Republicans Should Support Nethercutt

Fri., Sept. 8, 2000

By John Webster johnwe@spokesman.com (509) 459-5421

George Nethercutt will have to pass through a gantlet to win another term in Congress and the clubbing he’ll endure along the way is not all bad. He’ll emerge a wiser congressman.

In character with the kind of man he is, Nethercutt has looked voters squarely in the eye and told them he was wrong about term limits when he used that issue to defeat Tom Foley. It takes courage for a politician to admit he was wrong and has changed his mind about a prominent campaign issue.

We agree Nethercutt was wrong. So we are pleased that he has changed his mind, even if it does mean he’ll face attack ads from ideologues who refuse to admit the obvious: term limits are unnecessary and unwise - as Nethercutt’s career proves.

He ousted a speaker of the House, without a term limits law.

And today, with six years of experience, Nethercutt is maturing into a consensus-builder, a leader who works effectively for his district even when it means defiance of his own party’s leaders.

His GOP opponent, Richard Clear, is a former talk radio host whose distinguishing skill, the production of overheated rhetoric, has little value in the real world of post-election statecraft.

Nethercutt, in contrast, has built the bipartisan connections and mediation skills required to get things done in Washington, D.C. He retains the conservative values that made him attractive to the people of Eastern Washington. He remains what he always has been - a native Spokanite, a graduate of local schools and universities, an easygoing, warmhearted lawyer who once specialized in adoptions and now uses his legal acumen to improve federal services, policy and legislation.

He has used his post on the Appropriations Committee to help fund emergency relief for farmers, salmon restoration projects, agricultural research at Washington State University and modernization at Fairchild Air Force Base.

With others from his party, he pushed a reluctant White House toward tax relief, welfare reform and a balanced budget.

He has been a leader in protecting Eastern Washington’s dams, which provide a crucial transportation artery as well as power essential to the Northwest’s future.

He defied GOP leadership in a struggle to lower trade barriers that injure farmers and others in our export-dependent state.

Wise Republicans will support Nethercutt in the Sept. 19 primary, so that he can move toward the realization of his full potential as a statesman.

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