Rep. Klippert and challenger Regev at odds over COVID, splitting the state and church rights

Rep. Brad Klippert is facing his second challenge from Shir Regev for his 8th Legislative District seat.

But her second campaign against the Kennewick conservative has significant new issues since she last ran for the position in 2018, Regev said.

The two disagree on the state’s approach to the coronavirus pandemic and also have opposing stands on abortion rights, which may become a state rather than federal issue, she said.

In the 2018 election Klippert, a Republican, received 66% of the vote to the 34% for Regev, a Democrat. In the August primary this summer the vote was nearly the same, with 67% of the votes for Klippert and 33% for Regev.

Freedom of religion

Klippert, who is running for a seventh term, was a host of the Calvary Chapel Tri-Cities worship protest on Sept. 26.

People gathered outdoors, with photos showing many not wearing face coverings or social distancing, to call for an end to restrictions on religious gatherings during the COVID pandemic.

“The Constitution, when it spells out our religious freedom, it does not say that these rights stop when somebody gets sick,” Klippert, a licensed minister, said during a Tri-City Herald editorial board.

The state and U.S. Constitution say citizens have an absolute freedom to worship as the choose, he said.

Regev responded that people have a right to worship, but not the right to spread a deadly virus.

“I do value the freedom to worship very, very deeply and you can still congregate, but congregate safely and have online services,” she said, noting that while serving in the Navy she was a lay Jewish leader.

“It is one thing to worship God and another to play god,” she said.

Coronavirus pandemic

Klippert gives Democrat Gov. Jay Inslee a failing grade for his handling of the pandemic, saying the governor has done “a horrible job.”

Klippert says very low percentages of Washington residents have died from COVID or even been hospitalized. According to the state, 2,190 residents have died of complications of COVID-19, or about .03%.

The numbers do not qualify as an emergency, he said.

“So for the governor to continue to tell people what to wear, who can work, who can’t work, who can got to school, who can’t go is totally and completely unacceptable,” he said.

While the governor has a moratorium against the death penalty for people, he is letting hundreds of small businesses die after people invested their life savings, he said.

Regev gave the governor an A- for his handling of the pandemic.

It is a mark of success that Washington state was able to flatten the curve of COVID cases, even though it had the first outbreak in the United States.

“It is hard to knock someone for trying to navigate through something unprecedented,” she said.

However, she would have allowed small businesses to open sooner, saying they provide the same services as big box store that remained open as essential services.

Benton County has to take some responsibility for resistance to wearing masks and social distancing and now being one of just five of the state’s 39 counties that has not progressed past modified Phase 1 of reopening, she said.

Higher population counties like King County are in Phase 2, but it is not a political issue, she said. Ferry County, home to conservative candidate for governor, Republican Loren Culp, is in Phase 3 of reopening.

Abortion

With the possibility that Amy Coney Barrett could be confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Roe v. Wade decision could be overturned, leaving states in control of abortion laws, Regev said.

Regev supports the right of a woman to control her own body, while Klippert says he will protect the life of a “child within the womb.”

Law enforcement

Klippert, a Benton County sheriff’s deputy, says his law enforcement experience, brings valuable insight to the state Legislature. He often sponsors law enforcement bills and cosponsors anti-crime bills with Democrats and Republicans.

He believes people should not take over parts of cities, as happened with the Capital Hill Organized Protest, or CHOP, in Seattle.

Regev says she supports law enforcement, but believes equitable policing doesn’t always exist.

“I have no problem saying Black Lives Matter,” she said.

She criticized Klippert for sponsoring House bill 1157, which would have given individual counties the choice not to implement or enact any part of a statewide initiative.

“Once you begin to choose which law you are going to follow, that is when the fabric of society starts to crumble,” she argued.

But Klippert countered that there has long been discretion in enforcing laws.

As a sheriff’s deputy he does not write every ticket or make every arrest that he could, he said.

He gave the example of recently letting a speeder at the Hanford nuclear reservation go without a citation, even though he could have issued $800 in tickets for speeding, not having a valid insurance card in the vehicle and other violations.

Regev also criticized Klippert’s co-sponsorship of a bill to split Washington state into two states, with Eastern Washington freed from the politics of of Western Washington to pursue its own conservative agenda.

Regev said it would economically devastate Eastern Washington, and that a person who does not support the state of Washington should not be sent to Olympia to pass the legislation it operates under.

About Klippert, Regev

Klippert, 63, is a commander in the Washington state National Guard in addition to his law enforcement job. He has a master’s degree in education.

He says his largest campaign contributions have come from the Washington Affordable Housing Council, the Potato Political Action Committee and the Washington Dental PAC.

Regev, 46, of Richland, is a health physics technician at the Hanford site and has a bachelor’s degree from Washington State University.

She says her largest campaign contributions have come from the Win With Women PAC, the Washington state Democrats and the Harry Truman Fund.

This story was originally published October 13, 2020 at 10:19 AM.