Tag Archives: BIAW

Vote for Justice Susan Owens for Washington State Supreme Court

Posted on November 4th, 2006 | Comments Off on Vote for Justice Susan Owens for Washington State Supreme Court

Washington State Supreme Court Justice Susan Owens survived the Building Industry Association of Washington’s megabucks primary campaign but she still has to beat her general election opponent on Nov 7, 2006.

Her opponent is the BIAW endorsed conservative Republican legislator Stephen Johnson.

Why vote for Justice Owens?

Two words sum up the difference – experience and independence.

Justice Owens has been a judge for 25 years including the last 6 years on the Washington State Supreme Court. Johnson has never served as a judge on any level.

Justice Owens is not beholden to any special interest like Johnson is. He is being supported aggressively by the Building Industry Association of Washington and other special interests that want to weaken growth management and environmental protection laws in Washington State.

To get more information on this race and other judicial races go to Voting for Judges. This is a great website.

Also you can read an excellent 3 part series on Stephen Johnson done by Noemie Maxwell on WASHblog:

Stephen Johnson and BIAW Team up to Reshape Washington’s Supreme Court

WA Supreme Court Candidate to 5th Graders: “I’d get rid of all the Democrats“

Religious Right wants Stephen Johnson on Washington Supreme Court

Please vote Nov. 7, 2006 for Justice Susan Owens – the candidate with judicial experience and independence. Her opponent is backed by narrow special interest groups that want an activist court only in the image of their special interest beliefs. Let’s keep the Washington State Supreme Court ruling in the public interest of its citizens, not that of some special interest group.

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Contributions to Washington PAC’s Need to be Limited

Posted on September 21st, 2006 | Comments Off on Contributions to Washington PAC’s Need to be Limited

Tuesday’s Primary in Washington State brought into focus a number of things that need changing in campaign finance law. The major change needed is to limit all contributions trying to affect the election to the same amount per person, whether going directly to the candidate or indirectly to any PAC trying to help the candidate.

In terms of trying to affect the outcome of the election it doesn’t matter where the money goes.
Its all being used to try to elect the same person.

The Legislature needs to end this current loophole in campaign financing. They made an effort earlier this year to try to limit huge spending in judicial races but they left this huge loophole by not also limiting contribution amounts to so called “independent” PAC’s.

We like to talk of the equality we all share in elections , that one person has one vote. We’re equal, right. Wrong – as long as some people, groups, associations can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money trying to affect the outcome of an election, we are in no way equal.

The Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW) in spending a million dollars to try to anoint their own lawyer, John Groen, to the Washington State Supreme Court, vividly points out just how unequal we are in the election process.

While voters wisely appear to have rejected Groen in this election as someone beholden to a single special interest, it took a huge effort to get the word out on what was happening. And unfortunately the BIAW appears unapologetic in their belief that it is ok for them to try to buy an election with their huge financial advantage in reaching voters.

They did it 2 years ago in giving a huge financial advantage to James Johnson who won his race for Supreme Court Justice against Mary Kay Becker. They also gave huge contributions to help get libertarian Jim Saunders elected to the Court. And they came close this year to electing their third candidate.

While individuals are limited by the new law to giving judicial candidates for Supreme Court $1400 per election, they still can give an unlimited amount to an “independent” PAC to try to affect the outcome of the race. Expect to see more large contributions in the BIAW’s efforts to get Steve Johnson elected in November over sitting Justice Susan Owens.

The key change needed is to equalize one’s ability to influence the election with money, just as we equalize how many votes we each have to one when we cast a ballot. The key to doing this is to say everyone has the ability to give money up to $1400 per person to either the candidate’s committee directly or indirectly to any other PAC, association or other entity trying to influence the outcome of the election.

The BIAW will now shift its focus by trying to kick Susan Owens off the Court by helping to elect Steve Johnson in November. They will again not limit contributions they accept.

