In the circles of Hell reserved for politicians there is a special place for those pols who were specifically charged with fighting corruption and chose instead, to enable it.
John McCain is one of those politicians and so is Doc Hastings.
The ethically challenged Doc Hastings has been in Congress since 1994 and his career is highlighted by his extreme dedication to Tom DeLay and the Leaders of his Party. As for the people of his District, they are just the chumps who keep sending him back to Washington no matter how little he does for them. This year, his luck may be about to run out.
The WA-04 is shaping up to be a very interesting race. Right now it is rated as being Safe Republican, but I have a hunch that this is one of the long-shot races that could suddenly become very competitive.
A fired-up Democratic base, a very corrupt Republican, a great Democratic Candidate and the unique "Top Two" Primary on August 19 create an opportunity for real change.
To the jump...
Richard Hastings is not a real Doctor (unless you count his honorary Doctorate in Flim-flam from the DeLay/Abramoff Institute of Political Graft—I believe his thesis was on keeping your hand out and your eyes closed, but I digress). No, "Doc" is the folksy handle this toilet paper manufacture has affected to connect with the "little people" of central Washington.
He gets their votes year after year, but his actions in Congress have always been on behalf of corporate interests and whatever Tom DeLay or the active leadership of his Party ordered him to do.
Doc Hastings is the quintessential "YES" man. Since 1995, he has been a perfect Republican back bencher, following orders and happily collecting his payoffs. He was one of the first Members to work with Abramoff back when Jack became a declared lobbyist in 1995 and Jack helped to make sure that Hastings’ campaign coffers was well funded. The money gave Hastings the edge to hold onto the seat in a competitive 1996 election.
After that, the WA-04 became a safe seat for Hastings and the GOP. It was one of those Red Districts were the Democrats just didn’t compete. Sure, we would run a candidate, but they would be under-resourced and completely on their own. Cycle after cycle Doc would be re-elected without ever having to explain his record of inaction to the voters in his District. He was never challenged.
That started to change in 2006.
Richard Wright took Hastings on and held him to under 60%. It was the closest race Doc was in since 1996 and Wright showed that Doc could be beat.
This year, the Democratic candidate is George Fearing. He is a Democrat who is not afraid to challenge the Republicans on the issues and their tired conservative rhetoric. His recent speech to the Washington State Democratic Convention gives you an idea of what kind of voice he would be in the Congress:
"I do not appreciate the religious right’s monopolization of the term pro-life, because as a Democrat I am pro-life.
I am a pro-life Democrat who does not want unnecessary wars that kill young American heroes and innocent Iraqi civilians. I am a pro-life Democrat who believes America has an obligation to provide first class health care and mental health services to our returning veterans to preserve their lives and America has an obligation to pay for a college education for our veterans.
I am a pro-life Democrat who wants working families to receive decent living wages and to spend leisure time with their families and I recognize the need for strong labor unions to insure working family wages. I am a pro-life Democrat who wants all Americans to receive proper health care.
I am a pro-life Democrat who recognizes the intrinsic value of everyone’s life and that each life is of equal value. I am a pro-life Democrat who believes a woman should control her own life and body, including making reproductive decisions with her physician without the interference of the government."
George Fearing is taking his message of change to the citizens of the WA-04. For more than twelve years they have had a Congressman who puts his Party loyalty ahead of the needs of his District. It is time for a change and that message is getting through.
In the first quarter of this year, Fearing actually outraised Hastings. Overall, Hasting still raised more cash ($271,197), but Fearing had shown he could compete ($102,253). With your help, he could top $150,000 by the end of the second quarter. Here is his Act Blue page (you know what to do).
Money is part of the reason that I think this race could break out, but the key is the August 19 Primary. Washington State has a unique system. They call it a "Top Two" Primary and it pretty much is self-descriptive:
The two candidates who receive the most votes in the primary qualify for the general election.
Every candidate who qualifies is on the same August Primary ballot. In the WA-04 there are three candidates in the race: Hastings, Fearing and a second Republican.
In the 2006 "Top Two" Primary Hastings got 55,000 votes and Wright got 22,000 and in the 2006 General Election, Hastings got 115,000 votes and Wright got 77,000. One wonders what a fired-up Democratic electorate could do in the WA-04 this year. The Presidential Primary may give us an indication.
On February 19, Washington State held their Primary. Keep in mind that the Washington State Democrats decided their delegates in a caucus, while Republicans used the Primary to pick their candidate. It was a straw poll for Democrats and a real contest for Republicans, so guess which Party had the greater turnout? Yep, it was the Democrats. Statewide turn-out for GOP was 529,932, but Democrats were more fired-up and brought out 691,381 voters. In the WA-04 the turnout exposed Hastings’ weakness in this cycle: 53,931 people voted in the nonbinding Democratic Presidential
Primary while 73,995 Republicans came out to vote in their active Primary.
