In the News
Fagan says her experience has prepared her for office
Stephanie Smith | KLEW
CLARKSTON - Washington District 9 State Representative candidate, Republican Susan Fagan, is a long time resident of the region and is making her first run for public office.
"The opportunity presented itself, as my good friend Dino Rossi said to me, he was here a couple weeks ago helping me campaign...he said it's to be in the right place at the right time to do good things and I feel that's where I am at this point in my life, and with 15 years of working for the U.S. Senate, I really do understand what it means to serve constituents," said Fagan.
Fagan is a farmer, has worked for three different U.S. Senators, and spent the last 10 years directing community relations for Schweitzer Engineering.
She said agriculture is very important to the 9th District and that she will advocate for local farmers.
"What we really need right now is job growth. Right now we are told we are out of the recession, but we really have a jobless recovery so far and until we can start hiring people and putting people back to work we're not going to get back to a good economy," said Fagan.
Fagan said her experience and knowledge make her the best candidate.
"I would ask the voters to look at my experience, my ability to advocate on their behalf and my knowledge of the issues," said Fagan. "I believe that when they do that they're going to see a person who's ready to serve."
Fagan's opponent is another Republican, Pat Hailey. Washington’s top two primary system dictates that the top two vote getters in the primary face each other in the general election, regardless of party affiliation.
Clarkston duo get up-close look at campaign
Brandon Macz | Lewiston Tribune
Two Clarkston High School students are proving you can never be too young to get involved in politics - even if you can't vote.
Tristan Anderson and Jessica Ubachs accepted a charge from 9th Legislative District Republican candidate Susan Fagan to get young voters excited about politics.
Fagan, a former public/governmental affairs manager at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, led all candidates in the Washington 9th District primary race and stands at 5,728 votes, or almost 29 percent as of Wednesday.
It started with an invitation for the 17-year-old members of the Asotin County Youth Commission to have coffee with Fagan in Clarkston. They were invited to follow her on a door-to-door campaigning session in Spokane last month.
"It was really cool to see her connect with the voters," Ubachs said. "She was just on this personal level."
Anderson and Ubachs returned from a trip to Washington, D.C., in time to join Fagan at a primary election party in Pullman Tuesday, when her lead in the race against four other candidates was announced.
It was an event they had only seen on television, Anderson said, adding it was amazing to be in the thick of it.
"You can tell she's true American," he said.
"Susan was all emotional and had to keep her composure," Ubachs said. "It was really intense."
Anderson joined Ubachs on her family vacation this month to historically political locales, such as Washington D.C., New York City, Gettysburg, Pa., and Philadelphia, where a tour to Independence Hall started with a welcome delay as they saw first lady Michelle Obama and daughters, Sasha and Malia, being escorted out by Secret Service after a private visit.
"The guide kept making jokes about the Obamas being here," Ubachs said, adding she was able to get a picture. "There was a lot of security around."
Ubachs was appointed to the state's Legislative Youth Advisory Council last month by Lt. Gov. Brad Owen, and said she will leave for Olympia Sunday for her first meeting. She will return the day before her senior year starts.
Anderson said he is already busy getting ready for school, adding the assumption that the senior year of high school is easy is untrue. "My classes are booked this year."
Fagan has experience to represent 9th District
The Spokesman-Review
Voters sorting through the menu of legislative candidates in the rural and conservative 9th District will need a better measuring stick than political philosophy. The differences just aren’t great enough to be helpful.
Less regulation, fewer mandates, lower taxes. State Rep. Steve Hailey offered those preferences a year ago when he won the district’s House seat. So did former Rep. Don Cox when he was appointed to serve out the term after Hailey died.
And so do all five candidates (four Republicans and one Republican-turned-Democrat) who are running for the job on the Aug. 18 primary election ballot.
What matters in an ideologically matched field are experience and qualifications, and by those standards three of the five hopefuls stand out.
Among them is Pat Hailey, who is campaigning to assume the office her late husband won a year ago. She has the advantage of having been by his side during much of his legislative work and the life that led him to politics.
Art Swannack, a farmer and lifelong district resident, has a stronger claim than Hailey’s. His resume is varied, including Grange work, roles on the school board and fire commission, and activism in the sheep producers organization.
But the strongest set of credentials belongs to Susan Fagan, former director of public affairs for Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories in Pullman. She understands the economic issues of manufacturing as well as family farming, with which she also has personal experience. As for the job at hand, legislating, she worked in Washington, D.C., for U.S. Sens. Jim McClure, Steve Symms and Larry Craig. That translates more closely to the work she’s seeking than any of the other candidates’ qualifications.
Of the two remaining candidates, neo-Democrat Glen R. Stockwell, who has run for the job before, is still concentrating on the single issue he championed previously, federal completion of the Columbia Basin Project. Darin Watkins farms on the Palouse and has local school board and plan commission experience, but he puts more emphasis on his background as a television journalist.
Susan Fagan has not only the philosophy but the preparation to serve the 9th District in Olympia.
