----OLYMPIA Republicans fighting to keep control of the state Senate want Rep. Shirley Hankins to seek the seat made vacant by the death of Sen. Max Benitz, a GOP official said Thursday.
Democrats say that if she tries, there will be a legal challenge.
''Everybody would like Shirley to run. She's certainly the strongest candidate. The Benitz campaign committee and the state Republican Party are standing in the wings ready to help,'' said John Rico, a spokesman for the Senate Republican Caucus.
''I have not made any decisions,'' said Hankins, of Richland. ''I would like to have the opportunity to bury my friend first, and I really think the Benitz family deserves that. After I get legal advice, I will make a decision.''
Services for Benitz, a 22-year member of the legislature, are scheduled for Saturday, 1:30 p.m., at Messiah Lutheran Church at Prosser, his hometown.
Benitz, 73, died Wednesday of a heart attack at Kadlec Medical Center at Richland, where he had been taken Monday for treatment of pneumonia, his staff said.
Hankins would face a tough opponent in Rep. Jim Jesernig, D-Kennewick, in the Nov. 6 general election.
Rico said the Benton County Republican Central Committee, which by law will chose a replacement for Benitz, also backs Hankins. Jim Swanger, committee chairman, said only that ''if this is something Shirley wants to do,'' the committee would strongly consider her.
Hankins, seen as the ideal candidate to save the GOP's one-vote margin in the 49-member Senate, is running unopposed for a sixth term in the House.
Hankins and the GOP would face a legal fight over two issues stemming from state election law if she sought the Senate seat.
''I would assume that we would challenge her candidacy in the Senate,'' said Jeff Smith, executive director of the state Democratic Party.
First, Hankins is beyond the Aug. 2 deadline for withdrawing as a House candidate.
Second, a 1966 attorney general's opinion says a person who has filed a declaration of candidacy under state election law cannot file a second declaration of candidacy for another legislative position.
The issue, Smith said, ''is can she be removed as a House candidate? The answer is no.''
But there is no case law, and Rico said GOP lawyers believe they could prevail in court.
Rico said the GOP could wind up being the plaintiff if the Benton County auditor, Democrat Bobbie Gagner, declined to place Hankins' name on the Senate ticket on grounds it would be illegal.
