(DeLay's) Doc Hastings draws an inside the ranks challenger
Ethically inert Doc Hastings has found a challenger in Republican Benton County Commissioner Claude Oliver. As chairman of the House ethics committee, Hastings has sat on his hands while Ambramoff and DeLay explode around him.
Now, he's seeing a challenge from inside his own party from a guy that has been around Republican politics for decades:
This is highly intriguing, because Oliver has given evidence before of being not a maverick but a party loyalist. Last month, the Benton Commission had to appoint a new county clerk. Two of the three commissioners chose to reject the recommendation of the county Republican central committee in making their choice; the holdout for the party point of view was Oliver. Should be noted that he apparently has had periodic conflicts with the other commissioners on other matters as well, and both of those commissioners have signed on in support of Hastings.Certainly he’s no outsider to area politics, though. The Tri-City Herald describes his background this way: “The 58-year-old Republican has spent nine years as a county commissioner and was the county treasurer for 15 years before that. He also served a four-year stint in the state House of Representatives from 1977-81 and ran unsuccessfully for state treasurer in 1988 and 1992.”
This is interesting to me in a back-east sellout sort of way. There isn't any mention of this in the stuff I've read so far, but if an opponent (Democrat or Republican) can paint Hastings with the brush of the "culture of corruption" while at the same time saying that he isn't doing enough to protect his district, a Democrat can force a hard race here. Jimmy at McCranium says:
Doc’s alliances with scandaled members of congress and lobbyists, his unwillingness to break with his party on important national issues have made him ineffective at leading the charge to defend his own in the 4th CD.The latest Bush budget that pulls surplus BPA money for deficit reduction is a prime example. The reaction from Hastings was simple… get behind the democrats. Unfortunately for Doc (and McMorris for that matter), is he is invisible in the shadow of Cantwell and Murray. Going with the flow 99% if the time won’t get you heard when it counts.
Emmett O'Connell | February 10, 2006 | Comment on This Post (5 so far) |
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Comments
As you follow Claude's campaign and learn of his high ground ethics, well researched positions, and coalition building strengths, you find why the 4th Congressional District of Washington needs Claude Oliver. He is a true public servant. I am excited about this campaign. The many reasons that we need change in Washington DC are obvious.
And, thanks for this political forum. Best regards, Carl Holder, Pasco
Posted by: Carl Holder | Feb 14, 2006 2:43:46 PM
Oliver to make run for Congress
Published Friday, February 10th, 2006
Tri-City Herald
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/tch/local/story/7433910p-7344791c.html
By Elena Olmstead, Herald staff writer
Benton County Commissioner Claude Oliver said Thursday that he will challenge six-term U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings for the Republican nomination for Congress.
Oliver filed his official statement of candidacy Thursday and began setting up a campaign headquarters at Lewis Street and Second Avenue in Pasco.
The 58-year-old Republican has spent nine years as a county commissioner and was the county treasurer for 15 years before that. He also served a four-year stint in the state House of Representatives from 1977-81 and ran unsuccessfully for state treasurer in 1988 and 1992.
On Thursday Oliver said that he decided to run for Congress because the people of central Washington's Fourth District need answers on issues such as why Congress is approving tax incentives for U.S. businesses that are moving operations overseas and why Congress is not addressing the country's health care crisis.
"We need some answers that stick today, tomorrow and next year," Oliver said.
Oliver said he's also concerned about campaign finance reform. He would like to see public financing of congressional campaigns, with $300,000 going to qualified challengers and $280,000 to $100,000 going to incumbents. Oliver said incumbents would receive $20,000 less each time they run for re-election, down to a lower limit of $100,000.
Oliver said qualified challengers would include any candidate who collects 1,000 signatures of registered voters from their congressional district. He said this would allow anyone the chance to run for Congress.
Oliver has been known over the years as a persistent and controversial politician often at odds with his fellow commissioners. Most recently, he led the unsuccessful effort to get the Department of Energy to save the Fast Flux Test Facility test reactor at Hanford to produce medical isotopes.
He also was a founder of the Yakima River Watershed Planning Counsel, which just recently developed a management plan for the waterway for Benton, Yakima and Klickitat counties.
As county treasurer, Oliver made collection of back taxes a major crusade, which resulted in the Department of Energy eventually agreeing to pay the county millions of dollars for property taken off the tax rolls.
Oliver's announcement Thursday drew no official response from Hastings, although his campaign director in Pasco, Ellen Howe, issued a statement saying that 23 county commissioners from the Fourth District have said they will support Hastings for re-election.
Among those commissioners named on Howe's news release were Oliver's fellow Benton County commissioners, Max Benitz and Leo Bowman, and Franklin County commissioners Frank Brock and Bob Koch.
+++++++++++++++
Posted by: Carl Holder | Feb 14, 2006 3:58:23 PM
Kinda like comment spam huh?
Posted by: jimmy | Mar 5, 2006 12:42:39 PM
Hastings deserves a challenge and Oliver will give him one even though he can be difficult to get along with and a bit of a nut case at times.
The district could be easy pickings this year for a reasonable democrat who would actually work hard and raise roughly $600,000.
Oliver's challenge of Hastings will help. Doc Hastings is a good man but he has always been overwhelmed by partisan loyalty and has rarely had an original idea. Hastings' role on the ethics committee has been a national disgrace and voters in Washingbton's 4th will see it.
There's no real love for Hastings in the district because he just hasn't done much of anything, and his do-nothing partisan approach on ethics simply reinforces the fact that Hastings does nothing but provide a vote for the party line. That's why he's on the Rules Committee and that's why he got appointed to Ethics - even though he's had a few ethics stumbles of his own.
Posted by: Kennewick | Apr 6, 2006 1:54:12 AM
this really has nothing to do with the article, but how does a Chairman of the Ethics Committee continue to allow any fellow congressman to be "sexually suggestive" with pages for over six months. If he were a common citizen, he would have been arrested and jailed within six days, perhaps even the star of some televised sting...
Posted by: Edward | Oct 2, 2006 7:48:23 PM
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(and yes, we know that sometimes they're very, very wrong. Other times, they're right on.)