The BIAW is not alone in this. A front group calling itself Americans Tired of Lawsuit Abuse based in Virginia contributed $400,000 it it’s newly created Washington State PAC to support Groen.

Two years ago the US Chamber of Commerce spent $1.5 million trying to defeat Deborah Senn who was running against Rob McKenna for Washington State’s Attorney General. McKenna won

The BIAW spent hundreds of thousands of dollars independently in this race supporting McKenna and opposing Senn.

Votes decide elections and dollars help reach voters and persuade them. One person, one vote is only part of the election equation. One person, one vote means nothing if special interests can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money. What everyone including PAC’s, corporation, associations need to do is abide by a $1400 per person limit to be fair to Washington’s voters.

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BIAW and Cronies out to Slaughter Alexander, Anoint Groen to Supreme Court!

Posted on September 14th, 2006 | Comments Off on BIAW and Cronies out to Slaughter Alexander, Anoint Groen to Supreme Court!

Everything that the Washington State Legislature tried to prevent in limiting campaign contributions to judicial candidates in Washington State has come to naught. The Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW) and its cronies are laughing at Washington’s State Legislators.

One could very well ask them, Do you have no shame?

They are literally trying to bully their self anointed candidates onto the Washington State Supreme Court by steamrolling over their opponents with their voter contact and media saturation campaign. They are literally trying to cram their candidates down our throats. I guess they don’t trust the voters to be able to make reasoned decisions on their own.

Washington voters should be outraged at this holier than thou money controls all challenge to fair elections by the BIAW. Doesn’t it make you wonder why they think they have to spend so much money to convince voters to vote for their candidates?

Latest figures show money being raised for BIAW candidate John Groen and for opposing Chief Justice Gerry Alexander now tops $1.7 million. The latest up to date figures posted by www.VotingforJudges.org shows that the BIAW has spent almost a million dollars in their effort. Adding their $141,829 unreported C-6 expenditures for Walking for Washington to their other $807,993 cash and in-kind expenditures brings their current effort to $949,717.

The Washington State Legislature was right to fear the BIAW was trying to buy Supreme Court Justices. But they really misjudged that the BIAW would listen to the message and restrain their efforts to pack the Supreme Court with developer friendly judges. The Washington State Legislature needs to come back next year and amend the campaign laws to limit contributions to PAC’s. Other states already do this.

The issue is not one of limiting spending which the US Supreme Court has frowned on. The issue is one of reasonably limiting special interests from overwhelming the media, mail and other efforts to reach voters such that they drown out the voices of anyone else who wants to have a say in the election. We have a one person/one vote system everyone agrees to.

We need a one person/one contribution amount for all campaign contributions whether directly to the candidates own campaign committee or indirectly through a so called independent expenditure. The limit needs to be the same whether you give directly to the candidate or indirectly to some so called independent PAC also trying to influence the outcome of the election.

If you don’t limit also limit individual contributions to PAC’s then limits to candidate committees make no sense. The law says the BIAW could only give $1400 directly to Groen. But they are spending a million dollars to help elect him. Unlimited contributions to PAC’s now drown out the voice of the candidate.

The almost million dollars spent by the BIAW to try to anoint a former lawyer to the BIAW is obscene. It drowns out other peoples voices. Hopefully Washington voters will realize what is going on and reject the BIAW’s attempt to take over the Washington State Supreme Court for the own narrow interests. I urge people to vote for Gerry Alexander and spread the word to others. The final chance to vote is this Tuesday Sept.19 if you are not voting absentee. This race will be decided Tuesday.

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Text of PDC Complaint Filed Against Groen Supporters by Majority Rules Blog

Posted on September 14th, 2006 | 1 comment

Join the following complaint today against John Groen backers violating Washington State ‘s Public Disclosure laws. Just e-mail the PDC Executive Director and ask that your name be added to the complaint filed against Americans Tired of Lawsuit Abuse filed by Steve Zemke of Majority Rules Blog. The e-mail address is vrippie@pdc.wa.gov Please note in the comments thread below that you have done so. Thanks.

