By Dennis Box

The Courier-Herald

The 31st Legislative District race for Position 2 in the state House of Representatives is being run on issues, and most of them involve Chris Hurst.

Hurst, a Democrat and a Greenwater resident, is challenging two-term incumbent Republican Jan Shabro of Lake Tapps.

Hurst held the seat from 1998 to 2002, when he chose not to run for family reasons.

Since the Sept. 19 primary, the campaign has taken a hardball turn with the state Republican Party sending out a mailing recalling a political flare up between the Washington Council of Police and Sheriffs (WACOPS) and the Washington State Law Enforcement Association (WSLEA) during Hurst's 2000 campaign for the Legislature

The party followed the mailing with a &#8220robo” or automated call to district citizens, urging them to not vote for Hurst.

In both the mailing and robo call, the Republican Party called Hurst &#8220unethical, deceptive and manipulative.”

Hurst countered with both a mailing and full-page newspaper ads with a letter from Bill Hanson, executive director of WACOPS. Those ads endorsed Hurst, called the GOP mailing a &#8220hit piece” and referred to WSLEA as &#8220not representative of rank and file, full-time law enforcement officers.”

In 2000, when Hurst was running against Republican Steve Hammond for the Position 2 seat in the House of Representatives, a political battle erupted between WACOPS and WSLEA. The two organizations are lobbying firms that represent the interests of police officers and agencies in Olympia.

According to sources in both WACOPS and WSLEA, the conflict started when WSLEA refused to endorse Hurst. WACOPS put pressure on WSLEA. Members from WSLEA were given a copy of a campaign manual written by Hurst.

Hurst said the manual, outlining campaign tactics for candidates, was brutal and honest in places.

&#8220It had difficult things in it,” Hurst said &#8220I didn't mean for this to go into the general public. I apologized. I said I was wrong.”

In 2000, WSLEA wrote a letter denouncing Hurst for the tactics described in the manual and a copy of the letter was sent to the local media.

The WSLEA letter was used in the current Republican mailing and referred to in the automated phone call.

Hurst blames Shabro for the Republican campaign against him.

&#8220I'm disappointed in Jan,” Hurst said. &#8220I thought she would have had more integrity. This is a hit piece out of the Shabro campaign.”

Shabro said she was not aware the Republican Party was sending out the mailings or phone call.

&#8220I was just as surprised as anyone,” Shabro said. &#8220My campaign is always positive.”

Republican Party Chairwoman Diane Tebelius said the pieces were authorized by her and sent out and paid for by the party without notifying Shabro.

&#8220I never called her (Shabro),” Tebelius said. &#8220Absolutely not. But if I had, she would have told me no. I did it because this is information that needed to be before the public. I sent them out because they are true.”

According to Hurst, polls from the Democrat side have indicated Shabro cannot beat him &#8220unless they tarnish me on other issues.”

Hurst said the mailing and robo call were meant to discredit him as a police officer. He retired this year as a police detective from the Black Diamond force after a 25-year career.

Hurst points out the support of &#82204,800 full-time law enforcement officers” from WACOPS, but he does not state in his ads and mailings WACOPS is a lobbying organization.

According to Hanson, individual officers do not join WACOPS, but membership comes from police agency guilds. An officer joins the police guild in his department when he joins the force.

The WACOPS Web site list Enumclaw, Buckley and Sumner as delegates, but not the Bonney Lake Police Department.

Hurst called WSLEA a &#8220fake police organization” with a Republican agenda.

Mike Matson, executive vice president of WSLEA, said the organization was formed in 1968 from the merger of the Peace Officers Association and Deputy Sheriffs' Association to fight for a pension system for officers in small agencies.

Matson said he had no idea the Republican Party was using the six-year old material in this year's campaign.

&#8220We are a victim of a cross-fire between Hurst and the state Republican Party,” Matson said. &#8220What did we do to be drug into this situation? Now we're being criticized by Chris Hurst. The Republican Party drug our good name into this and we are thinking about doing something about it.”

Matson defended the organization as a legitimate lobbying and educational organization properly listed with the state.

&#8220I've been with them for 18 years and I'm proud of this organization,” Matson said.

Hanson said he had no issue with WSLEA as long as it does not claim a membership as large as WACOPS.

When Hurst was asked if he would push for an investigation of WSLEA if elected he said, &#8220We'll see. No comment at this time. I believe the Attorney General's office is replete with fundraising abnormalities (from WSLEA).”

Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@courierherald.com.