King County Primary
The ballots are due, at least to be postmarked, by this Tuesday the 18th.
The big one, of course, is for King County Executive. Like clockwork, as soon as the position was made "non-partisan" last November, a stealth Republican candidate with local celebrity name-recognition status showed up: Sue Hutchison. There is no doubt that she's a crypto-Republican despite her numerous claims to the contrary: she contributed to the campaigns of Dino Rossi and David Reichert in the last election, and considered a Senate run in 2006 as an open Republican. It's one thing to run as a non-partisan, but it's another to lie about your background and inclinations, and she's crossed the line.
The trouble is, who to vote for? The top two vote-getters advance to the general election. Wind up with a weak second-place candidate and Sue Hutchison will be our next Executive. Unfortunately, I'm not entirely sure who's the best bet, but I've narrowed it down to Dow Constantine, who was one of the first people to call attention to Hutchison being a stealth candidate; and Larry Phillips, who was instrumental in getting Governor Gregoire elected by noticing that his absentee ballot (and 500+ others) hadn't been counted. I'm going to go with Phillips.
In the Court of Appeals race, Robert Kelly shot himself in the foot by going off on a monologue about how The Law is the best invention of the human mind. I don't want a judge who is some sort of single-minded law-fetishist. My vote is to Anne Ellington, who has an impressive endorsement record, served on the kind of panels I like to see my judges serve on, and generally doesn't come off as a wide-eyed fanatic.
The main thing about the Port Commissioner races is that I got a mailing from David Doud and Tom Albro whose list of endorsements raised my hackles, including our current Redmond Mayor whom I didn't vote for and don't see myself voting for in the future. Without a strong opinion, I'll be voting for Rob Holland and Max Vekich.
That's it on my end. Good luck with your Mayoral primary and any initiatives you might have, Seattle.
The big one, of course, is for King County Executive. Like clockwork, as soon as the position was made "non-partisan" last November, a stealth Republican candidate with local celebrity name-recognition status showed up: Sue Hutchison. There is no doubt that she's a crypto-Republican despite her numerous claims to the contrary: she contributed to the campaigns of Dino Rossi and David Reichert in the last election, and considered a Senate run in 2006 as an open Republican. It's one thing to run as a non-partisan, but it's another to lie about your background and inclinations, and she's crossed the line.
The trouble is, who to vote for? The top two vote-getters advance to the general election. Wind up with a weak second-place candidate and Sue Hutchison will be our next Executive. Unfortunately, I'm not entirely sure who's the best bet, but I've narrowed it down to Dow Constantine, who was one of the first people to call attention to Hutchison being a stealth candidate; and Larry Phillips, who was instrumental in getting Governor Gregoire elected by noticing that his absentee ballot (and 500+ others) hadn't been counted. I'm going to go with Phillips.
In the Court of Appeals race, Robert Kelly shot himself in the foot by going off on a monologue about how The Law is the best invention of the human mind. I don't want a judge who is some sort of single-minded law-fetishist. My vote is to Anne Ellington, who has an impressive endorsement record, served on the kind of panels I like to see my judges serve on, and generally doesn't come off as a wide-eyed fanatic.
The main thing about the Port Commissioner races is that I got a mailing from David Doud and Tom Albro whose list of endorsements raised my hackles, including our current Redmond Mayor whom I didn't vote for and don't see myself voting for in the future. Without a strong opinion, I'll be voting for Rob Holland and Max Vekich.
That's it on my end. Good luck with your Mayoral primary and any initiatives you might have, Seattle.