Gop Can Fortify East Side’s Clout

In years when Democrats held a majority in Washington’s Legislature, Eastern Washington’s legislative delegation had to scavenge for influence. This region, being more conservative, sends mostly Republicans to the capital. Members of the minority party can’t chair the committees that control the bills and write the budgets. So their influence ranges from intermittent to non-existent.

But Western Washington is growing more conservative and it’s likely Republicans will hold solid majorities in both the state House and Senate next year. If so, the people of Eastern Washington would have more input on state policy than they’ve had in years.

If the GOP does get a majority, there are several overdue reforms that it will tackle. The state’s Olympia-based bureaucracy has exploded far more rapidly than population trends justify. Our tax and regulatory climate has grown notoriously hostile to business. Education funding has taken a back seat to expansion of the state’s failed social programs. Maintenance of the East Side’s city and farm-to-market roads also is an unmet priority need.

After interviewing the candidates, we’ve identified a slate well-equipped for the battles ahead.

3rd Legislative District

John Moyer richly deserves re-election to the Senate, where this sensitive, compassionate physician is regarded as the “conscience of the Republican caucus.” Moyer has made himself an expert in health care reform and welfare reform, two issues crucial to his low-income district. He has worked tenaciously for better access, affordability and quality in medical care. As Republicans shape welfare reform next year, Moyer can speak with the expertise of one who backed a Spokane pilot program modeled after Oregon’s successful workfare system, offering the child care and health care that recipients need to become self-sufficient.

Republican Brendon Hill and Democrat Jeff Gombosky get our endorsement for the 3rd District’s two seats in the House. Hill, a restaurant worker and father of two, is completing his training to become a science teacher. As a child, Hill watched his mom fight her way off welfare by going to college and finding a job. This makes him a compassionate supporter of education and welfare reform. Gombosky, a well-informed supporter of education and targeted tax relief, has volunteered in Spokane neighborhood centers and believes they could play a role in welfare reform. We agree.

4th Legislative District We don’t agree with incumbent Republican Sen. Bob McCaslin on some issues, notably his futile crusade to repeal the state’s Growth Management Act. But in the narrowly divided Senate, he is a firm supporter of top-priority reforms - downsizing state bureaucracy and creating a more business-friendly tax and regulatory climate. For that reason, he gets our endorsement. So does Republican Rep. Larry Crouse, a hard worker popular with his Valley constituents. He has learned to temper his conservatism by backing compromise legislation from overall budgets to important bipartisan legislation he hammered out as acting chair of the Energy and Utilities Committee.

6th Legislative District

Voters in the 6th District have an easy choice in Republican Brad Benson, one of the best-prepared candidates we met this year. His Democratic opponent, Judy Personett, exaggerated her resume in health care, and in this field of supposed expertise, she offered only vague, disjointed answers to our questions. Benson is a former Air Force captain and bank branch manager who now runs a small family business. He raises an articulate voice for better public schools and a healthier business climate. The other 6th District House race features two fine candidates. We endorse Republican Duane Sommers, a veteran lawmaker who shows a solid grasp of the state’s tough fiscal choices and will work to meet Spokane’s needs within the limits of a frugal state budget. Like several others we’re supporting, he backs allocating more of the motor vehicle excise tax to local road maintenance.

7th Legislative District

The Democrats fielded two fine House candidates in education advocate Kurt Matter and family farmer Brad Lyons, but they’re paddling against a strong current in the conservative 7th District. Besides, Republicans Bob Sump and Cathy McMorris are able candidates as well, and they get our endorsement. Sump, a heavy equipment mechanic for a gold mine, will raise a needed blue-collar voice for survival of the heavily regulated mining and timber industries on which his economically struggling district depends. McMorris, 27, devotes full time to her legislative post and earned the chairmanship of the House Commerce and Labor Committee, on which she works for more reasonable regulation of farms and other businesses.

9th Legislative District

Republican incumbent Larry Sheahan, a Rosalia lawyer who wants to reform Washington’s outrageously lenient juvenile crime laws, has a good chance of becoming House majority leader, so respected is he by his legislative peers. Republican Mark Schoesler, like Sheahan, is an advocate for the two universities in the 9th District. Plus, Schoesler is a Ritzville farmer and successfully has introduced and enacted important farm legislation, such as a law knocking down barriers to the emergence of canola as a major crop. Both are a credit to our region and deserve re-election.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: SUPCAT = COLUMN, EDITORIAL, ENDORSEMENT - Our view CREDIT = John Webster For the editorial board