After months of teasing the press about whether or not she would run for re-election to at 13th term, the Tri-City Herald reports that Rep. Shirley Hankins has announced that she will indeed retire. During the last legislative session Hankins was the third longest serving member in the House.

Her exit leaves four candidates in the race for the 8th District seat, Republicans Brad Klippert, Steve Simmons and Rick Jansons, and Democrat Carol Moser.

The Herald sums up Hankins career this way:

In Olympia Hankins has been known as a feisty moderate and she's waged many battles within her own caucus. In 2003 she left the House Republican Caucus altogether but returned a year later.

She's gained the respect of House Democrats over the years, providing her with some measure of influence. When Republicans refused to re-appoint her to a bipartisan transportation panel in 2003 House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, did.

Hankins' final term in the House has been somewhat tumultuous with a Tri-City Herald report chronicling her efforts to use her office to promote her daughters' tire baling business. The Legislative Ethics Board, after a studying the issue for most of 2007, assessed a record fine against her in December.

Hankins has never publicly answered questions about it.