The late President Ronald Reagan had a firm rule: “Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican.”

Five-term 31st District incumbent State Sen. Pam Roach, locked in a brutal contest with fellow Republican and Sumner City Councilman Matt Richardson, said that the Reagan rule doesn’t apply in this race.

“I am trying to talk about the issues,” Roach said during a recent interview with the Auburn Reporter. “But my opponent swung first, and I am going to defend myself.”

Richardson aimed his first haymaker at Roach’s temper and her expulsion from the Republican caucus and has not stopped swinging. He said her expulsion has rendered her ineffective.

All that stuff about her temper is rubbish, Roach countered. She said that the head of the caucus simply doesn’t like her, stuck his rear end in her face during a meeting and never bothered to explain his reasons for banning her. She insists she has been highly effective in her job.

Roach has not been shy about hurling counter-thunderbolts at Richardson, noting his citation for driving 40 miles an hour over the speed limit in the city of Sumner and his shifting, dubious explanations for it. Among other concerns, she recalled Richardson’s troubled record as a teacher. She filed suit against statements he made about her in the voter pamphlet and won.

Taken together, she claims, the events of Richardson’s past show he has a problem telling the truth, vacillates on positions and is just too flawed to trust with high office.

The result — a race in which charges and countercharges of personal shortcomings and past behavior drown out the candidates positions on taxes, economic growth, budget deficits and more. That kind of contest doesn’t serve anybody’s interests, Roach said.

What does serve the public’s interest, Roach said, is zeroing in on the economy, the most pressing issue facing the state right now. She said the state needs to make it easier for businesses to prosper and stay in business.

“There is a ‘job drain’ when companies leave the state or are threatened with closure,” Roach said.

One big problem, Roach said, is the lopsided makeup of the state Senate.

“Right now, the score is 49 Democrats and only 18 Republicans. So while I can stand up, I might not be able to keep some things from happening. So I voted against repeal of I-960. There weren’t enough votes to keep that from happening, but the people in this district voted 57 percent in favor of I-960, so I fought for them. We didn’t have the votes, it was repealed and many taxes were enhanced.”

Roach said she won’t vote for tax increases but will continue to support the state and federal constitutions. She said her goal is to serve as an advocate for the people of her district, whether that means fighting for legislation in Olympia or doing something closer to home that calls for leadership to bring about change or an acceptable resolution.

“Not every legislator works in grassroots politics to help people with their local issues like I do,” Roach said. “People on the Enumclaw Plateau did not want a roundabout on Highway 169. I held community meetings, conversed with the Department of Transportation several times and eventually got them to write a letter saying they were taking that off the table.”

Roach is working to keep the Rainier School in Buckley open despite lawmakers in Olympia, who are eyeing it for closure it to help close the budget deficit. Recently she led a tour of 25 people who looked at ways to augment current uses there.

“According to the mayor of Buckley, one third of the families there are affected economically by Rainier school. It’s extremely important to the economy of the plateau to have Rainier School open,” Roach said.

Roach also cited her work helping to save Lake Tapps and keeping sex predators from being housed in residential Auburn.

“I have 20 years of a record where people know what I am going to be doing for them,” Roach said.

Roach touted her 100 percent rating from the Association of Washington Builders as well as endorsements from the Pierce County Master Builders, the King County Association of Realtors, state veterinarians and local leaders, including Bonney Lake Mayor Neil Johnson, past Auburn Mayor Chuck Booth and present Mayor Pete Lewis. She has also been endorsed by the Washington Federation of State Employees, the King County Police Officers Guild, the Washington State Patrol Troopers Association and Valley Professional Firefighters.

She said she loves the job and has been and will continue to be a good legislator.

“I love serving, I’ve had a lot of good experience being able to help people,” Roach said. “Philosophically, I want to represent the district with my voting, and I think it’s been very reflective of what the people in the district are thinking, That’s the first thing I think you get elected to do is represent the people. My opponent seems to see no differences because he’s not challenging me at all on any of my position.”

But in this contest, Roach never strays far from Richardson’s past.

Perhaps the most troubling of all the allegations centers on Richardson’s alleged abuse of his female cousins when he was a teen and they were small children. According to the Bonney Lake-Sumner Courier Herald, Richardson was cleared of the charges in three months and a document was issued to destroy, seal and redact all court papers. The Bonney Lake Sumner Courier Herald examined Richardson’s copy, which is the only one that exists. That didn’t stop his aunt and uncle from filing suit against him in 1992 while he worked as a security guard in the Kent School District. According to the paper, the protection order was granted but dismissed “with prejudice” in January of 1993.

Another issue centered on an allegation of sexual and malicious harassment involving three girls at a Federal Way Middle School, where Richardson taught English Language Learning. He was cleared of the malicious harassment and sexual harassment accusations, though he received a letter of reprimand for using inappropriate language, yelling at students and allowing a boy to touch a girl after a request was made to intervene, according to the paper.

He said the events were related to an incident when he tried to write up the girls for inappropriate dress.