sense solutions.

What sets you apart from the other two candidates?

I can offer "TABULA RASA."  What I mean by tabula rasa is a clean slate to reinvent ourselves. I offer a chance to look at our issues with a fresh perspective. I am not bound to any legacy attachments nor any nostalgic notions of the old ways. I offer 21st-century solutions for 21st-century problems. Additionally, I strive to view the world from the angle of asset building and not asset deficiency. I will recognize our current assets and will endeavor to leverage and make use of them.  

What does Mason County need the most?

Mason County needs a hard-working and honest politician. Mason County needs a leader who sees himself as a caretaker and not a consumer. Mason County needs a leader who is willing to seek truth, speak truth, and live truth.  My name is Miguel Gutierrez, and I will find these facts, speak up about those facts, and live my life as an example of those facts.

Mark Carlson

What are the biggest challenges facing Mason County?

First, I feel that with a recession in our horizon that the amount of needless debt that we have recently incurred is going to be our biggest albatross. We are going to have to deal with this in a time when we are most likely going to experience a reduced revenue flow. Second, I think that without new construction we will fall extremely short of affordable and low-income housing. We need to create incentives for builders and investors to start developing all over our county. We must also do things to help develop all areas within the GMA in our county that will give us an opportunity to rapidly retrieve our investment so that we can continue to grow. Third, unfortunately we also share with most counties crime, illegal drugs, homelessness and mental health issues.

What would you try to do to improve the lives of Mason County residents?

One of my goals is to get the citizens involved with issues facing their county by re-establishing town-halls and workshops and forming committees to address problems and the concerns that we are faced with. While we do have a few targeted committees now, they are used more like a shield rather than constructive wanted input. I think citizen involvement is very important to making our county a successful place to live and right now that is not happening! I will work to keep families and properties safer, help the elderly in need, improve permitting, help with affordable housing and work closely with those involved in the stewardship of our great natural resources!

Name a public figure, past or present, you admire, and why.

One of my favorite public figures that I admire is Henry Ford. Most people think that he invented the automobile; however, he did not. He invented the assembly line to mass produce the automobile so that more working-class people could own automobiles at a reasonable and affordable cost. Even though Henry Ford came up with the idea for the assembly line, he knew that he could not do it by himself. However, he did know how to put the right people in the right positions to get the mission accomplished. I think that this ability was the greatest accomplishment that he had going for him. My goal is to emulate him by putting the right people together on teams to make progress work and get it done!

What sets you apart from the other two candidates?

I believe that my five-plus decades of management, supervisory experience, and owning my own business skills will bring a better business approach to the way that Mason County is currently run. I have had decades of hands-on training as well as management experience throughout my working career which cannot be taught within a classroom. I also believe that the statesman approach of putting the people's best interest above everything else is the right way to approach every problem. I have been an employee and owner of many successful businesses. I know the needs of families and businesses. No Mason County taxpayer's money will be spent that does not benefit the taxpayers. One of my best and proven skills is being able to critically research, analyze, and come to a workable response to situations. You won't be working for me. I'll be working for you!

What does Mason County need the most?

We need sound financial responsibility. Without it, we cannot maximize our investments and services. In every good economy there will be a bad economy. Mason County needs to manage its business as though it is a bad economy. By using state/federal matching funds and grant monies, we will not overextend the county purse to accomplish unnecessary expansion. The build-it-and-they-will-come approach is a very risky choice when using the taxpayers' dollars. Also, by investing funds that can be retrieved and reused in a shorter time frame will help accomplish faster, more financially healthy growth. Mason County needs to plan for the expanding and uncontrollable crime wave that is spreading like a wildfire. We do this by hiring more deputies and expanding our jail availability. By working with the sheriff, prosecuting attorney and courts to enforce the laws that we have on the books, we will establish a safer Mason County for all of us!