Vice president visits area for Nethercutt

Vice President Dick Cheney will headline a fund-raiser in Bellevue today for Republican Congressman George Nethercutt, who is trying to unseat Democratic Sen. Patty Murray in next year’s election.

On his first visit to Washington since the 2000 campaign, Cheney will also spend time with service members at McChord Air Force Base near Tacoma.

Both McChord and nearby Fort Lewis have been involved in U.S. operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Crews on McChord-based C-17 cargo planes flew missions to and from Afghanistan after Sept. 11, 2001, transporting everything from al-Qaida prisoners to humanitarian rations.

Last month some 5,000 soldiers from the inaugural Stryker brigade shipped out from Fort Lewis for a year in Iraq.

Cheney will speak at the $500-a-plate dinner at the Hyatt Regency Bellevue hotel for Nethercutt’s senatorial campaign, which was announced in Spokane on Friday.

"It’s a great honor," Nethercutt campaign spokeswoman Mary Lane said. "It’s the vice president and the Bush administration showing their support for George Nethercutt and his candidacy, so we’re very, very excited that the vice president decided to come here."

Nethercutt, 58, was a Spokane attorney before toppling then-House Speaker Tom Foley for the congressional seat in 1994.

When he filed to run against Murray, Nethercutt estimated the race would cost as much as $10 million. As of Sept. 30, the most recent figures available, Nethercutt had $240,000 in his campaign accounts, compared with $3.3 million for Murray, The News Tribune of Tacoma reported Saturday.

Anti-war, abortion rights and other groups plan to protest outside the hotel, where contributors at the $4,000 and $8,000 level can have their pictures taken with Cheney at a pre-reception event.

State Democratic Party chairman Paul Berendt said the Republicans hold events such as today’s McChord visit to justify the federal government paying for fund-raising trips.

"I don’t begrudge the troops the chance to see the vice president," Berendt told The News Tribune, "but let’s not deceive ourselves. This trip is about raising money for George Nethercutt."

Nethercutt has won endorsements from the state Republican Party and many of the state’s top elected Republicans.

Reed Davis, a Seattle Pacific University professor who is challenging Nethercutt in the September 2004 primary, said Republican officials are trying to cut voters out of the process.

State Republican Chairman Chris Vance has supported endorsement of Nethercutt, as well as Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi of Sammamish, even though both have primary opposition.

Vance told the paper that Cheney is coming today because national Republicans believe they have a chance in 2004 to win Washington for Bush, Nethercutt and Rossi.

"This is exactly why I have been so insistent about us uniting behind one candidate early," he said. "If we had not endorsed Nethercutt, then Cheney would not be doing this event for him."

President Bush attended a $2,000-a-person fund-raising luncheon in suburban Hunts Point in August, where he raised $1.7 million for the Bush-Cheney 2004 re-election effort.

The vice president is due back in Washington state Jan. 13 for a fund-raising luncheon in Seattle for the state Republican Party.