Murray Labors For Region’S Needs

When campaigns resort to inflammatory attack ads, as they have on both sides of the contest for U.S. Senate in Washington state, voters need to step back a few paces and use their common sense.

Washington state sends only two senators to Washington, D.C. The question is not which candidate has the scariest fangs. In real life, both Linda Smith and Patty Murray are decent people.

The question is what kind of Senate delegation would serve our region best.

In our judgment, Patty Murray adds more value to the delegation than Linda Smith would.

Consider: Sen. Slade Gorton is a forceful, influential advocate for the conservative point of view and he will continue in that role. A complete representation of Washington’s interests requires a different voice, not the strident “me-too” that Smith would provide.

Patty Murray gives the region a voice in the Democratic side of the nation’s power structure, and that is important given voters’ preference for divided government. On many occasions, Murray’s voice has sensitized the White House to Northwest concerns including foreign trade, aid to farmers and cleanup at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

Pressed by our editorial board to say whether she supports breaching Snake or Columbia river dams, Murray replied: “No, I do not.” Good. Further, she wisely asserts that locally negotiated habitat conservation plans are the most promising way to resolve stalemates over endangered species, including salmon.

Unlike Smith, Murray has sided with free trade, a position crucial to Washington’s economy, which depends on open doors for exports such as wheat, airplanes, apples and software.

Murray recognizes the value of federal financing to revive urban areas like downtown Spokane. She supports the River Park Square project, undertaken by the city and by this newspaper’s corporate owners.

Murray is a stalwart defender of a woman’s right to choose. This newspaper rejects Smith’s view that federal dictates should replace private moral persuasion as the way to discourage abortion.

Certainly, on some federal spending and regulatory issues we prefer Gorton’s views to Murray’s. But on those same issues Smith has been unpredictable, given to showy protest votes rather than the pragmatic work of compromise and governance.

We endorse Murray, who knows our region and works for its needs.