His name is Richard Wright.
I live in Doc's 4th Congessional district here in Washington state. Doc won in 04 by an overwhelming majority. His dem opponent run a very mediocre campaign. She even contributed money to the Bush/Cheney campaign. Her excuse was due to her occupation, medical field, she had to play both sides of the fence. Yeah, right!
Anyway, I'll post more updates on Mr. Wright's views as soon as I can. This can be a golden opportunity to unseat Mr. Lapdog.
Kennewick Democrat files again to challenge Hastings
Wright lost in primary in 2004
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KENNEWICK -- A Kennewick Democrat who failed in his effort to unseat U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings last year has filed paperwork to challenge the Pasco Republican again.
Richard Wright, 53, lost in the Democratic primary last year, finishing third with 18 percent of the vote. Sandy Matheson, the winner of the primary, eventually went on to lose handily to Hastings in the general election.
Wright filed papers with the Federal Election Commission on Monday to run again, a full 11 months before the general election. He becomes the first Democrat to enter the race against Hastings next year.
I don't feel like it's early," Wright said. "I feel like the pressure is on."
Hastings is the chairman of the House Ethics Committee and has faced controversy related to whether and how to conduct investigations of fellow Republican Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas and other lawmakers. DeLay has been accused of money laundering -- specifically illegally routing corporate money to Republican political candidates in Texas.
Last year, Wright refused to accept campaign contributions, to illustrate his belief that Congress is too controlled by special interests. He ended up spending $102,000 of his own money.
Wright, who owns Columbia Physical Therapy's chain of clinics, will solicit campaign contributions this time around and said he doesn't believe all politicians are encumbered to their campaign donors.
"I would like to be able to have enough money to compete in this campaign," Wright said.
That could be anywhere from $600,000 to $1.2 million, he said. Hastings raised $670,000 for last year's campaign and had about $310,000 as of Sept. 30 for 2006.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/...
Ethics committee? What ethics committee?
THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Published: December 11th, 2005 02:30 AM
Somebody wake the ethics committee. The U.S. House is burning.
It's been a long slumber for the ethics panel, which nodded off shortly after House Speaker Dennis Hastert banished its chairman for being too willing to reprimand then-Majority Leader Tom DeLay for various misdeeds.
In February, Hastert promoted a Republican party loyalist, Washington's own Doc Hastings, to head the committee. Since then, there has been some partisan bickering over rules and staff, but no real action on the issues that should matter most to the committee, namely ethical ones.
Hastings (R-Pasco) defended the ethics committee's inaction earlier this fall, telling a newspaper in his district, the Yakima Herald-Republic, that the committee didn't have enough resources. But, as the New York Times editorial board pointed out, the committee has received a 40 percent bump in its budget.
The Senate ethics committee -- which was completely staffed all year -- has been equally quiet. But much of the focus of the current ethical scandals is on the House, where there is no lack of work for the ethics committee. Numerous House members are under scrutiny by the Justice Department for their relationships with lobbyists. DeLay has left his leadership post after being indicted for money-laundering, and U.S. Rep. Randy Cunningham (R-Calif.) resigned after pleading guilty to taking $2.4 million in bribes.
http://www.thenewstribune.com/...
Check out Lapdog's voting record here:
http://www.issues2000.org/...