If the Democrats who voted in the February Primary show up for the August "Top Two" Primary, Doc Hastings and the Republican Party could be dealt a major surprise. In the 2006 "Top Two" Primary, Hasting got 55,000 votes. If George Fearing were to match or beat that this August, Hasting would be severely wounded and the WA-04 would quickly move to a more competitive status.
More than that, the unique August 19 Primary in Washington State provides two opportunities to knock the GOP back on their heals just as the Fall campaign gets ready to start. National focus is already on the WA-08 and the too close to call rematch between Darcy Burner and Dave Reichert. Outpolling Reichert in the "Top Two" Primary by a wide margin would have many in the GOP giving Reichert up for dead. A surprise in the WA-04 could add to the GOP’s woes.
These Districts are side by side and provide Washington State Democrats and the Obama Campaign and excellent opportunity to test volunteers and the GOTV effort in advance of November. And if we can force the RNCC to spend more money on a two Primary elections in August, well that’s just plain fun.
George Fearing is raising money to be competitive (you can help here), and the stats in the District show a pathway to victory. I’ve seen internal polls that show he could win solidly—if he can raise the money to compete. And we are not talking about a lot of money, the WA-04 is a fairly inexpensive media market, a little can go a long way—especially with a people-powered grassroots campaign (again, you can help here).
I would like to see us win this seat because Doc Hastings is corrupt. We can never clean-up Washington while he is in the Congress. It is time for him to go.
When Jack Abramoff was establishing himself as the new GOP prototype lobbyist in the mid 1990s, Hastings was there to help. He was one of Jack’s key Congressmen of the Resources Committee in the 104th Congress. He was one of the Congressmen who met directly with Jack; here is an example from 1996:
When Jack was exposed in 2004, his scandal became just one of many corruption scandals circling Tom DeLay. In 2004 the Ethics Committee was led by Joel Hefley of Utah and he had tried to slap DeLay’s wrist over the Hammer’s many violations. When DeLay organized the House in 2005, he made sure to replace Hefley of the Ethics Committee with a loyal "YES" man:
It began in January when Republicans pushed through rules that substantially changed the way it operates. Democrats bitterly insist the changes make it more difficult to investigate alleged abuses. More explicitly, they say the new rules were invoked to protect DeLay, who was admonished three times last year by the committee.
Three of DeLay's close associates in Texas have been indicted by a grand jury, and DeLay is under fire in Washington for taking foreign trips that may have been financed by clients of a lobbyist.
Inflaming their anger even more was a decision by Hastert to replace last year's chairman, Joel Hefley of Utah, and three Republican members. Democrats -- and even some Republicans -- called it a purge of independent Republicans who might have sanctioned DeLay. Hastert said it was a regular rotation of a chairman who had served for six years.
Hastings, who served on the committee, was named chairman, and three new members were appointed. Critics said Hastings and the new members were selected because they were more loyal to the leadership. Two of the new members, Lamar Smith of Texas and Tom Cole of Oklahoma, donated money to DeLay's legal defense fund. A third new member, Melissa Hart of Pennsylvania, has forged a tight bond with DeLay.
Once Hastings was in charge he quickly removed all the experienced staff from the committee. The action was condemned by many, including the Campaign Legal Center:
Rep. Doc Hastings has gotten his tenure as the new Ethics Committee Chairman off to a truly disappointing start.
According to reports, Chairman Hastings has chosen to purge the nonpartisan committee staff as one of his first official acts. Given the other steps the leadership has taken recently, it's difficult to see his decision to fire two top staffers as anything but another nail in the coffin of the Ethics Committee.
The ethics process is now effectively controlled by the House Republican leadership. First, the Ethics Committee's membership was recently purged, and now Chairman Hastings has reportedly decided to purge the professional, nonpartisan staff members who served at the time.
Hastings made sure that as scandals rocked the Congress, nobody would investigate anything. Like Sergeant Schultz, his motto was "I see nothing...I see nothing..."
And then Doc was involved in the US Attorney firing scandal and I’ve already mentioned the money he took from Team Abramoff.
Yep, Richard "Doc" Hastings has got to go. And Hastings is worried. He had Karl Rove in for a fundraiser in March and John Boehner is coming out to the district next Monday to headline a high dollar donor event for Doc. The GOP internal polls on the WA-04 must be giving the GOP some serious angst.
The good news is that we may have a golden opportunity to show him the door and give him the boot. George Fearing is a strong Democratic candidate. He will need our support to win, but he can win. Volunteer, Donate and give this race some netroots oxygen.
This would be a sweet victory in November.
Cheers