Contest Friendly For Prince’S Seat Both Republicans, But The Stakes Are High For The Front-Runners

They’re both Republicans who came to the Legislature together as freshmen in 1992.

One’s a farmer and party leader who helps House Republicans craft an agenda. The other’s a lawyer and committee chairman with an important say in which proposed criminal laws pass or fail.

But now they are front-runners to replace longtime legislator Eugene Prince, R-Thornton, who retired from the state Senate this month after being appointed to chair the state’s Liquor Control Board. And they are friends.

“It’s been a little awkward,” said Rep. Larry Sheahan, R-Spokane, who is competing with Rep. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, for the seat. “But I suppose it’s better than us having to decide who would run for the seat in 2000.”

Commissioners from Spokane, Whitman, Adams and Asotin counties on Monday will pick Schoesler, Sheahan or Jack Silzel, an aide to U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt, to replace Prince. The three were nominated last week by Republican precinct committee officers from the four counties.

Schoesler placed first in the balloting by committee officers, Sheahan second and Silzer third.

Schoesler, 41, was born and raised in Ritzville, where he farms wheat and canola and raises cattle. The onetime U.S. Department of Agriculture worker is now the Republican whip in the House. He has been instrumental in protecting agriculture interests and starting the Martin Hall project, a nine-county juvenile detention facility.

Sheahan, 39, was raised in Rosalia and works as a law partner with his father, Don Sheahan. As co-chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, he helped steer the House through reforms of the juvenile justice system and drunken driving laws.

If chosen, he said, he would use the contacts he made during those projects to work with Senate Republicans and Democrats, who are now in the majority.

Silzer is an Oakesdale wheat and hog farmer who has worked as an agricultural appropriations aide to U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt for three years. Silzel went to work for Nethercutt’s office in Washington, D.C., in 1995 to work with the congressman to pass the Freedom to Farm Act.

If a House replacement is needed for Schoesler or Sheahan, the lead nominee is Mike Largent, who farms near Colfax, home-schools his children and has had political aspirations for years.

The second choice is Don Cox, who served as superintendent of the Colfax School District for eight years and is a Washington State University faculty member.

The third choice is Dan Blankenship, a self-described conservative Republican. He is a third-generation wheat farmer from Ritzville who served as president of the Washington Association of Wheat Growers.

MEETING The meeting of 12 county commissioners will be held in public, and all six nominees have been invited to attend and speak.