When the Washington Republican and Democratic parties threatened last week to try to stop next month’s primary they acted in a way that is both irresponsible and damaging to the parties’ images.
The parties argued that, despite a U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the top-two primary, a three-year-old district-court injunction against the primary still stands.
The state cites cases that say that a U.S. Supreme Court’s decision overturning a lower-court ruling overturns all of it.
The parties base their argument on a recent request from the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals over how to implement the Supreme Court’s ruling.
Still, to raise the issue at a time when elections officials were printing voters’ pamphlets and preparing to put ballots in the mail is irresponsible.
It also is harmful to the parties’ image with voters who are still angry over the parties’ efforts to overturn first the blanket primary and then the top-two primary.
The Supreme Court’s decision left open the possibility of a further court challenge after the election. That’s the time to bring it up.
Unaffiliated Republican explains strategy
I mentioned a few weeks ago that a Republican official, Curt Fackler, was running with “no party preference” for state insurance commissioner.
When I talked to Fackler last week he explained his strategy and admitted that his decision is a gamble.
It won him attention when Fox News cited this Spokane County Republican chairman running for Washington insurance commissioner as an example of Republicans avoiding their party’s label. David Postman of the Seattle Times picked it up, and I commented on it a week later.
He said it might give him a better chance to make his case in a general-election run against Democratic incumbent Mile Kreidler. He argues that Kreidler has allowed companies to make unjustified rate increases, to build huge surpluses and to overbill the state for consulting.
But using the “no party” label may hurt him in the primary against a third candidate, John Adams, who is running with the Republican label, but has few contacts within the party and doesn’t seem to respond to press inquires.
Fackler admits that in a three-way race for a down-ballot position like insurance commissioner, an unaffiliated candidate will have a hard time beating someone with a Republican label.
If he is successful, he may be able to make one of his other points, that insurance is not partisan.
Seattle made a bad deal with the Sonics
If Seattle had lost its suit against the Sonics, it would have lost the team in exchange for some money.
Instead, it let the team go in exchange for some money and some vague promises of a new team if the Legislature approves publicly financed arena improvements next year.
Evan Smith is Enterprise forum editor. Send comments to him at entopinion@heraldnet.com.
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