Voice of the Mid-Columbia | Kennewick, Pasco and Richland, Wash. |
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Chris Mulick has worked for the Herald since 1998 and has served as the statehouse correspondent covering state government and politics since 2000. He works year-round out of the Herald's Olympia bureau on the state Capitol campus. Have a question? Send Chris an e-mail and he'll answer the best questions regularly. |
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We reported this morning that state Rep. Shirley Hankins, R-Richland, hasn’t yet decided whether to run for her seat this year. Now comes word that former Richland Councilwoman Carol Moser will.
Moser is running as a Democrat. She was appointed by Gov. Chris Gregoire to the state Transportation Commission in 2006.
Before that she spent 10 years on the Richland City Council, many of those years alongside the 8th Legislative District’s other House member, Larry Haler.
She’s also served on a number of state and local boards and has developed a rich transportation background. Her board memberships have included the Association of Washington Cities, the Municipal Research and Services Center, the Benton-Franklin Council of Governments, Ben-Franklin Transit and the state’s Freight Mobility Strategic Investment Board.
Moser will bring a credibility to the race that 8th District Democrats have been unable to produce in the years since Jim Jesernig, Curt Ludwig and Lane Bray were winning elections there.
The Benton County district has sent Republicans to Olympia exclusively since 1994. In 2006 all three of the district’s GOP legislators ran uncontested.
And when they’ve run Democrats have been badly beaten. The high water mark since 1994 was the 34 percent their candidate got against then Rep. Jerome Delvin, R-Richland, in 2000.
Democrats have generally shied away from challenging the moderate Hankins. She’s faced Democratic opposition only once in the past five elections.
UPDATE: Here's a nugget of information found in the Herald library system that may be of interest to readers. It was Hankins who nominated Moser for the Transportation Commission post just two years ago.
So chew on that.
WEDNESDAY UPDATE: Here's the story that ran in today's paper.
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