Tacoma News Tribune

Endorsements

For high court: Owens, Alexander, Chambers

The News Tribune

Sunday, August 27, 2006 — Washington's judiciary has traditionally been the low-key, apolitical branch of state government. That's changing, and not for the better.

In recent years, political advocacy groups on both sides of the political spectrum have targeted the state Supreme Court, seeking to alter its makeup with large campaign donations and other support.

The danger here is that jurists will have their thumbs on the scale of justice when deciding cases involving the ideologies that got them elected.

That's not much of an issue in the race for Position 2, which has drawn five candidates. The two chief rivals are incumbent Justice Susan Owens and Stephen Johnson, a lawyer and 12-year veteran of the state Senate.

Johnson is a credible challenger. Despite his political background, he demonstrates a clear understanding of where politics ends and the judicial role begins.

Johnson's experience in the Legislature would be an asset in a court that reviews legislative acts. But Owens has important assets of her own, including a rural Washingtonian perspective gained as a small-town lawyer and tribal judge on the Olympic Peninsula, Owens holds her own as a member of the court, and we see no reason to dump her.

One candidate in this race – Seattle attorney Michael Johnson – is not campaigning and appears to have filed to confuse his name with Stephen Johnson's in an attempt to help Owens get through the primary. That's inexcusable. Voters inclined to cast their ballot for Stephen Johnson should make sure they have the right candidate.

The special-interest money comes into play in the race for Position 8, which pits Chief Justice Gerry Alexander against private attorney John Groen. Alexander is highly regarded but greatly outfunded by Groen, whose campaign has been been lavishly financed by the real estate and development industries.

Groen styles himself as a champion of "property rights," a posture that commonly connotes ideological opposition to even reasonable land-use planning and restrictions on development. He's campaigning openly as an advocate. We'll stick with the respected chief justice.

In the race for Position 9, incumbent Justice Tom Chambers is challenged by Jeanette Burrage, a former King County Superior Court judge. Intellectually, this is no contest: Chambers is far and away the superior candidate. Although he is no maverick on the court, he has a propensity to protect individual rights.

Less well known than the supreme court is the state Court of Appeals, which stands between the trial courts and the high court.

Chris Quinn-Brintnall, current chief judge of the court's Tacoma-based Division II, faces a challenge this year from Beth Jensen. Jensen is a seasoned private attorney with no judicial background.

Quinn-Brintnall – a longtime former prosecutor and six-year veteran of the appellate court – has much stronger qualifications for the position she now holds. Jensen makes no case for removing her from the bench.

While most primary elections are a prelude to the November election, at least three of these four contests will be final: In appellate court races, a candidate who wins a majority in September wins the seat outright. Voters shouldn't sit this one out.

VotingforJudges.org, P.O. Box 1460, Silverdale, WA  98383
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