Heck gets double-barreled blame for rising unemployment

Republicans wasted no time laying the blame for Friday’s discouraging job news at the feet of 3rd Congressional District candidate Denny Heck and his Democratic “friends” in Congress.

Figures released Friday show the national jobless rate has crept up to 9.6 percent. Clark County’s unemployment rate for July was 13.3 percent.

“House Democrats’ summer recess is almost over and it’s time for Denny Heck and his out-of-touch friends to face the music,” declared Ken Spain of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

“After being buried under mountains of debt and facing crushing unemployment each month, Washington voters are ready to send Heck and his out-of-touch Washington friends a message this November: They’re tired of this jobless recovery,” Spain said.

A spokesman for Hecks’ Republican opponent, state Rep. Jaime Herrera, chimed in with a statement that “the number of people without jobs is simply unacceptable and we need to change course.”

“Democrat Denny Heck hasn’t announced a single policy where he disagrees with Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat majority,” said Herrera campaign spokesman Casey Bowman. “Both Denny Heck and Jaime Herrera have said that job creation is the priority, but only Republican Jaime Herrera has opposed the big-government, big-spending agenda of the current majority.”

Heck, a successful business entrepreneur in Olympia, has called for comprehensive Wall Street reform and for closing tax loopholes that reward multinational corporations for sending American jobs overseas.

Kathie Durbin