Sept. 13, 2006
To Vicki Rippie – Executive Director
Phil Stutzman – Director of Compliance
Jane Noland – Chair

Dear Public Disclosure Commission:

I would like to file the following complaint with the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission. An out of state PAC named Americans Tired of Lawsuit Abuse -WA has filed a C1PC with you and has reported receiving some $400,000 in contributions but then lists its source literally as coming from itself, namely Americans Tired of Lawsuit Abuse, which is filed with the Virginia Board of Elections which doesn’t require any reporting until Oct.15, 2006.

I believe that Americans Tired of Lawsuit Abuse is really a PAC of a Washington DC Association called the American Tort Reform Coalition. But in the C1PC filed with you, which asks “If committee is related or affiliated with a business or association, union or similar entity, specify name” it leaves this blank and does not respond other than to name itself again with the WA missing.

Besides a Cari O’Malley, it lists no other PAC committee officers’ names or title. $400,000 is a lot of money to just come from nowhere. I believe this whole filing is a pretty patent intent to hide the true source of the funds being spent against Chief Justice Gerry Alexander and for John Groen. By my best estimation over $1.35 million is being spent by Groen’s campaign committee and others PAC’s supporting his election as of now.

This record spending, particularly by out of state interests, deserves to be accurately reported. Because the Washington State Liability Reform Coalition, the local state coalition affiliated with the American Tort Reform Coalition, includes members like the Building Industry Association of Washington (which is itself spending hundreds of thousands of dollars against Alexander) and the Washington State Restaurant Association (both a member the local and national group of the American Tort Reform Coalition) , there is the possibility of funds going from Washington State to the American Tort Reform Coalition and back to Washington State via Americans Tired of Lawsuit Abuse.

Because of what happened in the Deborah Senn and Rob McKenna race for Attorney General race, where about $1.5 million was spent against in the same manner as here and eventually revealed as coming from the US Chamber of Commerce, I believe you need to require that Americans Tired of Lawsuit Abuse immediately report to you their source of funding and that you announce it to the press.

The fact is that the US Chamber of Commerce is one of the members of another coalition run out of the American Tort Reform Coalition’s Office raises concern. Maybe they are involved again.

I believe you need to investigate, because of the associations involved and the attempt to conceal the true sponsors of this stealth PAC, whether any money has been funneled from Washington State to conceal its origins.

Because this race will be decided next Tuesday, Sept 19th, 2006, I urge that you act as quickly as possible to provide the voters of Washington State with the best possible disclosure you can regarding who is spending money in this race.

And I urge that appropriate fines be levied for any violations and infractions of Washington State Law.

Steve Zemke
www.MajorityRules.org/Blog

The following blog posts are added as supporting this complaint:

See: Groen Supporters Violate Public Disclosure in their Intent to Deceive and Hide who they are.
http://www.majorityrules.org/blog/2006/09/groen-supporters-violate-public.html

Record $1.3 million Spent so far to Elect Groen to Washington State Supreme Court http://www.majorityrules.org/blog/2006/09/record-13-million-spent-so-far-to.html

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Majority Rules Blog Files Public Dislosure Commission Complaint Against Groen Supporters

Posted on September 13th, 2006 | 1 comment

Press Release:

For Immediate Release:
Sept. 13, 2006
Majority Rules Blog
Contact Steve Zemke
stevezemke at msn.com

Majority Rules Blog Files PDC Complaint Against “Americans Tired of Lawsuit Abuse”

A complaint today has been filed today with the Washington State Public Disclosure Commission against an out of state PAC supporting the election of John Groen in his race to oust Chief Justice Gerry Alexander from the Washington State Supreme Court.

Steve Zemke of Majority Rules Blog filed the complaint. In his two most recent posts on the Alexander/Groen race for Washington State Supreme Court, Zemke noted that spending by Groen and Groen supporters has exceeded $1.35 million, making it the most expensive Supreme Court race in Washington’s history. And over $400,000 has now been raised and $350,000 spent by a mysterious out of state PAC calling itself Americans Tired of Lawsuit Abuse.

