EVERETT – State Rep. David Simpson says he supports abortion rights.
But the Everett Democrat told Human Life of Washington, the state’s leading anti-abortion group, that he’s so strongly against abortion that he supports making it illegal in almost all circumstances.
The group was so impressed by Simpson’s anti-abortion credentials that it endorsed him in the 38th Legislative District primary Sept. 14 against union leader Mike Sells.
After learning of Simpson’s true position on abortion, Human Life CEO Dan Kennedy feels burned. The group plans to withdraw its endorsement, he said.
“I have never heard of anything like this,” Kennedy said. “It’s disingenuous in the least, and extremely troubling.”
Simpson filled out campaign questionnaires for Human Life’s political action committee and the abortion-rights group NARAL Pro-Choice Washington – and became perhaps the first political candidate in state history to get a 100 percent score from both organizations.
NARAL Washington is relieved that Simpson now says he got Human Life’s questionnaire wrong, not theirs. But the group’s executive director, Karen Cooper, is miffed that Simpson apparently was trying to play both sides of the fence on the politically volatile abortion issue.
“To be 100 percent pro-choice and 100 percent anti-choice is a total contradiction in terms,” she said. “I think this is about trying to please the listener and saying what the listener wants.”
Simpson on Tuesday had shifting explanations as to how he could be both in favor of and against abortion rights.
Initially, he acknowledged he sought both groups’ endorsements.
“I answered the questionnaires to the extent that I felt responded to and supported both groups on this issue,” he said.
After talking with his political consultant, Kim Richan, of Seattle’s Moxie Media, he called The Herald to revise his remarks. Simpson said that when filling out the Human Life questionnaire, he was expressing his personal opposition to abortion, not his political views.
“I personally would never encourage anyone to have an abortion, but I believe people should make those decisions for themselves,” Simpson said. “I support NARAL 100 percent.”
Cooper and Kennedy are polar opposites on abortion. But both said Simpson’s conflicting stands on the topic illustrate his inability to grasp basic political issues.
“If he can’t understand the difference between something as clear as the pro-choice and pro-life position and can’t understand the difference between two questionnaires, how in the world could he understand the complexities of tax law, transportation, agriculture and building a high-tech economy in our state?” Cooper asked. “Whether he was being duplicitous or not, this shows he’s pretty much not fit to be a legislator.”
Cooper said she first doubted Simpson’s legislative abilities during his May NARAL endorsement interview. Simpson was inarticulate and appeared confused at times, she said. That’s why the group endorsed Sells, even though both candidates shared perfect scores on the questionnaire, Cooper said.
Sells declined to comment on Simpson’s contradictory responses on the abortion questionnaires.
“This is something that involves David, not me,” he said.
Simpson attracted controversy from the day he arrived in Olympia. In January, the Republican-majority Snohomish County Council appointed Simpson as state representative over the objections of Democratic council members, who supported Sells. Democratic council member Dave Gossett said at the time that Republicans backed Simpson because they thought he’d be a weak candidate in November.
The winner of the Democratic primary will face Erv Hogland, husband of Frauna Hogland, chairwoman of the county Republican Party.
Reporter David Olson: 425-339-3452 or dolson@heraldnet.com
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