A public forum between the District 9 candidates for state legislature on Thursday began with talk of initiatives, education funding and broadband for all of Eastern Washington, and ended with a broken ceiling tile and flooded floor.

In the middle of the forum, water began dripping and eventually streamed through the tile ceiling of the City Hall Council Chambers. A short while later, half the tile broke and fell onto the floor as water poured in, and continued to drip from the hole throughout the forum.

Fire Chief Mike Heston, who was at the public forum, called someone to help after the incident. The rest of the ceiling remains intact.

Democrat Jennifer Goulet and Republican Mary Dye will debate next Wednesday, but on Thursday they discussed some of the major initiatives on this year’s ballot.

I-1464, concerning public financing of campaigns, elicited different reactions from both candidates.

“Publicly funding campaigns is probably the worst idea I’ve heard,” Dye said. “The political process works well, though it has its rough spots at times.”

Goulet disagreed.

“Citizens United has been one of them most damaging things for democracy we’ve ever had,” Goulet said.

The initiative will limit the amount of money lobbyists are allowed to give each candidate per election to $100. Goulet said she has a sign in her front yard supporting this initiative.

There are also other ways for Washington residents to have more of a voice in the elections, Goulet said. One of these is automatic voter registration, meaning residents would be registered to vote the moment they turn 18, she said.

Goulet is from Pasco and brought up the need for broadband in Eastern Washington in her opening statement.

Dye discussed the differences in how Republicans and Democrats look at the state budget. Republicans, she said, see the budget and think of the priorities they want to fund with it, while Democrats see all the things they’d like to fund and start searching for revenue for them.

Goulet would like to use revenue from marijuana industry taxing revenue to fund education next year — the no. 1 priority for the state legislature next year.

Dye said she opposed funding education for undocumented immigrants.

“We have a need for agricultural labor,” Dye said, “but we also have a need for legal immigration.”

She would rather focus on fixing the broken system of immigration, she said, while Goulet said we should welcome the immigrants with open arms.

“The worst thing we could do is prevent them from getting an education,” she said.

The candidates also discussed the WSU Athletics department’s $13 million budget deficit. Goulet said she hates sports and would not want students to paying more to fix the deficit, and that she hopes there is a way for the state to help.

“It shouldn’t be at the expense of the students,” Goulet said.

Dye said she thinks the winning season this year for the Cougars will help generate the revenue necessary to correct the debt.