Two Republicans vie to replace 7th District’s Sump

The only contested race in Washington’s largest legislative district pits a Lincoln County architect against a Stevens County political aide with credit problems.

The political aide, Shelly Short, has the endorsement of retiring 7th District state Rep. Bob Sump, whose position she and Sue Lani Madsen are seeking.

Short’s history of working for U.S. Reps. George Nethercutt and Cathy McMorris Rodgers and for state Rep. Joel Kretz, all Republicans, gives her a considerable advantage in the deeply conservative district, which stretches from Airway Heights to Oroville and from Odessa to Metaline Falls.

But Short is encumbered with unpaid bills and a husband who was charged in August with aggravated first-degree theft. She claims the criminal charge is politically motivated, noting that Republican Stevens County Prosecutor Tim Rasmussen has endorsed her opponent.

Short has a $36,129 Internal Revenue Service lien, a state tax warrant seeking $1,120 and a $12,328 judgment for delinquent credit-card debt.

Short was $2,495 in arrears on her property taxes for 2007 and the first half of 2008, including penalties, when a reporter called her Monday for comment.

Short denied the delinquency Monday and sent an e-mail Tuesday saying, “We checked and our property taxes were paid.” She said county officials “should have their records corrected within a couple of days.”

The county treasurer’s office found nothing to correct. Rather, the Shorts made a payment Monday through a company that handles credit card transactions for the county. The payment, to be posted today, covered the delinquency but not the additional $710 that will be due Oct. 31.

A similar records check in Lincoln County found no such problems for Madsen and her husband.

Madsen, 52, is a founding partner in the architectural firm of Madsen Mitchell Evenson and Conrad.

Until this spring, the 46-year-old Short worked for the district’s other state representative, Kretz, who is unopposed for a second term. Short had to step down from her state job as Kretz’s senior legislative assistant so she could run for Sump’s position.

Previously, Short ran Nethercutt’s Colville office for 10 years and was McMorris Rodgers’ deputy district director for a couple of years.

This is Short’s first bid for public office. Madsen’s was four years ago when she ran unsuccessfully for the position Kretz won.

Short and Madsen emerged neck-and-neck from a five-way, all-Republican primary in a district that includes Stevens, Lincoln, Pend Oreille and Ferry counties, and parts of Spokane and Okanogan counties. Madsen had 7,973 votes to Short’s 8,072.

Short’s strongest showings were in Okanogan and Ferry counties. She also carried Stevens and Pend Oreille counties, although with slender margins.

Madsen carried only Lincoln and Spokane counties, but with substantial margins.

Short has attempted to portray Madsen as a closet liberal while Madsen has billed herself as the candidate with integrity.

Short said in a fundraising letter last month that “vicious attacks on my husband, Mitch, came as a complete surprise,” and she was confident he would be exonerated.

Mitch Short resigned from the volunteer Northeast Washington Fair Association board in September 2007 and repaid some of the $3,318 he eventually was charged with stealing from the association.

He repaid the rest in May when fair officials discovered more allegedly unauthorized checks Short had written to himself.

Court records show Discover Bank won a $12,328 default judgment against the Shorts in August 2007, but Shelly Short suggested two months ago that she didn’t know about that.

“We are checking on those records to determine if that’s actually the case,” she said, claiming incorrectly that “at no point has there been any attempt to garnish.”

Court records also show a woman who worked for the Shorts’ Your Body Electric natural remedies business sued them in February 2007 for $5,044 in alleged unpaid wages.

That lawsuit, later dismissed for lack of action, included a copy of a promissory note in which Mitch Short acknowledged in April 2006 that he owed the employee $9,099 in wages and attorney fees.

Shelly Short said the dispute was settled out of court.

Three months ago, the state Employment Security Department filed a tax warrant against the family business in an effort to collect $1,120. State officials said that was the balance on unpaid unemployment insurance premiums that originally totaled $3,842.

Short said her husband has an $800 dispute with the Employment Security Department, based on his contention that he shouldn’t have to provide unemployment insurance for himself.

Although the earlier $36,129 IRS tax lien remains on file in the county auditor’s office, Short asserts that “the issue was resolved in our favor.”

Here is a look at the candidates’ experience and positions:

•Shelly Short graduated from University High School in Spokane Valley and attended Spokane Community College and Eastern Washington University. Short and her husband live in the Addy area south of Colville and have two teenage children.

Short said her duties as a political aide involved helping solve problems for constituents, “and that is the experience I want to take to the Legislature.”

Accountability, transparency in government and fiscal responsibility are top issues for her, Short said. She wants across-the-board property tax relief and a lighter regulatory hand on businesses and small communities.

Short wants more oversight of laws after they are passed, and more flexibility in their implementation.

•Sue Lani Madsen graduated from Ferris High School in Spokane and earned two bachelor’s degrees from Washington State University. She began practicing architecture in 1981 and formed her own company in 1999.

Madsen said her clients have been mostly in the 7th District, including rural hospitals, school districts and community organizations.

She and her husband, Craig, live on a small ranch near Edwall and have an adult daughter.

Her community service ranges from assistant battalion chief in Edwall’s volunteer fire department to president of the Washington Rural Health Association. She also has been president of the Spokane regional chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

If elected, Madsen said, she would work to convince Western Washington legislators that what’s good for Seattle may not be good for Eastern Washington.

Madsen said she wants to overhaul aspects of the Growth Management Act that undermine agriculture instead of protecting it as claimed.

Other priorities for Madsen include rural health care and educational improvements for rural communities.