Slater says he'll give it another half term
Tuesday, October 16, 2007 7:02 AM PDT
By Amy M. E. Fischer
Printable version
E-mail this articleAfter 24 years on the Kelso City Council, Alan Slater waited until the last minute to file for re-election, hoping someone else would file for his seat.
Weyerhaeuser millwright Danny Sears finally threw his hat in the ring, but when no other challengers emerged, Slater filed for a seventh term. No candidate should run unopposed, the 78-year-old councilman said, adding that if two candidates had filed, he wouldn't have filed for re-election at all.
"I think that the citizens need a younger man," Slater said Monday.
If re-elected, Slater, who turns 79 on Thursday, plans to resign from the council before his 81st birthday, he said. That would be two years into his four-year council term, which would mean his peers would have to appoint a replacement.
"My mind's halfway decent now, but sooner or later, life catches up with you, so that's where I'm coming from," Slater said. "You never know when the Lord's gonna say that your body's wore out. Just trying to be honest."
That news may not sit well with some voters --- but whether Slater actually has a viable opponent is a mystery.
Sears, 45, hasn't returned The Daily News' phone calls in four months. Neither has he filled out The Daily News' questionnaire for political candidates. He also didn't show up to the newspaper's editorial board meeting Oct. 3, leaving Slater with the board's undivided attention.
In Sears' one interview with The Daily News, in June, he said he hadn't established a campaign platform yet.
If Sears is a no-show, Slater will answer questions alone, Winsman said.
Slater, a lifelong Kelso resident, has served on the City Council for nearly a quarter century because he wants to provide a historical perspective on issues. Even when his council peers seem uninterested, Slater is determined to explain what he's observed over the years and how that may affect the decisions at hand.
"You have to learn from what has taken place in the past," he said. "I sound like an idiot, don't I? That's how the rest of the council perceives me. They just roll their eyes."
He doesn't care what people think, though, and he calls it like he sees it.
For instance, in June 2005, he blasted county commissioners for using millions of dollars in landfill reserve funds two years earlier to build a jail, calling the county's actions "criminal." The landfill reserves should have been used to offset rising garbage rates, he argued.
"Those prices are going to come up and bite you in the buns!" he thundered during the council discussion about long-term garbage solutions.
Slater also is known for pitching novel ideas at meetings without consulting anyone first, such as the time he proposed building soccer fields on the empty city property in the landslide-destroyed Aldercrest subdivision.
He's an advocate of merging the cities of Longview and Kelso but doesn't think it'll happen until "all of us old folks pass on," he said. Previous attempts to link city the sister-cities' services failed because they were done "piecemeal," he said. Instead, the cities should look at creating the foundation of a solid system.
Slater expects the local area's population to double within 20 years, merging into a sprawling megalopolis stretching from Seattle to Portland along Interstate 5. He thinks the county should do a better job of preparing for the inevitable growth, he said.
Perhaps more than anything, Slater wants citizens to get involved in their city and county governments. That's why he stepped back and waited to see what would happen if he didn't immediately file for re-election during candidate filing week, he said. He's disappointed that Sears hasn't been more visible during campaign season, he said.
"I always thought everybody ought to have a choice."
Past Month's Most Commented Stories