Red County Whitman County (WA) Endorses: Susan Fagan for State Representative
This year's special election to replace Rep. Don Cox (R-Colfax,) who is retiring from the Washington House of Representatives for a second time, has attracted a large and well-qualified slate of candidates. Susan Fagan, Art Swannack, Darin Watkins, Pat Hailey, and Glen Stockwell, bring various backgrounds and talents to the table, but all are long-time residents of the 9th Legislative District who understand the issues we face. Any one of them would make a fine representative in Olympia.
However, one candidate clearly rises to the top of the heap, and that candidate is Susan Fagan. Experience matters in Olympia, with the state budget deficit heading upwards of possibly $10 billion by 2011. Susan will bring that experience. She is incredibly well-connected at the state house. Susan knows the representatives she would be joining on both sides of the aisle, having worked with them extensively during her years as Director of Public Affairs at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories. She understands the issues, the processes, the angles, and the players. Her legislative experience in Washington, DC will also be extremely valuable. Quite simply, Susan will be "Ready on Day One. "
I consider passion to be a key requirement for any elected official. Susan's campiagn this year has demonstrated that she has the enthusiasm and energy needed to serve the people well. In all my years of observing politics on the Palouse, I have never seen a more fired-up candidate or a more organized campaign. Susan quite simply has written the book on how to run for office in this district. The over $59,000 in campaign donations she has raised thus far is very impressive for a non-incumbent and speak well of Susan's dedication to the basics, as well as her reputation. She has embraced the new technologies of the Web, but has not forgotten the time-honored political principle of wearing out shoe leather. Susan is out doorbelling every day in every corner of the district, relying on that most valuable form of contact, the face-to-face kind.
Lastly, I have been privileged to count Susan as a friend for the last ten years, at both SEL where we worked together and the Whitman County Republican Party. I consider Susan to be my closest political confidante, adviser, and mentor. We have bled together, sweat together, and cried together on many different campaigns and causes. When I was on hiatus from blogging earlier this year, Susan was the constant voice urging me to get back into the arena. I know her core beliefs and values, and they match mine exactly. Susan is a tireless advocate for smaller government, less taxes, private property rights, and the business and agricultural community. She carried the banner for the repeal of the state death tax, fought hard against socialized medicine, and spearheaded the fight against Whitman County's rural residential housing ordinance. Susan is a true conservative that we can count on.
Experience counts, passion counts, and character counts. Vote Susan Fagan for Washington 9th Legislative District House of Representatives, Position #1
Fagan leads fundraising for Washington legislative seat
Lewiston Tribune
The five candidates in Washington's 9th Legislative District race have raised almost $94,000 this year, with two political hopefuls accounting for more than 90 percent of that amount.
Susan Fagan of Pullman leads the fundraising category. According to reports filed with the state Public Disclosure Commission, she's collected $53,877 from 259 contributors so far this election cycle. Her expenditures totaled $32,252, with much of that going for yard signs and Web site development.
The 9th District seat was temporarily filled by Don Cox, a Colfax Republican, after Hailey died last December. Cox chose not to run to fill out the remaining year of Hailey's term. The position will come up for election again next year, with its normal two-year term.
Ballots for the Aug. 18 primary will be mailed out July 31. All five candidates will participate, with the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, advancing to the Nov. 3 general election. Stockwell is running as a Democrat; the other four are Republicans
More election news: Lots — LOTS — of interest in two E. WA. House seats…
Richard Roesler | The Spokesman-Review
Very few legislative seats are up for election in this off-year, but there’s tremendous interest in two Eastern Washington spots in the House of Representatives.
Four people have so far filed documents with the state’s Public Disclosure Commission to run for 9th District Rep. Steve Hailey’s old seat representing the Palouse region. Retired Rep. Don Cox was pressed into service as an appointee this year after Hailey died of cancer, but Cox has so far not filed paperwork to run for re-election this fall.
Who has?...Schweitzer Engineering’s Susan Fagan, who scored an early coup getting AG Rob McKenna’s endorsement...
Fagan Receives McKenna Endorsement in the 9th District
9th District state House candidate Susan Fagan has received the endorsement of Washington’s top elected Republican, Attorney General Rob McKenna.
“I'm happy to endorse Susan Fagan for the Legislature. She has a tremendous background, with hands-on experience in high-tech manufacturing and in agriculture,” McKenna said. “That experience, coupled with her 15 years of public service helping citizens cut through government red tape, means Susan is ready to serve. She will hit the ground running, and that's the kind of person we need working for us in Olympia,” he added.
Fagan responded, “I am honored that Rob is endorsing me. He is a smart, dedicated public servant and a leader in our party. His endorsement means a lot to me.”
Fagan, who has raised nearly $40,000 to date, also announced that McKenna will attend her official kickoff.
The June 3rd family-friendly event is at 5:00 p.m. in Pullman. The event will build momentum for the summer parade and doorbelling season.
