West Starts Re-Election Campaign

Wed., July 22, 1998

By Craig Welch craigw@olywa.net

FOR THE RECORD (July 23, 1998): Wrong machine: A Wednesday story about Sen. Jim West’s re-election campaign incorrectly stated where West left a threatening message to a lobbyist. The message was left on an office answering machine.

The senator who controls Washington state’s budget says he wants to go back to Olympia to save residents more money.

Senate Ways and Means Chairman Jim West, R-Spokane, kicked off his re-election campaign Tuesday before a crowd of roughly 100 supporters.

West, 46, is facing 56-year-old retired nurse Judy Personett.

During an interview, West touted his role in ratcheting down the state’s budget, building nearly a $1 billion surplus and designing a plan that raises $2.4 billion for transportation without raising taxes - if approved by voters.

He said his experience and powerful position - and the razor-thin majority Republicans have in the state Senate - are reasons to vote for him.

West also said he was proud of his successful push last year to give Washington State University a bigger presence in Spokane while keeping Eastern Washington University’s focus in Cheney.

He said next year the Legislature will face further education reforms and should tighten juvenile crime laws. West also said he would support reducing class sizes.

Even though he’s been singled out for criticism in the past for not embracing local projects in Olympia, West is pitching himself as a legislator who “makes sure Spokane always gets its fair share.”

West pointed to the last-minute $300,000 infusion his committee put in the budget this year for hepatitis shots in Spokane.

West, a former Spokane County sheriff’s deputy and one-time city councilman, also took heat earlier this year for not helping Spokane get money for a convention center expansion. But now, he said, he’s a member of the committee examining solutions.

West said he doesn’t expect the misdemeanor charges he’s facing in Olympia for threatening a building industry lobbyist to hurt his re-election chances.

Last session, lobbyist Tom McCabe ran a misleading newspaper ad critical of West. West responded by leaving a message on McCabe’s home answering machine: “McCabe, you son of a bitch, you better get me because if you don’t you’re dead.”

West maintains he wasn’t being literal, and admits the threat was “boorish.”

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