Democrats To Run For Lieutenant Governor Moderate-To-Conservative Party Veterans Happy About ‘Unconstructed’ Nature Of Job

Two Democratic legislators from the moderate-to-conservative wing of the party announced their bids Tuesday for lieutenant governor.

State Sen. Brad Owen, Shelton, a 19-year legislative veteran who plays in a rock band at antidrug school assemblies, scheduled a news conference today to announce his plans.

But state Rep. Greg Fisher, a seven-year House member from Normandy Park in King County, got the jump on him by announcing his campaign on Tuesday. Fisher said he will resign from the Legislature on Jan. 1 to campaign full time.

Incumbent Lt. Gov. Joel Pritchard, a Republican who served in the Legislature and Congress, is not expected to seek a third term. He has battled a recurrence of cancer. Pritchard said he will make his decision public soon.

Fellow Republicans Ann Anderson of Acme and Jim West of Spokane, both state senators, have expressed an interest in the post if Pritchard indeed steps down.

The lieutenant governor serves as acting governor whenever the chief executive is outside the state, presides over the state Senate, and serves on a number of state boards, including the state Finance Committee.

Beyond that, the $62,700-a-year position is largely undefined.

“It’s important if you make it important,” Owen said in an interview. “That’s where I get all excited about the job.”

Agreed Fisher: “The office is unconstructed. It has never been used to its fullest potential. I want to use it to help get government back on track.”

Owen said he would use the post to “address head-on the problems of drug and alcohol abuse. This is an issue that touches virtually everything we do.”

His “Strategies for Youth” program brings “golden oldies” rock music, combined with an anti-drug message, to schools across the state. Owen, 45, plays a variety of instruments, but drums are his first love.

Owen came close to winning the lieutenant governor nomination in 1988, when the longtime incumbent, John Cherberg, retired. Owen is from the conservative wing of his party, once bolting the Democrats to enable the Republicans to write a no-new-taxes budget.

Although he often is described as a maverick, he has become one of his party’s most influential leaders in the Senate. He is chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee and as a senior senator, his views are sought on the budget, taxes, natural resources and other issues.

A former grocery store owner, he is a favorite of business.

He was first elected to the Senate in 1982, after spending six years in the House.

Fisher, 34, also has parted with his more liberal leaders on occasion. He said he likes Jefferson’s notion of a “radical centrist - someone who moved along the spectrum depending on the issue and not due to ideology.”

His platform is to work for campaign finance changes, lobbying restrictions, opening up the legislative process and acting as an ombudsman.

“I want to be an advocate for regular folks and build a constituency for change,” he said in an interview.

Fisher has been in the House for seven years, including committee chairmanships when the Democrats were in power. Before that, he was a speechwriter and communications strategist for Gov. Booth Gardner. A political science graduate of the University of Washington, he once edited a national political newsletter, the Rendon Report, in Washington, D.C.