There's no doubt about it: Republican Doc Hastings has a good gig going as Washington's 4th District representative in Congress. And it's going to get even better since he's almost assured of re-election to his eighth two-year term on Nov. 4. His opponent this time is Democrat George Fearing, an attorney who lived in Kennewick before moving to Yakima during the campaign. We find ourselves in the same predicament this year as four years ago: We'll recommend Hastings for re-election because we can't in good faith recommend his opponent. Fearing is a pleasant person and, as far as we know, untainted by scandal. We just don't think he's a good fit. Members of the House of Representatives and Senate have an annual salary of $169,300. First, transparency: We invited both Hastings and Fearing to a joint interview for endorsement purposes. Fearing accepted. The incumbent, as he did two years ago, declined the invitation, saying he did not seek the Yakima Herald-Republic's endorsement. That's fine. He's going to get it anyway. But by default, because we're not impressed with a seven-term congressman who still seems more intent on representing his party than all of the people in the 4th District. He continues to be a follower on key issues that cry out for the decisive, aggressive leadership that simply is not there. Besides, we've accepted the fact that Hastings' comfort zone does not stretch much beyond his home base in the Tri-Cities in such matters as endorsements, which explains why he would sit down in a joint interview with his hometown Tri-City Herald. That's no reflection on the folks at the Herald; they're doing their jobs, too. Maybe Hastings just thinks the district boundary ends at the Franklin County line. As for Fearing, he doesn't have the firepower or passion to unseat the incumbent. He rambles in discussing issues, en route to sometimes unrealistic positions. For example, he would scrap the market-driven health-care system and replace it with a universal, single-payer system. That might have something to recommend it in a perfect world, but in the reality of congressional politics not even the veteran icon Sen. Ted Kennedy or the Clintons have been able to pull off that one. On immigration reform, Fearing lost more credibility. While we agree with him on sealing the southern border to halt illegal immigration, we question the wisdom of bringing troops home from Iraq so we could have them militarize that border. He also favors letting more immigrants in legally, while opposing a guest worker program. That smacks of amnesty, which is a rallying cry that will be a major roadblock in any meaningful effort at reforms. We continue to support securing the border, a meaningful guest-worker program and a realistic path to citizenship as key reform elements. Fearing does have some credible observations about the shortcomings of the incumbent -- that he's not a leader on issues most important to the district, such as agriculture, immigration and energy policy. We agree that the 4th District representative should be a vocal leader in Hanford cleanup efforts, which are now way behind and chewing up billions of dollars as deadlines are constantly kicked ahead. Hastings has indeed been vocal on that issue. We call upon him again for a lot more visibility in the Yakima Valley and aggressive leadership in agriculture and immigration. So it's Doc for re-election. Again. And when it happens, let us be among the first to admonish the Democratic party in the district for once again showing a dysfunctional side that has allowed these Hastings cakewalks to happen far too often since he was first elected in 1994.   * Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Sarah Jenkins, Bill Lee and Karen Troianello.   There's no doubt about it: Republican Doc Hastings has a good gig going as Washington's 4th District representative in Congress. And it's going to get even better since he's almost assured of re-election to his eighth two-year term on Nov. 4. His opponent Opinion, LOCAL

2008-10-15T23:44:00Z

2008-10-17T04:28:07Z

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4th District House of Representatives: It's Hastings by default, again 8536 4th-district-house-of-representatives-it-s-hastings-by-default-again Web Story

Yakima Herald-Republic

2008-10-17T05:12:00Z

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v"Listen to the editorial board recording":http://yakimaherald.com/audio/audio/fearing.MP3

10/17/08 Fri Opinion Doc Hastings published Web Daily

2008-10-17T06:36:10Z