Washington state Sen. Stephen Johnson is wrong for the state Supreme Court. Not only is he very partisan, he supports issues that are at odds with our state Constitution, and the majority of voters of this state.
One of these is charter schools, which, it is common knowledge, Sen. Johnson supports. Our state Constitution places our common schools as the paramount duty of the state. Voters have upheld this vision by defeating charter schools three times at the polls and by passing I-728 (the Education Excellence Initiative) and other efforts to strengthen school standards and finance. Despite this, as early as 1997, Johnson was the prime sponsor of charter school legislation. He sponsored charter schools legislation in 2003 and again in 2004.
During the time that Sen. Johnson was chairman of the Education Committee, he single-mindedly introduced charter school legislation despite the fact that there was no majority public support for this issue. He refused to hear other worthy legislation in support of education unless charter schools were considered. For instance, he refused to even hear the simple majority for schools legislation, which had strong public support, until the last possible moment, and then only because some of his constituents (school children at that) specifically requested that he hear the legislation. Is this how voters in this state want a judge to treat judicial matters?
Sen. Johnson is endorsed by big business such as AWB, Washington State Realtors and the BIAW; and right-wing evangelical organizations, such as the Christian Coalition. Do we really want a representative of these two special interest groups putting his spin on our state Constitution for us? No, thanks.
The state Supreme Court is not an appropriate venue for partisan politicans.
Matthew Benuska
Brier
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
