Local Legislator On The Hot Seat

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By Chelsea Kopta

Summary

A trio of state representatives came for a series of town hall meetings Saturday, but Representative Shirley Hankins visit was clouded with controversy.

Story Published: Mar 18, 2007 at 6:09 PM PST

A local legislator is in the hot seat for running a controversial business.

A trio of state representatives came for a series of town hall meetings Saturday, but Representative Shirley Hankins visit was clouded with controversy. The city of Richland shut down her family's tire business earlier this year.

With no meetings in Richland, and no one from Richland invited to attend, people began to ask: were the two events connected?

A spokesman for representative Hankins said the meetings had nothing to do with her family's on-going dispute with the city.

Richland leaders started investigating rep. shirley hankin's family business, Northwest Tire Recycling, after neighbors complained the company was baling and stacking tires on their land. The city said the company didn't meet code; so officials shut it down.

So when a trio of Richland Republicans met for town hall meetings in Prosser, West Richland and Kennewick and none took place in Richland, people started to wonder if they avoided Richland intentionally.

"We kind of tried to spread it out so we wouldn't be infringing on too many people's saturday afternoons," said Representative Hankins.

People packed the seats at the West Richland library, a handful of people from Richland. Representative Jerome Delvin said the meetings are a new format they're trying: inviting port officials, school districts and chambers of commerce.

"That kind of covers everything," said Hankins.

"I would suggest that in the future you either get a fourth session to include Richland or get a location where you can specifically invite people from the Richland area," said a Richland neighbor.

Hankins is under investigation right now with the legislative ethics board in Olympia. Her spokesperson did not give any new details about investigation or how long it would last.