Demos To Select House Candidate 9Th District Winner Takes On Gop’S Cox With Control Of House On The Line

In the 9th District legislative primary race, it’s familiarity vs. a new face.

After months of doorbelling, glad-handing and stump speaking, Democrats Annette Hendricks of Cheney and Mike Connelly of Latah square off Tuesday in the state’s only primary for a House of Representatives seat.

One will face incumbent Colfax Republican Don Cox in November. Cox, a Washington State University professor and retired Colfax school superintendent, was appointed to the House seat last January.

It’s Cox’s first campaign. And the heat is on. If he wins, the 49-49 legislative tie will continue. If a Democrat wins, that party will control both houses and the governor’s office.

Hendricks is a tough, former military woman with a soft heart and a sharp tongue.

She ran against Republican Larry Sheahan last year, and although she lost, she garnered 34 percent of the vote.

She was born in Spokane, where her grandfather ran a cordwood business. She retired to Cheney in 1995 after a Navy career and is a graduate student in biology at Eastern Washington University. Hoping to open a biotech company in the near future, Hendricks said she is keenly aware of conflicting codes, tax hindrances and other roadblocks for recruiting and retaining businesses in Eastern Washington.

She’s convinced a more diversified economy and higher-paying jobs would cure most of the region’s ills - from improving health coverage to lowering property taxes and expanding university support.

Connelly is a neighborly man from a long line of influential Spokane attorneys. His father, James Patrick Connelly, is Eastern Washington’s U.S. attorney and was an ardent Tom Foley supporter. Connelly’s grandfather was a Washington Supreme Court justice.

He’s been campaigning one day a week, plus evenings and weekends, while juggling the duties at his downtown Spokane law firm, which doubles as campaign headquarters. His campaign theme “kids, farms and small towns” - mirrors aspects of his personal life.

Connelly has lived in Latah, in rural Spokane County, for 10 years. He lives with his wife and five children in a multicolored Victorian home. He has served on the Latah City Council, the Liberty School Board and been active in community affairs and youth programs. He helped create “Triangle Park,” a slice of green along the city’s main drag.

“The focus of what I’ve done in the 9th has been public service and I believe it’s our obligation to make our communities a better place,” Connelly said. “I think we need to do everything we can to prevent agri-businesses from taking over on the Palouse.”

His folksy manner and commitment to small towns isn’t feigned. But Hendricks contends that down deep, Connelly is a Spokane attorney.

“We are - no offense to my esteemed opponent - well represented by attorneys already in the legislative arena,” Hendricks said Thursday at a meeting of the Jane Jeffersons, a Spokane Democratic women’s group.

“We need more people like you and me … Jane and Joe Average-Off-The-Street.”

Hendricks has thrown other jabs at Connelly. She points out the Liberty School District was fined more than $80,000 in safety fines and “willful violations” while he was on the school board. Connelly said the district is appealing those findings, which he doesn’t agree with, and instead highlights the successful K-8 reading program and improved staff communication.

Both Connelly and Hendricks oppose dam breaching, and support more research funding for the district’s two universities - Washington State University and Eastern Washington University. They differ slightly on how the state should handle field burning and health-care issues.

Hendricks criticizes the state Department of Ecology as too quick to fine small family farming operations for burning. She supports more research into alternatives to burning, such as straw composting.

Connelly said he’d explain recognized farming practices to other legislators while encouraging farmers to work to devise plans to reduce burning and erosion.

Hendricks says more higher-paying jobs will ease the region’s health-care crisis because more residents could afford insurance. Connelly believes the state should provide affordable health care for any residents not covered by the private sector.

Cox, who doesn’t have a Republican opponent, has raised more than $70,000.

Connelly was picked by state party leaders, who are openly backing him financially.

More than half of Connelly’s $40,000 campaign war chest is state party money. His bid is energized by a 23-year-old Gonzaga University grad serving as campaign manager, and his extensive professional ties in the legal community.

Hendricks’ campaign depends on two machines - the powerful home computer inside her tidy Cheney apartment and her Acura, which has logged 15,000 miles and a broken headlight since starting the campaign.

With approximately $11,400 in contributions, Hendricks is hoping voters will equate outside money with outside meddling. Hendricks has the support of many local Democratic leaders in Asotin, Benton and Whitman counties.

The state party’s contributions to Connelly are backfiring, she maintains, based on letters she’s received from supporters complaining that the party’s interference is unfair, even sexist.

“People in this district look at it as Olympia trying to run things again,” she said.

But Connelly doesn’t apologize for the support.

“That’s exactly what we’d hoped would happen,” Connelly said Wednesday. “This is the kind of campaign that is going to take some money to win.”

The sprawling 9th District includes Clarkston, Whitman and Adams counties, as well as the southern portion of Spokane County.

This sidebar appeared with the story: CANDIDATES Meeting today 9th District legislative candidates will appear at the Palouse Empire Fair today at 6:30 p.m. The forum is expected to last about an hour and a half, with candidates giving a five-minute presentation and taking questions. It’s sponsored by the Pullman League of Women Voters, Colfax and Pullman chambers of commerce and the Pullman branch of the American Association of University Women.