WANAPUM DAM — Bill Bryant said he thinks he can win the race for governor as a Republican in a predominantly Democratic state – if the voters, especially in eastern and central Washington, participate in the process.

Bryant toured Wanapum Dam and talked to Quincy service clubs as part of a campaign swing through the region Thursday.

Bryant is a former King County Port District commissioner, and the owner of a business based in Yakima. He said voters he’s talked to around the state are tired of partisan fighting that gets in the way of important state business. “They just want stuff to get done,” he said. What’s needed is a climate that encourages economic growth, getting the transportation system fixed and improvements in the state’s corrections system. Bryant said he thinks his experience on the port commission and in the export market has given him skills to encourage different groups to work together.

“Three-dimensional chess,” he said of his business efforts to open apple export markets. He served on the port commission with Democrats, he said, and they had to learn to work together.

“You listen a lot,” and work to find common ground, he said.

Bryant said it’s not the governor’s job to generate jobs. But it is part of the governor’s job to help create an atmosphere that makes Washington an attractive place for businesses. The economy is slowing statewide, he said, and that includes the economy in King County, which is losing middle-class jobs.

If he’s elected one of his first goals as governor would be to place a moratorium on new regulations, until agencies can justify the existing regulations, he said. He wants to institute a sunset clause for all regulations, allowing for reviews to see if regulations are still serving their purpose.

In Bryant’s opinion, the Washington Supreme Court went too far in its decision to fine the Washington Legislature over school funding – it’s not up to the Supreme Court to write a budget, he said. But the Supreme Court was right that school funding is uneven. Too often, the quality of education depends on where a child lives, he said. “We need to fix a broken system.”

Bryant said he would give school districts and even building principals more flexibility in how they spend money, but would also hold school officials accountable for their choices. “I am a huge proponent of charter schools,” having visited seven of the eight charter schools in the state. One of the strengths of a charter school is its flexibility in spending money, he said.

It was his first tour of Wanapum Dam; “I loved it. It was great.” Hydropower is an important regional resource, he said. Environmentally friendly in an age of concern about climate change.

As he has toured Washington, Bryant said he has seen some of that classic east side-west side divide, but the bigger divide is between urban and rural areas.

Washington hasn’t elected a Republican governor in more than three decades. Bryant said an analysis of voting patterns showed it might not be that way if eastern and central Washington residents had voted in the same proportion as King County. “The difference is, people in King County vote.” Votes in eastern and central do matter in statewide races, despite impressions to the contrary, he said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].