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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closeAs we suspected yesterday Rob Welch plans to announce his Republican campaign against state Rep. Larry Haler, R-Richland, at noon today.
He sent out a brief advisory this morning that talked of “more efficient, less intrusive, government” and making the state more business friendly and safer.
His campaign website can be found here. There’s not much on it so far.
UPDATE: I just got a copy of the campaign speech Welch will make at noon and it looks like he's going to go right at Haler. Three things stand out. Welch compares their tenures on the City Council, even bringing up the subject of the controversial controversial construction of new city shops way back when.
He also questions whether Haler is fiscally conservative enough. He points to 43 budget votes Haler has cast with only eight of them being no votes. That can probably be easily refuted, especially if that figure includes noncontroversial construction and transportation budgets that often draw near unanimous votes. I've just checked and Haler voted no on final passage for all four operating budgets approved by the Legislature since he's been in office. Those are the budgets that Republicans have criticized for driving up state spending.
Welch also jabs Haler for voting for 2005's gas tax and vehicle fee bill that provided $8.5 billion for transportation projects.
I'll likely have more later.
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