See: Groen Supporters Violate Public Disclosure in their Intent to Deceive and Hide who they are.
http://www.majorityrules.org/blog/2006/09/groen-supporters-violate-public.html

Record $1.3 million Spent so far to Elect Groen to Washington State Supreme Court http://www.majorityrules.org/blog/2006/09/record-13-million-spent-so-far-to.html

Zemke’s complaint is based on violation of RCW 42.17.020 (43) which states that the “Sponsor of an electioneering communications, independent expenditures, or political advertising” means the person paying for the electioneering communication, independent expenditure, or political advertising. If a person acts as an agent for another or is reimbursed by another for the payment, the original source of the payment is the sponsor.”

The sponsor not the agent needs to be identified under Washington law. Americans Against Frivolous Lawsuits is obviously just a phony name to hide the true identity of the funds.

Because this election will be decided in the Sept 19, 2006 primary Zemke asks that the PDC tell Americans Tired of Lawsuit Abuse to immediately identify to the public the source of their funding.

The US Chamber of Commerce two years ago tried to avoid identifying themselves as the sponsors of a $1.5 million spending campaign against Deborah Senn when she ran for Attorney General against Rob McKenna. The PDC ruled that they had to tell the public.

Americans Against Frivolous Lawsuits are running TV attack ads against Chief Justice Gerry Alexander and supporting John Groen.

One possible source of the funds is the American Tort Reform Coalition based in Washington DC. Zemke raises the questions of where the money against Alexander is coming from because a local Coalition calling itself the Liability Reform Coalition actually is affiliated with the American Tort Reform Coalition. And the Building Industry Association of Washington, which is itself spending hundreds of thousands of dollars is a member.

You can read more at the two blog links above.

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Record $1.3 Million Spent so far to Elect Groen to Washington State Supreme Court.

Posted on September 11th, 2006 | Comments Off on Record $1.3 Million Spent so far to Elect Groen to Washington State Supreme Court.

Breaking all records, reported campaign contributions and spending to elect John Groen to the Washington State Supreme Court now exceeds $1,294,608. Over half a million dollars ($557,980) alone has been spent by by the BIAW (Building Industry Association of Washington) and PAC’s it controls.

The BIAW and other special interest groups are trying to defeat current Supreme Court Justice Gerry Alexander. Groen is running on a program of defending developer interests over those of individual property owners and comunities. The BIAW is trying to elect their third Supreme Court Justice that represents their special interests. Previously they were the main spenders to elect James Johnson and Richard Saunders to the Court.

The latest large contribution to join the Groen effort is a reported out of state $320,000 from a so called independent PAC based in Alerxander , VA called Americans Tired of Lawsuit Abuse. They are spending it on TV ads. Joel Connelly in an article in the Seattle PI today said the address given for the PAC is that of the American Tort Reform Association. See also the Seattle Times and Justice at Stake

A phone call to their local phone number listed at an address in Redmond said that the local contact number was for the Liability Reform Coalition. They are listed with the PDC as having spent $244,277 in 2005 doing grassroots lobbying. They referred me back to ATLA when I asked who they represented, saying they were only a local contact.

The following figures are taken from the latest Public Disclosure Commission records in Olympia WA and analysis reported by a new website called VotingforJudges.org . They have done a much better job of compiling independent expenditures and contributions for the judicial races than has the PDC website, which has been slow on getting information and reports updated.

In fact I think that the PDC should be embarrassed in their half hearted effort to provide the public with updated and current information on contributions and expenditures done by so called independent PAC’s. They have done some excellent groupings of data to help the public understand who is getting and spending money by candidate committees but their reporting on independent contributions and expenditures is woefully incomplete and not timely at all. Many independent committees are not even listed in their summary reports of contributions and expenditures..

