Colfax businessman and farmer Joe Schmick, 49, will replace Rep. David Buri, R-Colfax in the state House of Representatives.

County commissioners from Spokane, Whitman, Adams, Asotin, Franklin and Garfield counties voted Monday for Schmick out of a pool of candidates recommended by district Republican precinct committee officers. Buri stepped down recently to take a job with Eastern Washington University.

Schmick got 11 votes to Palouse Mayor Michael Echanove's 6 and Cheney's Tedd Nealey's 1, according to Mary Beth Becker, clerk for the Whitman County commissioners.

Schmick owns a 900-acre wheat, barley and bean farm, as well as a vending-machine business in Spokane and Whitman counties. He ran unsuccessfully for the House in 2006. He ran on a four-plank platform: jobs, health care, education and property rights.

An Eastern Washington University alumnus (accounting), he's served on the state barley commission and farm bureau and is former president of the Whitman County Farm Bureau.

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