BY ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEATTLE (AP)-- Former U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt, who was a Spokane attorney with little political experience when he ousted Democratic Speaker of the House Tom Foley as part of a stunning GOP wave that shifted national politics to the right in 1994, has actually passed away. He was 79.

Nethercutt passed away Friday near Denver of progressive supranuclear palsy, an unusual, neurodegenerative brain disease, his child said in an email Monday.

" He lived a life based in faith, service, family, and community, never ever compromising his concepts as a statesman," Elliott Nethercutt composed.

The 1994 midterm elections, which came midway through President Bill Clinton's very first term, were a resounding victory for Republicans, who won control of both homes of Congress for the very first time because the early 1950s.

Nethercutt was the chairman of the Spokane County Republican Party and had served in the 1970s as chief of personnel to Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens however had not run for workplace in the past challenging Foley.

Foley had actually represented the district for 30 years-- the last five as speaker of your house. Nethercutt's campaign advertisements concentrated on Foley's opposition to term limitations and pointed out that Foley had been in workplace given that "Bonanza" was the top show on tv.

Foley was the very first speaker to lose a reelection bid since 1860.

Nethercutt joined other 1994 GOP prospects in signing the Contract With America, a list of conservative priorities promoted by Rep. Newt Gingrich and others. Amongst those top priorities was adopting term limitations; Nethercutt said he 'd serve no greater than three terms however broke that guarantee and served five before he quit the seat to make a not successful run versus Democratic Sen. Patty Murray in 2004.

" George Nethercutt was a giant among guys who served the people of Eastern Washington with honor and patriotism for a decade," Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who now holds Nethercutt's former seat, said in a Facebook post. "George was a man of character who led with generosity and conviction, and he was a person I proudly admired long before the day I was sworn in to represent the Fifth District we shared such a love for."

Among his top priorities in workplace were finding new international markets for farm items from eastern Washington, protecting federal cash for Fairchild Air Force Base, and supporting research grants to Washington State University.

Like numerous other Republicans elected in the 1994 wave, he had a conservative ballot record and supported impeaching Clinton for lying about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

He ended up being a lobbyist following his tenure in Congress and dealt with his George Nethercutt Foundation, which advanced civics education through scholarships, competitors and educational trips to Washington.

Nethercutt participated in memorial services for Foley when he passed away in 2013, and 2 years ago, he signed up with the board of advisers of Washington State University's Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service.

He likewise developed a fund at the university to produce the George Nethercutt Endowed Lecture Series on Civic Engagement.

" Since 2008, my foundation has actually promoted civic education among students, so they are prepared to engage with our democratic system-- a system that depends on the participation of informed citizens, open dialogue, and compromise to function effectively," Nethercutt said at the time.

Nethercutt was born in Spokane in 1944 and finished from Washington State University before finishing from Gonzaga University School of Law in 1971. As a law school trainee, he briefly clerked for Foley's father, Ralph Foley, who was a Spokane County Superior Court judge.

Nethercutt is survived by his wife, Mary Beth Nethercutt, whom he wed in 1977; 2 children, Meredith Nethercutt Krisher and Elliott Nethercutt; sister Nancy Nethercutt Gustafson; sibling John Irving Nethercutt; and granddaughter Holly Beth Krisher.

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