Hastings, Locke Battle In Central Washington Incumbent Proud Of Voting Gop Line: ‘I Am A Republican,’ Hastings Says

Rep. Richard “Doc” Hastings is getting tired of being called a clone of House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

The central Washington Republican has been slammed repeatedly by Democrats in general - and challenger Rick Locke in particular - for leading his fellow GOP freshman class with a 98 percent party-line voting record, a statistic provided by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

“If you want to accuse me of voting with Republicans, No. 1, I AM a Republican,” Hastings said.

“No. 2, I campaigned on balancing the federal budget. I campaigned on welfare reform. I campaigned on tax relief for middle Americans. I campaigned on immigration reform. All of those things, I voted for and supported. It just turns out that Republicans by and large voted for and supported them.”

Democratic challenger Rick Locke of Richland contends Hastings has represented the GOP better than central Washington residents.

Locke is aligning himself with previous 4th District congressmen Sid Morrison, a Republican from Zillah who served from 1981 until 1993, and Mike McCormack, a Democrat from Richland who served from 1971 until 1981.

Both were known to cross party lines when it came to district priorities, Locke said.

Brett Bader, a Bellevue-based campaign consultant for Hastings, is not impressed.

“The guy just moved into the district. He doesn’t have any roots,” Bader said. “The biggest complaint we hear about him is that he just moved over from Seattle and that’s not the kind of person they want to send back to D.C.”

Locke, 48, moved to Richland in late 1993 when he started work at Battelle’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Most of his professional career has been spent in Seattle. He’s currently on leave from Battelle heading his own company, Alligator Corp., which promotes environmental technologies developed at the national laboratory.

Locke criticizes legislation that Hastings, 55, of Pasco, claims as first-term accomplishments, such as welfare reform and efforts to balance the national budget.

The Hanford nuclear reservation, with its own multitude of issues, also divides the two candidates.

Hastings has supported privatization of much of the cleanup work at the site, where bomb-making during the Cold War has created the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site.

Locke, however, believes privatization and Energy Department budget cuts - both supported by Hastings - resulted in elimination of many jobs at the federal installation.

Hastings disputes that.

The two also diverge over Hanford Reach, the last free-flowing section of the Columbia River. Protected by its proximity to the Hanford reservation, the 51-mile stretch contains key spawning habitat for some of the river’s few remaining healthy salmon populations and wildlife refuges.

Hastings supports turning the Reach over to the county commissioners, who he says are best suited to decide whether the area should be developed or kept pristine.

Locke, however, has said that he would make federal protection for the Reach as a wild and scenic river one of his top priorities.