Fearing offers his goals as reasons to elect him to Congress

Supported by former Republican congressman

MOSES LAKE - Fourth District Congressional Candidate George Fearing, D-Kennewick, visited the Columbia Basin to talk about his bid for election.

"I don't have any agenda other than to work in the best interest of the people in Central Washington," Fearing said.

Fearing brought with him former Republican Congressman Pete McCloskey, whose family embraced the Republican party for four generations.

McCloskey said he changed parties because he believed there was corruption while Fearing's incumbent Doc Hastings, R-Pasco, served on the ethics committee. His decision was also fueled by Hastings' vote against a GI Bill.

Fearing said if he is elected, he will not serve on Congress' ethics committee. Instead, he will serve on the agriculture and energy committees, which he claims his opponent has not done in his 14 years as a congressman.

"We need a leader on agriculture and energy issues," Fearing said. "That's what this district is all about."

Fearing claims when Hastings was chair of the ethics committee in 2005, he tried to make Congressional Chief-of-Staff Ed Cassidy the committee's chief of staff, which was against the rules of the committee.

"Democrats refused to have that happen, and so the committee was shut down for seven months," Fearing said.

While the committee was shut down, charges and indictments against Congressman Tom DeLay arose in Texas, Fearing said. Hastings did not have the committee investigate the charges, choosing to dismiss them as politically driven, Fearing claims.

Fearing said Congressmen Bob Ney of Ohio and Duke Cunningham of California were reportedly receiving bribes from military contractors, and Mark Foley of Florida was in the midst of a scandal of his own.

Ney pleaded guilty of corruption for his dealings with Jack Abramoff in 2006, according to The Washington Post newspaper.

Cunningham retired after allegations were made of him accepting bribes and inappropriate dealings with military contractors in 2005, according to CNN.

Foley admitted to sending inappropriately sexual messages to an underage page, according to The Washington Post newspaper.

McCloskey noted the ethics committee is bi-partisan, with five members of each party serving on the committee.

"By refusing to hold any hearings, Doc Hastings was able to block any investigations of any kind during this period of time," McCloskey added. "I hold him almost solely responsible for what the Republican debacle was that year in 2006. If he'd acted in 2005 the Republicans might still control the Congress."

"Hastings had a golden opportunity as the chair of the ethics committee, to force the House of Representatives to finally come clean," Fearing added. "And his inaction perpetuated this corruption that was going on in the House of Representatives."

Fearing said he does not want to spend his campaign emphasizing Hastings' work on the ethics committee.

He spoke of his desire to serve on the agriculture and energy committees in Congress.

"Our Central Washington is an agriculture and an energy center," Fearing said. "I want to change our trade agreements so that our growers can have an opportunity to compete worldwide. We need alternate energy to get us off our dependence on foreign oil and to reduce global warming."

He said Washington could be an alternate energy center, with the availability of nuclear power, a solar panel manufacturing facility, the Columbia River, plenty of sun, and wind. Alternative energy can bring the Columbia Basin family-wage jobs, Fearing said.

He spoke of a desire to clean up the Hanford site, which Fearing said is second only to Chernobyl in its level of radiological contamination.

The contamination cleanup would bring family-wage jobs to the area and would secure the health and security of the area, Fearing said.

Fearing said growers in China do not have to pay workers minimum wage, or follow the same environmental or safety laws as growers in Central Washington.

"They can compete unfairly against our growers here," Fearing said. "We should have trade agreements that impose the same worker safety rules, the same minimum wage laws, the same environmental laws upon the other countries, or else we should not accept their goods into our nation."

He said it applies not only to growers, but to manufacturers as well.

In the Tri-Cities, asparagus has been "essentially wiped out" as a crop because of the United States' trade agreement with South America, Fearing said.

Fearing said Hastings never served on the agriculture or energy committees.

"The Republican congressman before him, Sid Morrison, was on the agriculture committee," he said. "And if a congressman is going to serve his district he ought to be on those committees that are best for the district. His being on the ethics committee has not done any help for Central Washington."

Fearing said he is in line with Hastings in supporting Wenatchee Valley Medical Center's ability to exist in its present form. The center, which operates Moses Lake Clinic and Royal City Clinic, has been speaking against bills seeking to stop doctor-owned facilities from receiving Medicare and Medicaid payments.

"In my view, I would prefer local doctors to own the facility than some corporation in Louisville, Ky., such as Humana Corporation," Fearing said.

Fearing, who was born in Illinois into a ministerial family and lived in Walla Walla, West Virginia and Spokane, is now an attorney in Kennewick.

He said he has represented Grant County, Moses Lake, police officers, sheriffs and employees.

He has worked in the Tri-Cities as an attorney for 25 years and served on the Washington State Bar Association Disciplinary Board.

As an attorney, Fearing said he sets aside personal interests.

He said it is in his nature to listen to others.

"Despite my talking a lot here, my disposition is usually to remain quiet and to listen to people," Fearing said.

Fearing went on a leave-of-absence from his law firm in June, and he plans to leave the law firm if he is elected to Congress.