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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Tuesday’s Primary Offers Wide Variety Of Candidates

Voters who like choices will love Tuesday’s primary.

Take the governor’s race.

With eight Republicans, six Democrats and a Socialist Workers candidate sharing the first page of the ballot, there’s no shortage of options.

Many even have impressive resumes, such as Seattle mayor, King County prosecutor, House majority leader, King County executive, state senator or former congressman.

“I can’t recall a gubernatorial race that has been this interesting in years, on both sides,” said Veda Jellan, a longtime Republican strategist who ran campaigns for George Bush in 1988 and 1992.

In Eastern Washington, the would-be governors share that first ballot page with four candidates for Congress. Republican George Nethercutt is finishing his first term and three Democrats - Judy Olson of Garfield and Sue Kaun and Don McCloskey of Spokane - think it should be his last.

This is an open primary, by the way. That means a voter gets a ballot with the names of all candidates. He or she can vote for a Democrat for governor, a Republican for Congress and a Libertarian for state treasurer.

The second page of the ballot is nearly as crowded as the first, with 14 candidates running for the state’s No. 2 slot, lieutenant governor.

With that many candidates, it was probably inevitable that two names would be so similar that voters need to be told their occupations to tell them apart. Thus the ballot distinguishes Brad Owen (state senator) from Bob Owen (computer consultant).

The retirement of state Superintendent of Public Instruction Judith Billings convinced 11 people to seek the state’s top school post. The job is non-partisan, and if one of them can get a majority of the votes in the primary, he or she won’t have to run in the general election.

Local races also have plenty of candidates. State House races have contested primaries in Spokane’s 3rd and 6th Districts, as well as Northeastern Washington’s 7th and Southeastern Washington’s 9th.

Two incumbent Spokane County commissioners face challenges from within their own parties.

Commissioners run in their districts in the primary, but countywide in November.

Spokane city voters aren’t finished when they wade through the names for Congress, 12 statewide offices, two or three legislative offices, a contested Superior Court seat and, for two of the three districts, a county commissioner’s job.

They then must decide whether to raise property taxes to pay for $37 million in street repairs, and if they want to change the form of government the city has had since 1960.

Replacing the city-manager form of government with a strong mayor and council members elected by district has supporters saying it’s more accountable and detractors saying it’s dangerously powerful.

But one things for sure: If it passed, it would mean more choices, next year.

, DataTimes