
	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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Tuesday, Apr. 22, 2008

White Salmon Democrat seeks Rep. Hastings' seat

John Gotts from White Salmon called out of the blue this afternoon to announce he’s running for Congress in the 4th District as a Democrat.

We’ll have more in the tomorrow’s paper but here are a few details to tide you over.

Gotts, 40, is an entrepreneur with stakes in companies that do business online. He’s lived in White Salmon for four years.

His campaign will be anything but conventional. To start with, he was only recently converted to the Democratic Party by Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. And prior to the 12 years he identified with the Republican Party he identified himself as a Democrat.

“I’ve gone back and forth here,” he says.

He’s “very, very, very pro business,” voted for George Bush in 2000 but opposes the war in Iraq and supports a structured withdrawal of American troops.

Gotts said he won’t raise money to fund his campaign and will pay for everything himself. He also says he’d forego a congressional salary and would consider putting up a webcam in his office so viewers can see how he treats visiting lobbyists.

“You’ll watch me throw them out on their ear,” Gotts says.

So what does he know about the district, which stretches east to Walla Walla County and north to Okanogan County?

“Not nearly enough,” Gotts says.

So he’s going to get in his car and roam the district for the next 100 days.

“It’ll be a 100-day march,” he said.

Democrats George Fearing of Pasco and Don Moody of Wenatchee also have entered the race for the seat, which is now occupied by U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Pasco.

WEDNESDAY UPDATE: You can find our story from this morning’s paper here.

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