The primary election on Sept 19th will decide the Alexander/Groen race as well as the race between Supreme Court Justice Tom Chambers and his challenger Jeanette Burrage. People across the state have already received their absentee ballots and are voting. A up to date and timely analysis of contributions and independent expenditures is most helpful to voters before the election, not after it is over.

The fact that the Washington State Legislature did not extend their contribution limits legislation to include PAC’s is a giant loophole that needs to be corrected. It allows special interests to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to influence a race. Current spending for Groen sets a new record for spending in Washington State Supreme Court races. So called independent PAC’s are far outspending Groen’s official campaign committee.

Below is a listing of money raised and spent to try to put Groen on the Supreme Court. I am using expenditure figures for Groen based on www.votingforjudges.org since the posted PDC data is not current. I have updated the Groen campaign committee information based on more current C-3 reports on the PDC website.

Groen campaign committee contributions to date 9/10 /2006 ……….$409,608

Americans Tired of Lawsuit Abuse 9/8/06 supporting Groen …………..$80,000
opposing Gerry Alexander………………………………………………. $240,000

Building Industry Association of Washington……………………………..$99,603

Central Washington Home Builders Association……………………………. $5931

Committee for Judicial Restraint………………………………………….. $1140

Walking for Washington (1/2 of doorbelling/canvassing effort) ……….$167,000
(canvass/doorbelling effort for John Groen & Steve Johnson)

It’s Time for a Change ………………………………………………………………………$291,377

Total reported so far……………………………………………. $1,294,659

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Walking for the Building Industry Association of Washington.

Posted on August 19th, 2006 | Comments Off on Walking for the Building Industry Association of Washington.

As of this week the Building Industry Association of Washington has contributed over 70% of the $256,000 being used to target voters to vote for the BIAW’s two hand picked Washington State Supreme Court candidates. Giving over $180,000 to “Walking for Washington” means they are for this one effort alone contributing $90,000 each to help elect their two endorsed candidates. And they are not done.

The BIAW hates Washington State’s Growth Management Act that protects our communities from urban sprawl. They feel it gets in their way of allowing developers to build whatever they want wherever they want. This year they are running two candidates, John Groen who is challenging Chief Justice Alexander and Steve Johnston who is challenging Justice Susan Owens.

The Washington State Legislature earlier this year passed campaign contribution limits after the BIAW alone spent spent more money two years ago electing James Johnson to the State Supreme Court than Johnson’s opponent, Mary Kay Becker, raised in total.

The Washington State Legislature limited individual campaign contributions to candidates to $1400 in the primary and $2800 in the general. After the bill was passed but before it went into effect, all the Supreme Court candidates except Groen voluntarily abided by the limits. Groen went on a fundraising rampage, collecting over $100,000 in contributions over the limit.

The law has been in effect since June but the BIAW has chosen to ignore the spirit of the law trying to limit special interest influence in elections, by ignoring it. They feel that they can do whatever they want and are raising money independently to influence the election.

The BIAW is on a tear to buy the Washington State Supreme Court. So far they have been the pivotal power putting two of their candidates on the Court already -Richard Sanders and Jim Johnson.

The Washington State Legislature made a big mistake by not also limiting campaign contributions to the same $1400 primary, $1400 general election maximum for donations to PACS that spend independently of the official candidate’s campaign committee. The contribution limits should apply to any contribution supporting or opposing a candidate whether given directly to the campaign or indirectly to a so called independent PAC.

If the purpose of contribution limitations is to limit special interest influence in elections which can overwhelm candidates opponents, the BIAW has shown the Legislature their arrogance and self righteousness. They have given both the Legislature and the voters the finger. To them money is power and fair elections are not something they abide by. Winning is everything. That is why the Legislature needs to fix the law they just passed.

Two years ago the BIAW spent hundreds of thousands of dollars helping Republican Rob McKenna get elected Washington State Attorney General. On election night McKenna personally thanked the BIAW even though they were supposibly independent expenditures.

