SEATTLE — Former U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt, who was a Spokane lawyer with limited political experience when he unseated Democratic House Speaker Tom Foley as part of a stunning Republican wave that shifted national politics to the right in 1994, has died. He was 79 years old.
Nethercutt died Friday near Denver of progressive supranuclear palsy, a rare neurodegenerative brain disease, his son said in an email Monday.
“He lived a life based on faith, family, community and service, never sacrificing his principles as a statesman,” wrote Elliott Nethercutt.
The 1994 midterm elections, which occurred midway through President Bill Clinton’s first term, were a resounding victory for Republicans, who won control of both houses of Congress for the first time since the early 1950s.
Nethercutt was the chairman of the Spokane County Republican Party and served in the 1970s as chief of staff to Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, but did not run for office before challenging Foley.
Foley represented the district for 30 years — the last five as speaker. Nethercutt’s campaign ads focused on Foley’s opposition to term limits and highlighted that Foley had been in office since “Bonanza” was the top television show.
Foley was the first speaker to lose a bid for re-election since 1860.
Nethercutt joined other Republican Party candidates in 1994 in signing the Contract with America, a list of conservative priorities promoted by Representative Newt Gingrich and others. Among these priorities was the adoption of term limits; Nethercutt said she would serve no more than three terms, but she broke her promise and served five before giving up her seat to run unsuccessfully against Democratic Senator Patty Murray in 2004.
“George Nethercutt was a giant among men who served the people of Eastern Washington with honor and patriotism for a decade,” said the Republican Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who now occupies Nethercutt’s former seat, said in a Facebook post. “George was a man of character who led with kindness and conviction, and he was a person I proudly looked up to long before the day I was sworn in to represent the Fifth District for which we share so much love.”
Among his priorities in office were finding new international markets for Eastern Washington agricultural products, securing federal money for Fairchild Air Force Base and supporting research grants for Washington State University.
Like many other Republicans elected in the 1994 wave, he had a conservative voting record and supported Clinton’s impeachment for lying about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
He became a lobbyist after his term in Congress and worked with the George Nethercutt Foundation, which promoted civic education through scholarships, contests, and educational trips to Washington.
Nethercutt attended Foley’s memorial services when he died in 2013, and two years ago, he joined the advisory board of the Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service at Washington State University.
He also established a fund at the university to create the George Nethercutt Endowed Lecture Series on Civic Engagement.
“Since 2008, my foundation has promoted civic education among students so that they are prepared to engage with our democratic system – a system that depends on the participation of informed citizens, open dialogue and commitment to function properly,” he said Nethercutt at the time. .
Nethercutt was born in Spokane in 1944 and graduated from Washington State University before graduating from Gonzaga University School of Law in 1971. As a law student, he clerked for Foley’s father, Ralph Foley, who was a judge on the Superior Court of Spokane County.
Nethercutt is survived by his wife, Mary Beth Nethercutt, whom he married in 1977; two children, Meredith Nethercutt Krisher and Elliott Nethercutt; sister Nancy Nethercutt Gustafson; brother John Irving Nethercutt; and granddaughter Holly Beth Krisher.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
