MONTESANO — A Grays Harbor County chiropractor will announce his candidacy this week for the state House of Representatives seat being vacated by Rep. Lynn Kessler.
Jack Dwyer, who operates Nature’s Way Chiropractic in Montesano, told Aberdeen radio station KBKW that “one of the problems I think our politicians today have had is that we don’t listen to people. We come in with our preconceived notions about what people want, instead of listening to what the need first.”
Dwyer said he greatly appreciates everything Kessler has done for the 24th District, which covers Clallam and Jefferson counties and a portion of Grays Harbor County.
“I hope that I can continue her positions and her history, particularly regarding jobs on the [Grays] Harbor,” Dwyer said.
Filing for the August primary is in June, and the top two vote-getters regardless of political party will face off in the November general election.
Dwyer, if he files, joins announced candidate Larry Carter of Port Ludlow, a retired Navy master chief petty officer who had announced his intention to run against Kessler before she bowed out earlier this month. He reiterated his candidacy at a Tea Party rally April 15.
Clallam County Commissioner Steve Tharinger, D-Dungeness, has said he is weighing a run at the House seat, but he would keep his “day job,” the county post, if he was elected to the part-time Legislature. Tharinger is not expected to announce a final decision until mid-May.
Kessler, D-Hoquiam, who is also House majority leader, announced on the House floor as it was adjourning its 2010 extended session early April 13 that she will not seek re-election, ending 18 years in the Legislature.
In an interview this week, Kessler said she is truly retiring and has spurned job offers to be a lobbyist in Olympia.
