Salem City Councilor Virginia Stapleton, a Democrat, is challenging Rep. Kevin Mannix, a Republican, for his seat representing House District 21 covering Keizer and north Salem. The race for the seat is a contentious one and the district is considered a swing district according to the Oregon Secretary of State’s Office. With high stakes, both candidates have scrutinized the others’ voting records and lobbed attacks in an attempt to sway voters leading up to the election on Nov. 5.     In 2021 the state approved new redistricting plans, which made District 21 more friendly to Republicans. Then, in 2022, Mannix returned to the statehouse after about a decade away from state politics.  Stapleton touts the knowledge and experience she gained serving on the city council and said that experience uniquely prepares her with the perspective necessary to tackle local government issues from the statehouse.  Before Mannix, District 21 was previously held by Rep. Brian Clem, a moderate Democrat who was first elected in 2006. Clem stepped down from his post in late October 2021 to care for his aging mother, and current Salem Mayor Chris Hoy was appointed to briefly fill the vacant seat by the Marion County Board of Commissioners.  Here’s what both candidates had to say about some of the district’s most prominent issues including the city of Salem’s looming budgetary crisis, and addressing mental health and the increasing rates of homelessness and addiction on Salem’s streets.  Kevin Mannix, Republican  Name: Kevin Mannix  Party: Republican  Age: 74 Residence: Salem  Occupation: Attorney at Mannix Law Firm  Education: J.D. from the University of Virginia Law School  Prior governmental experience: Oregon State Representative from 1988 to 1997 Top issues: Housing, public safety and affordability Kevin Mannix. (Submitted photo) Mannix, 74, currently represents House District 21 and said he should be reelected based on his track record working across the aisle to get legislation across the finish line.  “During the tenure that I served, I pushed for a collegial approach to legislating,” Mannix told a crowd of dozens gathered at a candidate forum hosted by Northeast Neighbors neighborhood association on Tuesday. “I emphasized working with my Democrat colleagues to get results.”  Mannix was a chief sponsor and architect of the effort this year to repeal Oregon’s drug decriminalization law. The new law, House Bill 4002, mandates misdemeanor penalties for drug possession and emphasizing treatment in lieu of jail.  The law took effect on Sept. 1 and also increases funding for substance abuse treatment.  Mannix serves on several state house committees including the House Interim Committee On Higher Education and the Joint Committee On Addiction and Community Safety Response.  Salem’s budget and property taxes The city of Salem faces a growing budget crisis, which city leaders say is due to property tax collections not keeping up with the rising cost of services like police, fire and maintenance. Leaders including Stapleton have pointed the finger at Measures 5 and 50, two constitutional amendments that limited property tax growth. Mannix said he supports keeping those limits in place and said there are ways to shore up much needed funds for local governments without raising property taxes.  “The community has had property tax limitations that were imposed by the vote of the people so the property tax income stream is more limited,” Mannix said. “It is even more obvious now that the state should be taking on the role of helping pay for the services that the state benefits from.” Mannix instead wants to have the state pay the city for the large amount of state owned property housed within city limits.  Mannix was part of a failed bipartisan attempt last session to pass legislation that would have shored up at least $6 million in much needed funding for the city of Salem by having the state pay for the tax-exempt property it owns within city limits  The issue, Mannix told Salem Reporter, is that not enough legislators backed the bill. Such a payment would benefit cities like Salem which has a lot of state owned property.   Salem legislators seek annual state payments to cover police, fire “We shouldn’t be shy about addressing the fact that the state owns a large amount of property and doesn’t pay any property taxes yet these state facilities require community support. They require police and fire, and those kinds of services,” Mannix said. Mannix said he wants to make the case to legislators from other parts of Oregon that they would benefit from such a bill. That’s especially true of cities hosting state universities, like Eugene and Corvallis. “Our own local legislative delegation doesn’t have the votes to do it alone. We need to convince legislators from around the state that we can be of help to them,” Mannix said. Homelessness, housing and treatment Mannix said homelessness, addiction and mental health issues create yet another layer of stress on Salem’s budget.  He said there are ways to help alleviate some of that stress by taking on some of the financial burden placed on local law enforcement.  