Tank-Rider Randy Tate Not Afraid To Do A Dukakis

Tanks for the memories: One of the best things about politicians is that they never learn. (We're speaking from the Political Notebook's perspective, not that of campaign strategists.)

You'll recall the most ill-fated photo-op of the 1988 presidential campaign: Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis tooling around in an Army tank, looking even dorkier than he did in his blue suits. George Bush laughed all the way to the White House.

Well, on April 19, an Army photographer captured U.S. Rep. Randy Tate, R-Puyallup, in Full Dukakis - camouflage clothing, helmet and a wide, wide grin - bounding around Fort Lewis on an M1A1 Abrams tank.

Among the other local lawmakers touring the facility was Rep. Linda Smith, R-Hazel Dell, who also took a ride but declined the uniform and helmet. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Bremerton, settled for having his picture snapped next to a bunch of assault weapons.

The ever-stylish Rep. Jennifer Dunn, R-Bellevue, showed the best political sense by staying as far away from a tank, military clothing and the camera as possible.

Out of joint: Tate was sporting different attire last week - a neck brace. He awoke Monday morning and couldn't move his neck because of pain. His press secretary, Ron Reese, described the problem as a tear or muscle strain resulting from old wrestling, football and car-wreck injuries incurred while the congressman was in high school and college. Tate was scheduled to visit his family doctor this weekend during a trip back to the 9th District.

How about the time that . . . Mike Lowry and Bill Clinton will have dinner together Monday night in Portland, on the eve of a Pacific Rim economic conference. And inquiring minds want to know, will the guv ask the prez for advice on how to deal with those nasty allegations of sexual harassment?

And we'll be watching to see if the two appear in public, and if the photo-op becomes part of a GOP campaign next fall. Republicans were all but salivating when Clinton was thinking about coming to Seattle last spring - while Lowry was in the midst of The Troubles - to sit with Lowry at the Final Four college basketball championships.

Let's just bomb it: U.S. Reps. George Nethercutt, R-Spokane, and Richard "Doc" Hastings, R-Pasco, are getting a close-up look at the consequences of trying to balance the federal budget.

Nethercutt's district in Eastern Washington will lose 164 federal jobs if Congress eliminates the Bureau of Mines, over Nethercutt's opposition.

Hastings' 4th District will lose nearly 5,000 jobs in the Tri-Cities, and maybe more, through cuts at the Hanford Site.

But tough budgetary times didn't stop the two congressmen from supporting construction of additional B-2 bombers - against the desires of the Air Force - a defense project that will help airplane manufacturers in Seattle and Southern California.

Foster footnote: U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, R-Wash., voted to shut off debate and allow a floor vote on President Clinton's nominee for surgeon general, Dr. Henry Foster. Not that Gorton's a particular fan of the doctor. But he generally takes the position that a president has the right to appoint who he wants to executive positions without undue Senate interference.

Patty Murray, the state's Democratic senator, strongly supported Foster.

A plot thickens: When a Monroe High School student wrote state Rep. Val Stevens, R-Arlington, a biting letter, the lawmaker apparently sensed a plot that ran deeper than teenage rudeness.

The student's letter in March expressed dismay about a questionnaire purportedly sent by Stevens asking if parents thought homosexual teachers should be removed from the district. The letter writer told Stevens that "if it were my choice, you would not have been re-elected. We want to clean up government, not pollute it with bigotry."

Stevens replied that she had never sent out such a questionnaire.

But Stevens, who is prominent in anti-abortion and Christian-conservative political circles, didn't let it go at that.

She wrote the Monroe School District superintendent asking if he knew who influenced the student to write the letter and if it was created on one of the district's computers.

Stevens also wanted information about the materials taught in civic classes under the 1993 Education Reform Act, which has been heavily criticized by many conservative politicians.

Monroe High principal Nancy Martin replied that she believed the student "was demonstrating what we hope we are teaching our students, and that is to contact those in government who represent us when we have an opinion to express."

Beware the millennium: Georgette Valle, the veteran Democratic representative of the 34th District in Burien and West Seattle, says she'll retire next year at the end of her 12th term in Olympia in order to travel and spend more time with her family. But should we take her seriously? A check of the record shows Valle - who'll be remembered for her annual appearances in the House in Norwegian folk garb on Norwegian independence day - shows she served from 1965-67, 1972-82 and 1985 till the present. Can we rule out a comeback in, say, 2000?

Political notebook is compiled by Seattle Times Olympia Bureau reporter David Postman from contributions by The Times staff and news services.