20-Year Legislator Faces 2 Challengers Mccaslin Says His Experience Is Crucial In State Senate

Call it name recognition, fear of change, or even tradition. Whatever it is, it means the Senate seat for the 4th Legislative District is where Bob McCaslin is comfortable.

And after 20 years, the 74-year-old legislator is not ready to give up his place at the table in Olympia.

“I don’t know if anybody knows the ropes better than I do or the players,” McCaslin said. “I just feel that lends a lot more to getting things done.”

Two men have emerged to challenge the Republican who has become something of an institution in the mostly conservative district that spans the Spokane Valley, from Idaho to East Hillyard.

Jim Peck, a 56-year-old Liberty Lake resident and substitute teacher, stepped forward for the Democrats after the party members most likely to run for the office didn’t file. Libertarian Rob Chase, 47, an inventory coordinator at Agilent Technologies who lives in Liberty Lake, is also on the ticket.

Peck said he’s been frustrated during the campaign because McCaslin has made few public appearances. Peck hasn’t had a chance to challenge the incumbent on the issues. But he’s still certain he can win because Valley voters agree with the views he represents, he said.

Peck has focused his campaign on improving public education, extending health care to all residents, property if elected to office tax reform, and making government more responsive to the 4th district constituents. The incumbent, he said, has become comfortable, complacent and ineffective.

“If elected, I will work to be someone who is accessible to all of the people of the district,” Peck said.

He has pledged to staff an office in the Valley and hold quarterly town hall meetings for 4th District voters.

“I’m going to consult the people on the issues before the Legislature,” he said.

Peck and his wife, Joy, moved to the Spokane Valley in 1995 after he retired after 28 years in the U.S. Army. He was stationed in Spokane with the Washington Army National Guard in the 1980s and loved it so much he wanted to come back.

The Republican Party is no longer meeting the needs of 4th District voters, Peck said, and it’s time for a change.

“I feel very confident that we will be able to swing the independent voters over to our side and win the election,” Peck said.

The dark horse in the race, Rob Chase said he is also counting on persuading voters that the Republican Party is no longer the best choice. Libertarians represent the ideals of America’s founding fathers, Chase said - limited government, free-market solutions and individual liberties.

“I think there are a lot of Libertarians out there, they just don’t know it yet.” he said.

Chase joined the party a few years ago after learning about Libertarian ideals on an Internet bulletin board.

“The main reason I’m running is I just feel like taxes have gone too high,” Chase said. “When I was a boy it was an exception for a mother to work, and now it seems like it’s a rule. Not having both parents at home has left children to be raised by cable TV.”

Chase has served on the Chase Youth Commission for the past year and a half and teaches Sunday school at North Country Chapel.

If elected, he said he would work to eliminate most taxes, end gun control, and support vouchers or tax rebates so parents can choose private schools and home schooling.

McCaslin dismisses criticism from his opponents who claim he is inaccessible to constituents, saying he’s had the same two phone numbers since he was first elected.

He’s confident that his roots in the Spokane Valley and 20-year voting record will keep 4th District voters behind him in this race.

“I’ve never voted for a major tax. I might have to one of these days, but I like to do everything I can before voting for a tax,” he said.

If he’s sent back to Olympia, McCaslin said he’ll keep working to overturn, or at least change, the Growth Management Act.

“I’ve always argued that we had growth management before the act because we have zoning, planning, comprehensive plans and building permits,” he said.

McCaslin said he is researching a possible constitutional amendment that would require the state Supreme Court to have a certain number of judges from each congressional district.

“I think it’s important that we have people from Eastern Washington on the Supreme Court.”

The incumbent also said his long-standing commitment to funding education won’t change and he will lobby during the next session to allocate $7.5 million to the Mirabeau Point community complex.