Meanwhile voters this year need to learn about the candidates running for State Supreme Court. Voters need to vote for incumbent Gerry Alexander over John Groen in the primary. They need to vote for Susan Owens over Steve Johnson. The third Supreme Court race is incumbent Tom Chambers, who is also being opposed by an unqualified so called developers rights advocate Jeanette Burrage.

Alexander’s and Chambers’ race will be decided in the Sept 19th Primary because they only have one opponent .State law says that for judges whoever gets the majority in the primary wins. This is another law that the Legislature needs to fix because it doesn’t make sense to have State Supreme Court races decided by primary voters rather than general election voters.

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Bad Decision by Washington State Secretary of State Reed

Posted on August 16th, 2006 | Comments Off on Bad Decision by Washington State Secretary of State Reed

Will the Washington State Supreme Court be renamed the Johnson Supreme Court? Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed seems intent on helping make that happen.

Washington State Supreme Court Position #2 is currently held by Susan Owens, who was first elected in 2000. The position is up for election again this year and she has 4 challengers.

Two of the challengers are attorneys named Richard Smith and Norman J Ericson.

The other two challengers are both named Johnson. Michael Johnson, a Seattle attorney and Stephen Johnson who is an attorney from Kent and also a Washington State Legislator. He is also the hand picked favorite of the BIAW or Building Industry Association of Washington.

Note – The BIAW is trying to pack the court with justices who support weakening growth management and zoning laws in Washington State. They previously were the biggest spenders in helping elect Richard Saunders and James Johnson to the Washington State Supreme Court. In electing James Johnson 2 years ago, they alone spent more money than Mary Kay Becker, a judge in Whatcom County, raised in total.

Anyway Sam Reed, rather than allowing voters to choose between a Michael, Stephen, Richard, Norman and Susan, has decided your choice should be between 2 Johnsons who are attorneys, with one also being a state senator and 3 other candidates who appear not to be attorneys.

His reason for adding occupation is that two candidates with the same last name might confuse voters. Frankly choosing among most judicial candidates is confusing to most voters since voters know so little about them. But Reed has decided to add occupations to help distinguish between the Johnson’s. In doing so he gives an advantage to the Johnson’s.

Below is Reed’s prejudical ballot listing which favor the Johnsons:

Michael Johnson, attorney
Stephen Johnson, attorney/state senator
Richard Smith
Norman J Ericson
Susan Owens

The most glaring problem – all 5 candidates are attorneys! Reed’s listing makes it look like only 2 of the candidates are attorneys. And by luck of the draw they are also listed at the top of the ballot.

Poor Susan Owens – she is both an attorney and current Supreme Court Justice but she is discriminated against by not having her occupation listed. A state senator gets listed but not a Supreme Court Justice?

If I were with the Owens campaign I would consider challenging the unfair advantage Reed’d decision gives the Johnson’s.

One better unbiased way to distinguish betwwen all the candidates might have been to add their home city. In this case the ballot would have looked like this:

Michael Johnson, Seattle
Stephen Johnson, Kent
Richard Smith, Seattle
Norman J Ericson, Olympia
Susan Owens, Olympia

There are already 2 Johnsons on the Washington State Supreme Court. I am not aware that when they sign opinions that they list some prior occupation to distinguish between them. Do you know who the current two Johnsons are and can you tell them apart? (Answer Charles and James)

What a mess it would be with three Johnsons on the court.

My suggestion – keep the names straight by not voting for any more Johnsons.

I suggest you support the incumbent Supreme Court Justice – Susan B Owens.

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Two of Three Washington State Supreme Court Races to be Decided in Primary!

Posted on August 1st, 2006 | 1 comment

Washington State primary voters on Sept 19, 2006 will decide at least two of the three Washington State Supreme Court races this year. Washington State has this odd law. For most judicial races, if someone wins a majority in the primary, they win the election. There is no general election vote.

