Now the real fun begins in political races

Published 9:27 am Friday, February 22, 2008

1) Now, it gets important

OK, there wasn’t much that excited us in the Primary, but we’d better get excited about the Nov. 5 General election.

What is at stake is control of the state Legislature, control of the U.S. House of Representatives and (in 34 other states) control of the U.S. Senate,

Both our state and federal governments have faced gridlock, as Republicans and Democrats stand almost equal in power both in Olympia and in Washington, D.C.

In Olympia, Democrats hold a 25-24 edge in the Senate and 50-48 edge in the House; so a loss of one Democratic Senate seat could tip the balance in the upper house and a loss of one Democratic House seat could return us to the split control we had a year ago, complete with co-speakers of the House,

More importantly, it’s important that we elect legislators with good judgment to deal with the state’s growing budget deficit and to get issues decided without the multiple special sessions of 2001.

In Congress, the Democratic control of the Senate and Republican control of the House are so thin that a change of one seat in the Senate or a handful of seats in the House can tip the balance. The people we elect to Congress may have to make decisions on possible war in the Mideast..

Washington Republican leaders have looked at the primary results and see chances to pick up seats in both Congress and the Legislature.

In addition to the control of the Legislature and Congress, we’ll face two controversial ballot measures — Initiative 776 and Referendum 51, deciding important taxation and transportation issues.

2) Candidate or party?

Vote for the person not the party.

I grew up with that maxim — to select the person I trust to make decisions on my behalf rather than someone who will slavishly follow a party line.

Yet, I know that the party of whomever I elect to the Legislature or to Congress may decide who leads the House or Senate, chairs important committees and determines the flow of legislation.

I’m afraid that a state legislative candidate I might like could help return the state House of Representatives to the deadlock we had two years ago.

3) Stop hitting yourself

Fifty mice and fifty rats,

And fifty petty Democrats,

The decision by 32nd District Democrats to “un-endorse” state Sen. Darlene Fairley before the Primary was petty, vindictive and counterproductive.

What were the District Democrats trying to do? If we take the “un-endorsement” at its word, it means that they didn’t want people to vote for Fairley, even though there were no other Democrats on the ballot and a Fairley loss could give the Republicans control of the Senate.

Of course, they did it to to express their disapproval of a candidate they knew would win anyway. They disapproved of Fairley’s having endorsed a challenger to the party’s handpicked candidate for what should have been considered an open House seat. After Carolyn Edmonds resigned her seat when she won a position on the King County Council a year ago, the District Democratic Committee appointed Maralyn Chase to the seat. In this year’s primary, local political leaders were split in endorsing Chase and her opponent, Shoreline Deputy Mayor Kevin Grossman. Although Chase apparently out-polled Grossman, she now faces another Shoreline Council member, Republican Bob Ransom. who also has the support of a lot of local officials and could become the first Republican elected from the District in decades.

Fairley is a good legislator with excellent relations with local governments and one who acts in what she sees as the best interests of her constituents, often against the dictates of Party officials. An example of her independence is her work to keep the blanket primary against the attempts of Party officials to install a system in which voters would be limited to voting in one party’s primary, and the party would get a list of those who voted in its primary.

Fifty needles and fifty pins

And fifty narrow Republicans

This year, it was Democratic Party officials who showed that they were out of touch with rank-and-file voters, but Republicans have been out of touch for years, supporting narrowly supported right-wing candidates over more moderate hopefuls for both local and statewide offices. This has led to a series of unelectable candidates such as gubernatorial losers Ellen Craswell and John Carlson. Party regulars forget that the only governors the Republicans have elected in the past 70 years have been Arthur Langlie, Dan Evans and John Spellman, all of whom represented what Evans once called “the great American middle.”

Republican Party officials, too, have opposed the popular blanket primary, turning off independent voters.

4) Spicy ‘Cajun’ Primary

For a long time, I have been campaigning for a Louisiana-style “Cajun” primary, in which the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, advance to the General election.

This year’s primary provided several examples to illustrate my point.

There was a contest in the 37th Legislative District (south Seattle and Renton) in which the three Democrats polled between 24 and 42 percent and one Libertarian got 4 percent. Wouldn’t a runoff between the top two Democrats be more meaningful than a contest between the top Democrat and the Libertarian?.

Then, look at three Congressional contests, three King or Snohomish county Legislative seats plus one King County Council seat. All had three names on the primary ballot, and, in all, the same three will appear on the general election ballot. So, the primary accomplished nothing. That’s because in each case, there was one Republican, one Democrat and one Libertarian, all of whom advanced. Let’s make the primary meaningful by forcing an elimination to the top two for a November runoff.

5) What was the message?

The only candidate advertising on Seattle-area airwaves was Democratic Rep. Norm Dicks, who has represented the Sixth District in Congress for as long as anyone can remember. His district extends from Tacoma to the Olympic Peninsula, and his primary opposition can best be described as minor.

He must get too much in campaign donations.

We’d like to know what you think. If you have a comment send it to:

The Enterprise

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