Justices safe for now
Published 9:00 pm Tuesday, September 19, 2006
At least one state Supreme Court justice will keep his seat while the fate of a second is still up in the air following a controversial campaign with a lot of spending by special-interest groups, according to early returns from Tuesday’s primary election voting.
It appears Justice Tom Chambers will easily beat former King County Superior Court Judge Jeanette Burrage.
Whether Chief Justice Gerry Alexander will keep his job or be replaced by Bellevue attorney John Groen will depend on late returns and absentee ballots that could trickle in through the week. However, the incumbent had a solid lead early in the counting.
In a third contested race, Justice Susan Owens will face state Sen. Stephen Johnson, R-Kent, in the Nov. 7 general election. Owens, who was leading, and Johnson far outdistanced three others who filed for the position.
When only two candidates are in a Supreme Court race, the September primary decides the winner, according to state law.
The Alexander-Groen race was a fiercely contested battle featuring an unprecedented amount of outside advertising dollars and attack ads on television and radio.
The negative advertising might have had a reverse effect on some voters, Alexander said Tuesday night. But he said the ads kept coming “so they must have thought they were going to get some benefit from them.”
The chief justice said he feels good but not cocky about his early lead.
“Someone told me I was ahead 53 percent to 46. I’d rather be ahead 53 to 46 than behind 53 to 46,” Alexander said.
Groen wasn’t ready to throw in the towel.
“There are still a lot of votes to come in,” Groen said. “It’s an uphill battle taking on an incumbent.”
More than $1.8 million was spent by or on behalf of Groen. More than $400,000 of that was in direct contributions to his campaign, and the remainder from special-interest groups that either supported Groen or opposed Alexander, according to finance records.
Alexander’s total was $568,000. He raised $251,000 for his own campaign, and special-interest groups put up $317,000 to either support the chief justice or oppose Groen, records show.
There’s been a national trend in recent years for outside groups to enter state supreme court races either for a candidate or against one, said James Sample of the watchdog group Brennan Center for Justice, associated with New York University.
This is the first time large sums of money have poured into a Washington Supreme Court races, Sample said last week.
“It has been a race to the bottom, in effect,” said Sample, who said when parties enter a courtroom they are entitled to a fair hearing as well as the appearance of a fair hearing. “Both are undermined when judicial races become more like legislative races.”
In the Everett area, there’s a nip-and-tuck race for an Everett District Court judge seat. The two highest vote recipients will go on to the November general election.
Administrative law judge Tam Bui got nearly 26 percent of the vote, followed by part-time Mukilteo prosecutor Lorrie Towers, 24 percent. They are followed closely by former Snohomish County Superior Court Judge David Hulbert, whose election night total was about 23 percent.
Two other candidates lagged behind.
The five are seeking the court’s Position 2, which will be vacated by veteran judge Thomas Kelly.
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