According to the official state webpage of Washington Courts:

“In most instances, a judicial candidate who is unopposed or who receives more than half of the votes in a primary election is thereby elected to the position–he or she does not have to run in the November general election. But if there are three or more candidates, and no one wins more than half the votes cast, the two with the most votes must face each other in the November general election.” (The exception is some district court races.)

In two of the three Washington State’s Supreme Court races this year only two candidates filed. That means that who wins these two seats will be decided by primary voters on Sept 19, 2006. The third race has 5 candidates but if anyone receives a majority in the primary, this election is also over.

The two races that will be decided in the primary are for position #8 between incumbent Gerry L Alexander and John Groen; and for position #9 between incumbent Tom Chambers and Jeanette Burrage.
State Supreme Court Justice Position #8

Gerry L Alexander is currently the Washington State Supreme Court’s Chief Justice, having twice been elected to this position by his peers. Justice Alexander was first elected to the state’s Supreme Court in 1994 and was reelected by Washington voters in 2000. From 1973 to 1984 he was a Superior Court Judge. He served on the Court of Appeals from 1985 to 1994.

John Groen is the candidate recruited by the Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW) to run against Alexander. It is part of their continued effort to stack the state Supreme Court with so called “property rights advocates” who oppose growth management. While Groen has argued cases before the Supreme Court, he has never been a judge in any of Washington’s lower courts.

Groen was the only judicial candidate to ignore the spirit of the campaign contribution law passed by the Washington State Legislature earlier this year.

While other candidates, including his opponent, chose to abide by the new limits before they went into effect, Groen collected some $128,000 that was over the contribution limit of $2800 for the primary and general election.

(Actually now with filing ended, because the primary will decide this election, candidates in this race will only be able to accept $1400 per contributor, as of the date the law went into effect. The same goes for position #9.)

State Supreme Court Justice Position #9

Tom Chambers is an incumbent Supreme Court Justice, first elected in 2000. He was past President of the Washington State Bar Association and the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association. He has written over 100 articles and has been active in community organizations.

Jeanette Burrage was the executive director for 5 years of the conservative NW Legal Foundation which pushed so called “property rights” issues. She was involved in drafting Referendum 48 to limit growth management and zoning . Voters decisively defeated R-48. Initiative 933 this year is another incarnation of this same attempt to gut growth management by pushing a “pay or waive” proposal on growth management.

Burrage ran previously for the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals. She served one term as a King County Superior Court Judge but lost the next election. The King County Bar Association in the past has rated her as “unqualified”. You can read more about her in a recent comment thread on Postman on Politics.

State Supreme Court Justice Position #8

Five candidates are running for this position.

Justice Susan Owens is the incumbent. She ran and won her seat in 2000. Prior to that, she was a District Court Judge in Western Clallam County for 17 years. For 5 years she as the Quileute Tribe’s Chief Judge and for 7 years the Chief Judge of the Lower Elwa S’Klallan Tribe.

Until filing week, Steve Johnson, the candidate recruited by the BIAW, was her chief opponent. By the end of filing last week, three other candidates filed for this seat; Michael Johnson, Richard Smith and Norm Erickson.

If any one of these candidates receives a majority in the primary vote, they will win the election on Sept 19th, otherwise the top two vote getters will appear on the November General Election ballot.

The wild card in these races will be the BIAW’s free spending politics to win more seats on the Supreme Court at any cost. Unfortunately the new campaign contribution limitations law to limit contributions in judicial races has a significant loophole. It does not limit contributions to so called independent PAC’s.

This loophole was exploited in 2004 when the BIAW spent lavishly “independently” to help elect Rob McKenna as Washington State’s Attorney General.

Also previously the BIAW spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to help elect two other members to the State Supreme Court, Richard Saunders and Jim Johnson. When there were no contribution limits on judicial races, a lot of this was given directly to the campaigns.

As noted in the PI:

In 2004, the BIAW and its affiliates helped elect Jim Johnson to the Supreme Court by pouring more than $225,000 into his campaign. Johnson outspent his opponent more than 3 to 1 and on the court has been a reliable defender of property rights — a key issue for the home builders.

