Owen Vs. Owen: Candidates Caught In Name Game Two Running For Lieutenant Governor May Share Name, But Not Stand On Drugs
State Sen. Brad Owen says he won’t stand by and watch his campaign for lieutenant governor go up in smoke.
The Shelton Democrat and anti-drug advocate said Wednesday he will file a complaint with the state alleging that Bob Owen, a candidate who supports legalizing marijuana, has sabotaged his campaign by falsely telling people the two are distant cousins.
“Bob Owen is not in the race to win,” the lawmaker said during a news conference on the Capitol steps. “What he’s in the race for is to take votes from my candidacy to make sure I don’t win, and to promote his pro-drug agenda.”
Bob Owen, a state employee and treasurer of the Washington Hemp Education Network, which promotes legalizing marijuana, denied the accusation. He said he believed the two were related until recently, when the senator told him that he was born Brad Smith and adopted the Owen name after his mother divorced and remarried.
Still, Bob Owen acknowledged that his opposition to the legislator drew him into the race.
“I feel sorry for the guy. This guy has been in the office for 12 years and probably thinks he’s owed this other (office),” Bob Owen, a 46-year-old grandfather from Olympia, said in a telephone interview. “I think his policies are from the dark side of the moon.”
The two Owens are among 14 candidates vying to succeed Lt. Gov. Joel Pritchard, who’s retiring.
In addition to his work with the hemp group, Bob Owen has published a 32-page pamphlet titled “Compare Legal Drugs With Illegal Drugs.” He doesn’t own a car, refuses to accept contributions and is campaigning only in cyberspace, where he has an Internet home page.
He also will be a guest speaker at a “Hemp Education Day” gathering Monday on the Capitol grounds.
Brad Owen, on the other hand, is well known around the Capitol for his anti-drug efforts. He sponsored the Washington Drug Free Workplace Act and plays in a rock band that takes an anti-drug message to schools.
He is particularly miffed because Bob Owen has said in media interviews and on the Internet that he and Brad Owen are distant cousins. “It’s a blatant lie and he knows it,” said the senator, who was joined at the news conference by his mother and two sons.
Brad Owen said he would file a complaint with the Public Disclosure Commission, which enforces campaign laws, alleging that Bob Owen has made intentionally false and misleading statements. The senator also asked Secretary of State Ralph Munro to add information to the Sept. 17 primary ballot that would differentiate between the two Owens.
Asked what he would like written on the ballot, he quipped: “Brad Owen, good guy. Bob Owen, dirty rotten scoundrel.”
Brad Owen also said he has directed his attorney to prepare a defamation lawsuit, although it’s unclear if that will be filed.
None of this seems to bother Bob Owen, who directed some harsh criticism at the senator in a letter to Brad Owen’s attorney earlier this week. In the letter, he described Brad Owen as a “feather-weight” and an “empty suit” and chastised him for hiring “a bloodsucking, big-city lawyer to sue another member of the family.”
xxxx THE OTHER The Internet address for Bob Owen’s home page is http://www.olywa.net/owen.