Taber Attacks Wea, Bergeson Shoots Back In Testy Debate Candidates For State Schools Superintendent Pull No Punches

Ron Taber, the tart-tongued millionaire conservative running for state superintendent of public instruction, attacked his union-backed opponent, Terry Bergeson, as an insider beholden to the “radical, leftist” Washington Education Association.

Bergeson shot back: “There is no one who will hold me captive but the children of the state.” She insisted Taber has no less in mind than dismantling the public school system.

Thursday’s clash between the two aspirants for state schools chief was the highlight of a trio of candidate debates sponsored by the Association of Washington Business as the prelude to an evening face-off between the finalists for governor.

The session also included a testy exchange between state Insurance Commissioner Deborah Senn, a Democrat, and her Republican challenger, Anthony Lowe, and a mostly amicable meeting between the candidates for lieutenant governor, Republican state Sen. Ann Anderson of Acme and Democratic Senate colleague Brad Owen of Shelton.

Taber tried to smooth some of the rough edges off his campaign.

He laughed off a press panelist’s description of him as “a nut,” saying he considers that a compliment coming from the irascible columnist Adele Ferguson.

Then he got a big laugh with a self-deprecating joke: A student came up and said her whole class wants him to win. “Why?” he asks. Because their teacher says if Taber wins, she’ll flee the state.

Taber, an Olympia developer and former college teacher and seminarian, also tried to reposition himself as a friend of public education.

During his primary campaign, he said the “monopoly” system is failing and that he favors vouchers which would allow parents to take their kids out of public schools and put them into private schools. He said the public system might wither away.

But Thursday, he told the business leaders, including a number of the state’s leading education advocates, “I am not out to abolish public education, as my critics have said. I am advocating competition.”

Taber pulled no punches in going after Bergeson, who outpolled him 39 percent to 17 percent in the primary. He said Bergeson is a tool of the WEA, the teachers union she headed for four years. The WEA and its parent organization, the National Education Association, care less about good schools than about protecting their turf and pursuing a social agenda that includes teaching gay and lesbian history, he said.

“What has that got to do with schools?” he asked. “What they do represent is a sort of radical, leftist politics.”

Taber called the 1993 education reform law, which Bergeson helped push through, “a failed enterprise, as have been most reform efforts in the last 30 years.” He said that’s because education insiders are doing the designing and implementing.

Bergeson, clearly agitated, did not confront Taber directly. She said her union has been both a force for genuine improvements and “part of the problem” at times. She said she supports efforts to make it easier to fire problem teachers, but she gave an emotional defense of the union.

Bergeson also defended the reform law, saying it will increase expectations of students and work to make sure they meet the grade.

“We have to raise the bar” that students are expected to meet, she said. “We have to stay the course and take the heat. We are not prepared for the 21st century, but we will be.”

She rapped both of the school initiatives on the November ballot, saying Taber’s voucher initiative would undermine both funding and public support for public schools and that a measure authorizing independent charter schools to operate as public schools would not provide all of the accountability taxpayers expect and deserve.

The two-term schools incumbent, Judith Billings, is retiring.

In the insurance commissioner’s debate, challenger Lowe accused Senn of being too heavy-handed with regulations, thus driving some health-insurance carriers out of state, and failing to hold down premium rate increases.

Senn, a first-term Democrat, conceded she has made enemies as the state regulator, but she said protecting consumers is her main concern.

In the debate for lieutenant governor, Owen, the apparent narrow primary winner over former state Rep. Paull Shin, and Anderson praised each other. Both received a warm welcome from the business group.

Anderson said she would use the office to continue her work on regulatory reform; Owen said he would expand his work on drug and alcohol education.

Anderson noted she has a 91 percent record of voting with the business lobby compared with Owen’s 58 percent, and she said she’d use her clout as presiding officer of the Senate to help business with its agenda.

Owen touted his own pro-business record. He noted he has broken with his Democratic caucus on occasion, agreeing with the business position on taxes, property rights and other issues.

The Republican incumbent, Joel Pritchard, is stepping down after two terms.