Again this year large amounts of money are being spent independently by PACs run by the BIAW. This year they are running an independent PAC called Walking for Washington.
As the Seattle PI noted:

The Building Industry Association of Washington, or BIAW, which promotes a conservative, pro-property-rights, anti-regulation political agenda, is by far the biggest donor — at least $121,048 so far this year — to Walking for Washington. The program is run out of BIAW headquarters in Olympia by the builders’ political director, Elliot Swaney.

Walking for Washington is going door to door, identifying voters and handing out literature supporting Groen and Steve Johnson.

Voters who want to support the current Supreme Court Justices can go to their websites to read more about their campaigns and make donations to help offset the money of the BIAW.

Gerry Alexander

Tom Chambers

Susan Owens

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Port Commissioners Spend Public Money to Lobby for Unrestricted Campaign Contributions

Posted on February 23rd, 2006 | 1 comment

A recent disturbing article in the Seattle Times shows just how out of touch some Seattle Port Commissioners are with the public they represent. The Port of Seattle lobbyist is lobbying the Washington State Legislature to oppose campaign contribution limits that the Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, other statewide office candidates and legislative candidates have to comply with.

The Port of Seattle actually encompasses King County. Homeowners help to subsidize the port by paying a portion of their property taxes to fund port operations. Besides port shipping operations, the port also operate the SeaTac Airport.

Pat Davis, President of the Port, is cited as saying the bill is “anti-democratic.” Funny thing is that when state citizens set up the original campaign contribution law, they did it by an initiative (Initiative 134) in 1992 that won by a 73% yes vote.

Pat Davis received some $56,000 that would have been prohibited by the proposed legislation. Seems to me to be a slight conflict of interest in her supporting the publicly paid Port lobbyist to oppose the legislative bill.

The reason for the legislation (3SHB 1226) actually came about because of the fact that Initiative 134 did not include the Washington State Supreme Court. In the last two elections the Building Industry Association of Washington has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into two State Supreme Court races that they won. In fact, in the most recent race, the BIAW candidate received more money from the BIAW than the other candidate received from all her contributions. According to Washington State Public Disclosure Records , Jim Johnson, the winner, raised some $538,418 to Mary Kay Becker’s $158,119.

Even if this bill passes it will still have a giant loophole. It does nothing to regulate so called independent contributions by PAC’s. Individual contributions need to be limited to a set amount per individual regardless of whether it is given directly to the candidate’s election committee or to some independent PAC that spends the money supporting the candidate. The influence of large contributions spent by entities like the BIAW circumvent the whole idea of linmiting large contributors from buying the election because they are still spent on behalf of electing that candidate even if not given to the candidate’s campaign committee. The most logical solution is to limit the amount any individual can give to an aggregiate total in a race. For example you could give $2700 total in the governor’s race. This total would include contributions directly to the candidate or to a PAC supporting the candidate or both but you could not give more than $2700 total in the governor’s race..

The BIAW spent some $569,009 of so called independent PAC money helping elect Rob McKenna Washington State state Attorney General. Giving a contribution directly to McKenna’s committee would have limited them to some $2700. Spending it separately from the candidate’s committee put no limits on how much could be raised from individual donors. That’s why on election night he personally thanked them for helping get him elected. Independent. Yeh right.

Also of note – the Republican Leadership PAC WA spent some $1,265,000 and the Realtor’s Quality of Life PAC some $101,862. Meanwhile you and I, if we had it, were limited to giving $2700 maximun in the race. Sounds fair right. This needs to change!

3SHB has passed the House and has had a hearing in the Senate. Urge your State Senator to support the bill. While it does only half the job, it is a step in the right direction.

Note- the contribution limit this year is $1400 for the primary and $1400 for the general election – for a total of $2800. The limit is adjusted by the state Public Disclosure Commission every 2 years to reflect inflation.

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