High court race echoes themes of '02 campaign
Sunday, September 19, 2004 12:30 AM PDT
By Associated Press
Printable version
E-mail this articleSEATTLE -- There's something familiar about the two candidates vying for an open Supreme Court seat this fall.
The top two finishers in Tuesday's primary, separated by only 2 percentage points the polls, are prominent appellate attorney Jim Johnson and Court of Appeals Judge Mary Kay Becker.
Two years ago, Johnson ran for Supreme Court and lost by less than 1 percent of the votes to another Mary -- former assistant attorney general Mary Fairhurst, now a Supreme Court justice.
The issues in this year's Jim v. Mary matchup may echo the 2002 campaign, which set a new spending record for high court races.
Some of the same conservative, property-rights groups that helped Johnson's 2002 campaign are lining up behind him again. Unions and environmentalists who supported Fairhurst in 2002 say they will work for Becker this time.
"It looks just like the same race to me," said Democratic campaign consultant Cathy Allen.
One factor working in both Marys' favor is their gender. Female judicial candidates generally enjoy a small advantage in elections and Washington voters in particular are good to women on the bench. Washington is the only state with a majority of women on the Supreme Court.
"Voters see women as representing something other than the status quo, as representing the little people," Allen said.
But there's more than gender at play in this campaign. For outside groups with money to spend, Supreme Court races are irresistible.
Though they cut a lower profile, especially in busy presidential years, one justice can make a huge difference in a court that frequently splits 5-4 on big decisions.
Recent 5-4 Supreme Court rulings include decisions that made it easier for state agencies to refuse public records requests, overturned the conviction of a middle-schooler who jokingly threatened to kill a classmate, and made it harder for prosecutors to pursue murder charges when someone is killed during an assault.
"How many legislators are there? 147. How many Supreme Court justices? Nine. There you go," said Elliott Swaney, political director for the Building Industry Association of Washington, explaining why the BIAW contributed heavily to Johnson's campaign in 2002 and will do so again.
One person who would really like this year to be different from 2002 is Johnson, who lost by just 3,377 votes out of more than one million cast. And there certainly are some differences.
Last time the state Republican party endorsed Johnson, an unusual move in a nonpartisan judicial race. This year the only thing the GOP might endorse Johnson for is a long walk off a short pier -- he angered Democrat and Republican party leaders equally with his impassioned, vigorous defense of the state's old open primary system.
Party leaders successfully sued to end the open primary, which is why voters had to pick a party on Tuesday. As an attorney Johnson represents the Washington State Grange, an agricultural organization that has an initiative on the ballot this year to create a "top two" primary that wouldn't force voters to pick a party.
Gladly on the outs with both parties, Johnson accuses Becker of being too partisan for the Supreme Court. She served as a Democratic state legislator for eight years and was the Democrats' representative on the state redistricting commission.
"My opponent is a long-term partisan," Johnson said. "All I'm advocating is constitutional principles. You need someone who is not afraid to stand up for constitutional principles."
Becker argues just the opposite. In her 10 years as a Court of Appeals judge, Becker says she has successfully made the switch from partisan advocate to impartial judge -- unlike Johnson, who has no judicial experience.
"People can look at my record and my decisions and see I have been impartial," Becker said. She added that she worked effectively with both Republicans and Democrats as a legislator, and she believes that legislative experience is an asset that her opponent lacks.
"I would note he has never been elected to public office. Mine is the record that inspires more trust," Becker said. "Diversity of experience is a good thing to look for."
So far Johnson has raised more money than Becker. Before the primary he had raised $201,000 and spent all but $37,000. Becker had raised $69,130 and spent all but $8,000.
However, Johnson outspent Fairhurst three-to-one in 2002, proving that in the Supreme Court race at least, money isn't everything.
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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