Mannix said the state can help the city of Salem by helping fund the city’s homelessness mitigation efforts by paying for facilities and programs for addiction and mental health.  “It can’t be something that is just imposed on the local community. It is a statewide concern. It is a heightened concern in certain communities and we ought to have a grant program to help pay for these programs,” Mannix said. For Mannix, homelessness goes hand-in-hand with the addiction and mental health crises. He said a global solution for many of these issues is affordable housing, something he said he would pursue aggressively if reelected.  Expanding treatment capabilities and funding local organizations and programs providing support to the area’s homeless population is key, Mannix said. “I know the city can’t afford to pay for that. The state needs to pay for that. And yes, there are some nonprofits doing some wonderful things but we need to be willing to spend state money to solve that problem,” Mannix said. When it comes to housing, a topic that came up during Tuesday’s forum, Mannix said there should be an incentive for developers to build more.  “What the state ought to be doing is we ought to be providing income tax credits for those who are building housing, wherever they put it,” Mannix said during the candidate forum. Mannix is also an advocate of making it easier to civilly commit people, a process where a judge orders someone to get mental health treatment. He wants to better use resources like the Oregon State Hospital to help address the mental health and addiction crisis.  “Homelessness is a reflection of our failure to deal with the addiction issue and also our failure to deal with mental health issues,” Mannix said.  Mannix said in the past the state hospital was abused as a resource with almost 3,500 patients at one point, but that now it is being underutilized with only around 500 patients. Nearly all state hospital patients have been charged with crimes, and civil commitment numbers have fallen drastically in recent years. “There used to be a benefit from having the state government here in Salem because for instance…the Oregon State Hospital was a readily available facility for mental health. And I’ve talked to folks who are retirees from the ‘old days,’ who pointed out that there was a time when police or fire picked up someone who was clearly in a disturbed state, they’d simply bring them to the state hospital,” Mannix said. “The state hospital personnel would evaluate the person, potentially admit the person, they would treat the person short term, or in some cases arrange for permanent or long-term housing arrangement.”  Virginia Stapleton, Democrat  Name: Virginia Stapleton  Party: Democrat  Age: 43 Residence: Salem  Occupation: No paid employment Education: Chemeketa Community College  Prior governmental experience: Salem City Councilor, 2021-present Salem-Keizer School District Budget Committee, 2018-2021 Top issues: Housing and transportation, mental and behavioral health, public schools and local governments Virginia Stapleton. (Submitted photo) Stapleton’s priorities include helping to solve the housing, homelessness, mental health and addiction crises by focusing on providing support to people and families, and finding ways to fund critical services in Salem and other cities,  One issue that loomed large on Stapleton’s mind was the city of Salem’s impending budget crisis. As a city councilor, she voted to impose a tax on workers in Salem to help shore up city services and campaigned for the measure after voters referred it to the ballot, where it was overwhelmingly rejected.  She’s also led an effort to focus on improving road safety and transportation options within Salem, including more infrastructure for bikes and pedestrians. She said solving budget issues confronting school districts and cities across Oregon require a legislator who’s familiar with how those challenges play out in local government. “That is one of the main reasons I ran for this seat is to try and do what I can from a local leader’s perspective, something that Kevin (Mannix) does not have,” Stapleton said. Salem’s budget and property taxes While Stapleton and Mannix both agree that the state should pay Salem for the state owned properties contained within its limits, Stapleton takes a different approach.  She said if elected she would present a bill that would create a special district encompassing state properties within the city of Salem. The city could then collect payments from the state using that district as a vehicle.  Stapleton believes that process would be an easier sell to the Legislature, which has rejected past efforts to get the state to pay for state-owned property across Oregon. A capital district would focus legislation on Salem.  “Because right now …the conversation is ballooning and getting too big so that other cities are wanting to jump on, which they should, because every city is hurting,” Stapleton said. “But the state can’t afford that. That’s why that idea failed this last time because it would cost the state too much.”  Stapleton said there are capital districts across the nation and that if Oregon created one, the city of Salem could shore up about $2.5 million a year out of the deal. That is enough to fund an entire fire station, Stapleton said, which is critical given fire department funding is currently on the chopping block for the city’s next budget cycle.  