June 15th, 2009
by Pat Muir
Yakima Herald-Republic
YAKIMA, Wash. — State Rep. David Taylor, R-Moxee, has raised $4,550 so far in his race to retain his 15th District seat — $4,550 more than either of his two Democratic challengers, according to the Public Disclosure Commission filings.
Neither of the Democrats, John Gotts of White Salmon and Donicio Marichalar of Grandview, has even registered with the PDC yet. Candidates have two weeks to register after they enter the race, which would mean the deadline for Gotts and Marichalar is Friday.
It will be interesting to see whether state party money comes in for any of the candidates. Back in late March, local political insiders were guessing that up to $150,000 would be spent in the race with state party money making up a large part of that.
But now with Gotts, who lost handily when he ran for the state House last year, and the relatively unknown Marichalar as the Democratic candidates it’s possible the state parties will decide their money can be better spent elsewhere.
There are only two other legislative races in Washington this year, in the 9th and 16th districts, and they’re both expected to be hotly contested. The money already being raised in those races — five different candidates vying for those seats have raised at least $23,000, according to the PDC — make our little 15th District race seem rather ho-hum by comparison.
We’ll see if that changes.
- Pat Muir
May 6th, 2009
by Pat Muir
Yakima-Herald Republic
Surprising nobody, state Rep. David Taylor, R-Moxee, has filed his candidate registration to retain his seat this fall.
Taylor, appointed in March to replace Dan Newhouse after Newhouse became director of the state Agriculture Department, was chosen in part based on his electability.
Now he’ll get to test that electability.
Taylor hasn’t held a public campaign kickoff as some candidates do, but he is officially in the race. He filed his C1 form — candidate registration — with the state Public Disclosure Commission on April 29.
Some interesting tidbits from that form:
• Taylor’s middle name is Vincent.
• His campaign treasurer is Michele Mulhair, who is also the treasurer for the Yakima County Republican Party.
• His wife, Molly Taylor, is listed as his “personal advisor.”
So far nobody has filed to run against Taylor.
The only other state House seats up for election this year, in the 9th and 16th districts, also had midterm replacements.
- Pat Muir
April 26th, 2009
by PAT MUIR
Yakima Herald-Republic
OLYMPIA, Wash. — New state Rep. David Taylor was once kicked in the head by a bull.
While that’s no more than a sensational detail in the 37-year-old Moxee Republican’s story, it speaks to the way Taylor grew up and the forces that shaped his political beliefs. His is an Ellensburg story, and in Ellensburg stories sometimes people get kicked in the head by bulls.
Long before commissioners from the 15th Legislative District’s four counties — Yakima, Klickitat, Skamania and Clark — picked him to replace Dan Newhouse in Olympia, Taylor was a rodeo man. The kick came in the last rodeo of the 1993 season. Taylor, then a 21-year-old Central Washington University student and part-time bull rider, finished his 8-second ride when things started to go wrong.
“I was into the rope, and I was in trouble,” he said Thursday by phone from his Olympia office, as he prepared for the end of the regular legislative session Sunday.
Caught up in his rope, he found himself attached to an angry bull that first took him down and then kicked him. This was in the days before bull riders took to wearing helmets, and Taylor ended up in the hospital. To make matters worse, he finished that ride just out of the money.
“I finished seventh,” he said, laughing. “They paid six.”
Click to continue reading “New 15th District Rep. David Taylor scores a bull’s-eye”
April 1st, 2009
by Joe Turner
The News Tribune
State Rep. David Taylor, R-Moxee, arrived yesterday, giving the House a full complement of 98 members. He’s replacing former Rep. Dan Newhouse, whom Gov. Chris Gregoire appointed to the post of state Secretary of Agriculture.
I was wondering why all the vote totals on House bills were adding up to only 97 all session long and was told yesterday that we’ve been down at least one representative all session long. Lawmakers also were waiting for local officials to choose replacements for Reps. Bill Grant and Steve Hailey, both of whom died in recent months.
Taylor, 37, was appointed to the 15th Legislative District seat on Monday, and was sworn into office by Klickitat County Superior Court Judge E. Thompson Reynolds.
