Wednesday, December 24, 2025
32.0°F

Moses Lake Chamber to hold candidate forum Wednesday

JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 years, 2 months AGO
by JOEL MARTIN
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | October 23, 2023 5:34 PM

MOSES LAKE — Candidates for Moses Lake elected offices will have a chance to be heard Wednesday at a forum sponsored by the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce, KWIQ and the Columbia Basin Herald. The forum will run from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Moses Lake Civic Center, 401 S. Balsam.

Candidates for the Moses Lake School Board, Grant County Hospital District No. 1 and the Moses Lake City Council were invited, according to chamber Director Debbie Doran-Martinez. As of Monday afternoon, all but one candidate had responded that they would be present. Alan Heroux will be the moderator.

“We will do it in two phases,” Doran-Martinez said. “We'll have all of the school board candidates get up the first hour, and then we'll have the city council races and the hospital races come up the second hour.”

Each candidate will have two minutes to deliver their opening remarks, following which they’ll be given questions to answer one by one. Each pair of candidates will have a unique question, Doran-Martinez said, so candidates who answer later don’t gain an advantage by having more time to formulate a response. The order in which candidates speak will be rotated, so both candidates have an opportunity to go first.

The questions have been kept carefully under wraps at the chamber office, Doran-Martinez said.

“We want honesty,” she said. “We don't want it to be a rehearsed presentation; we want answers, so we really know how (they) feel.”

Joel Martin may be reached at [email protected].

Editor’s Note: While the Columbia Basin Herald will livestream the event via our Facebook channel, we strongly encourage anyone who can to attend in-person to speak with candidates after the event.

Candidates:

Moses Lake School Board, Director Pos. 1: Amy L. Breitenstein, Shannon Hintz

Moses Lake School Board, Director Pos. 3: Susan Freeman, Carla Mayberry Urias

Grant County Hospital District No. 1, Commissioner Pos. 3: Elliott DeLong, Katherine Christian

Grant County Hospital District No. 1, Commissioner At Large: Dale Paris, Joseph Akers

Moses Lake City Council Pos. 6: Victor Lombardi, Jeremy Nolan

Moses Lake City Council Pos. 7: Elisia “Lisa” Dalluge Eklund, David Skaug

ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN

NCW Tech Alliance to offer investment series
December 23, 2025 3 a.m.

NCW Tech Alliance to offer investment series

WENATCHEE — There’s a world of great ideas out there, just waiting for a little bit of extra money to make them feasible. At the same time, there are people with a little bit of money who would like to se that money grow along with a great idea. The trick is bringing the two together.

Quincy Shop with a Cop pairs families with officers
December 21, 2025 7:45 a.m.

Quincy Shop with a Cop pairs families with officers

QUINCY — Ten Quincy families will have a brighter Christmas through the Quincy Police Department’s Shop with a Cop event Dec. 6. “Seeing how excited the kids get and how thankful the families are, it’s awesome,” said QPD Ofc. Danya Mercado, who organized the event with Ofc. Jessica Diaz.

A year of successes
December 22, 2025 3 a.m.

A year of successes

DMLA celebrates bringing attention downtown in 2025

MOSES LAKE — Downtown Moses Lake has had a pretty good year. “I think people are starting to recognize that there is stuff downtown,” said Downtown Moses Lake Association Executive Director Mallory Miller.