Washington State Governor

Washington voters face a crush of candidates for governor in Tuesday’s primary, with 15 people from three parties in the race.

But the field is dominated by just a fistful of serious contenders.

Among Democrats, Seattle Mayor Norm Rice and King County Executive Gary Locke lead the pack.

Rice, 54, brings six years as mayor of the state’s largest city, national connections as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and 11 years’ experience on the Seattle City Council to the race.

Locke, 46, is about halfway through his first term as King County executive. He has also served in the state House, where he was chairman of the House Appropriations Committee for five years.

Former Congressman Jay Inslee, 45, an attorney from Bainbridge Island, has yet to see his campaign catch fire. Inslee has made his pitch to voters largely on the basis of his opposition to public spending for new sports stadiums.

Locke backed the new Mariners baseball stadium in Seattle, and says he would put state general fund money into a new stadium for the Seattle Seahawks if the return on the investment was greater than the cost.

The GOP field is thick with candidates who fill out the ideological spectrum. Ellen Craswell of Poulsbo is by far the most conservative, and has the most avid grass-roots support.

Craswell, 64, has built an army of supporters, primarily among religious conservatives with a promise to bring government back into line with “God’s plan.”

She opposes abortion and gay rights and promises deep cuts in spending. She says she would like to eliminate entire departments and programs, including welfare and the state Department of Labor and Industries.

If it’s affordable, Craswell also says she wants to eliminate the state business and occupation tax, state share of the property tax, and motor vehicle excise tax.

That would cut state revenues by about 34 percent.

Rep. Dale Foreman, 48, R-Wenatchee, is the House majority leader. While quite conservative, he is not as hard-line as Craswell. He wrote a column for the Seattle Times two years ago criticizing anti-gay rights initiatives as mean-spirited. And he promises to roll taxes back, not eliminate them.

Foreman, a Harvard-educated attorney, has been in the Legislature only 3 years. He was a major backer of a property rights initiative rejected by 60 percent of voters statewide last year.

Foreman has been in the news lately for running afoul of the state Public Disclosure Commission, but the board cleared him on a 3-2 vote of raising money illegally during the legislative session.

More moderate GOP candidates include Jim Waldo of Vashon Island, 47, an attorney who has never held public office.

Waldo has little name recognition statewide, but is known west of the mountains for helping to negotiate complicated transactions including the merger of King County government and Metro, a major transportation and water and sewer authority.

Waldo also helped hammer out a timber, fish and wildlife agreement that has helped reduce lawsuits over environmental issues.

GOP candidate Norm Maleng, 57, has served as King County prosecutor since 1978. He says education is one of his top priorities and promises to increase higher education spending to boost enrollment slots.

Maleng also wants to break up the troubled Department of Social and Health Services into separate agencies.

He promises to work to roll back business and occupation taxes to pre1993 levels, and create tax-free enterprise zones in depressed areas.

Also running are Democrats Bryan Zetlen of Seattle; Mohammad H. Said of Ephrata; and Max Englerius of Seattle; Republicans Warren E. Hanson of Bellingham; Bob Tharp of Vancouver; Sen. Pam Roach of Auburn; and Nona Brazier of Maple Valley. Jeff Powers of the Socialist Workers Party, a Seattle resident, has also filed to run for the governor’s post.

, DataTimes MEMO: See individual profiles by name of candidate.

This sidebar appeared with the story: THE JOB The governor serves a four-year term and is paid $121,000 a year.