
	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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Wednesday, Apr. 02, 2008

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Still more on Rep. Hankins' decision

In a lengthy discussion yesterday about her plans to run for the House seat now occupied by Rep. Shirley Hankins, R-Richland, Richland's Carol Moser said she expects the longtime legislator to retire.

“I seriously doubt she is running,” Moser said. “My deepest sense was she wasn’t going to run. But it’s anybody’s guess.”

Moser, a former Richland councilwoman and a current member of the state’s Transportation Commission who plans on formally announcing her Democratic campaign today, said Hankins was among the first to learn of her intentions.

And Moser was among those invited to Hankins’ private party last week.

“I have been consulting with her all along the way,” Moser said.

Asked if Hankins had told her she’s retiring, Moser said “not in so many words.”

Moser was complimentary of the Hankins, particularly as it relates to the longtime legislator’s willingness to stand up to her caucus.

That’s something Moser, who says she’s considered herself an independent until having to pick a party now, may have to do in Olympia, too, if elected.

“The district has benefited from Shirley taking those tough votes,” Moser said, noting a gas tax vote that brought funding for a major bridge project between Richland and Kennewick.

Moser said she labored over whether to run as a Democrat or Republican but in the end the chance to join a majority caucus won out.

UPDATE: You can find the story that ran in today's paper here.