Unlike Mannix, Stapleton sees repealing caps on property tax growth as key to addressing the underlying issue. If those caps were repealed, voters in cities like Salem could decide to accept a higher permanent tax rate in exchange for more services. Stapleton said a permanent increase in base property tax rates is a more stable and consistent way to ensure cities and other jurisdictions can continue to fund the services citizens expect.  “I think that that would have bipartisan support because it really gives the power back to our local jurisdictions,” Stapleton said. “What Measures 5 and 50 did is they took all the power away from local jurisdictions and they gave it all to the state.”  Stapleton said local governments across Oregon are suffering and that she’s well-positioned to understand and tackle their concerns in the Legislature. “Somebody who has served at the state level has no idea what it takes to run a city, or a county or a school district. They are very focused on statewide issues, as they should be. But when you don’t have that base knowledge of the struggles that a city faces or a school district faces, or a county faces, I think you are really coming in without the full set of skills,” Stapleton said. “I think my voice on this issue is really needed right now on the state level because cities are breaking. School districts are breaking.”  Stapleton said if elected she would be open and honest with her constituents about the struggles ahead.  “It’s not a priorities issue, it’s not a spending issue when every city across the entire state is facing the same struggle. What people will get from me is somebody who is never going to gaslight them, I will always tell them the truth even when it is hard,” Stapleton said. “And the truth is, we are in a budget crisis across the entire state, and we need to start having courageous community conversations that lead to solutions.” During the forum on Tuesday, Stapleton told voters it is ultimately up to them whether they accept more taxes to help pay for services or those services get cut because there simply isn’t enough money in the budget.  She told Salem Reporter prior to the forum that any other approach is disingenuous.  “It infuriates me that people want to try and pull the wool over people’s eyes and say, ‘You deserve to pay zero in taxes, or very little in taxes and still maintain all of these services, that is ludicrous. That is a lie,” Stapleton said. “You are lying to the public, you are lying to my constituents and that makes me angry. I want to be honest with people and I want to have community conversations.”  Homelessness, housing and treatment Stapleton said sweeping cuts to services and programs over the years have contributed to the homeless situation in Salem today.  Like her opponent, Stapleton agrees it is about time the state does more to address homelessness.  “Historically local governments have never been asked to handle homelessness. They weren’t built for that. We don’t have the training for that. We don’t have the expertise,” Stapleton said. “In order to move in that direction we are going to need more funding to support us. If that is what they need from us then they need to support us to do it. It cannot be an unfunded mandate for cities and school districts.”  Like her opponent, Stepleton understands there is a need for more residential facilities and programs to help address homelessness, addiction and mental health. For her it is about building up the social safety net that has slowly eroded over time.  “For 40 years we have been defunding our government, and all of those services have been decimated and now we are at a point where our community is telling us to do something about it, but we now have to build back up an entire support system,” Stapleton said. “And that takes time.”  Campaign money Here are totals for each campaign as reported by the state Elections Division as of Oct. 9. To look into individual donations and expenditures, start with this state website: Campaign finance. MANNIX  Contributions:$599,754. Expenditures: $591,833. Cash balance: $21,726.  Top five donors: Bring Balance to Salem PAC, (a committee largely funded by Nike co-founder Phil Knight), $171,031; Kevin L. Mannix P.C., $51,729; Oregon Realtors Political Action Committee, $30,000; Marion + Polk First PAC, 27,219; Friends of Christine Drazan, $20,000. STAPLETON Contributions: $194,959. Expenditures: $169,330. Cash on hand: $26,453 Top five donors: Future PAC, House Builders, $51,545 (campaign arm of Oregon House Democrats); Democratic Party of Oregon: $20,146; Oregon Nurses Association: $19,400; Building a Stronger Oregon: $9,625; Chris Hoy for Salem: $5,000.  Dozens gathered at a candidate forum in Salem hosted by Northeast Neighbors neighborhood association on Tuesday. Both Salem City Councilor Virginia Stapleton and Rep. Kevin Mannix participated in the forum and took questions from the audience. (Joe Siess/Salem Reporter) The post City Councilor Virginia Stapleton seeks to unseat Rep. Kevin Mannix in District 21  appeared first on Salem Reporter.