Governor’s election back in spotlight
After a welcome respite from the front pages and the front-burner of all but the most political of stoves, the 2004 governor’s race returns to the spotlight this month.
The trial is three weeks away, and on Monday Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges brings all the lawyers together in Wenatchee to sort out some things that could whittle down or expand the main event. Like who’s responsible for proving what about all those “bad” votes.
Tonight Sen. John Kerry will be at Discovery Park in Seattle, at an event with tickets with prices as high as $1,000 per. It’s for the State Democratic Party’s Governor’s Defense Fund, which sounds as though Gov. Christine Gregoire was in jail on some trumped up charges.
Even the Republicans don’t say that. They just claim she’s in the governor’s mansion on trumped up ballots.
The Democratic National Committee is also putting the arm on potential donors around the country via hyperbolic e-mail, asking them to “step up to defeat frivolous lawsuits” and saying there are similarities between attempts to nullify the 2004 gubernatorial results and the Republicans rewriting rules on House ethics and Senate filibusters in the other Washington.
Sure, it’s a fund-raising appeal, so it’s expected to be a bit shrill. But the election lawsuit isn’t a naked power grab by anyone, no matter what one thinks about its origin. The Washington, D.C., actions involve maneuvering by go-for-the-jugular strategists that will be decided strictly by politics.
The Wenatchee activity is a well-briefed legal case, being argued by some of the best lawyers in the state, in front of a judge who has shown thoughtfulness, logic and occasional good humor.
Except for the time a reporter’s cell phone rang in the middle of a hearing and Bridges had a bailiff remove him. The judge did let the offending reporter back in after a written apology.
And no, it wasn’t anyone from this paper.
Meanwhile, on the other side
A trial on questionable ballots at the end of this month is not enough for some folks still torqued over Gregoire’s come-from-behind victory.
The Evergreen Freedom Foundation is reissuing a demand for a federal grand jury investigation into all the problems with the King County ballots.
The conservative group, run by former Republican legislator and one-time gubernatorial candidate Bob Williams, notes that it asked U.S. Attorney John McKay for a grand jury probe once before “but nothing is being done by his office.”
Which would be sure proof that the political fix is in on this whole election scheme, except that McKay is a Republican appointee.
Speaking of investigations
The King County Prosecutor’s office is, however, looking into an additional 110 votes cast by people with felony records who may have not had their voting rights restored. That makes a total of 648 King County voters being investigated for that problem.
Causing a Dino Rossi spokeswoman to proclaim: “When you add up the illegal votes, the improperly cast votes and all the mistakes in the last election, you get a giant mess.”
Good point, except that as we have repeatedly seen, some people who are accused of casting illegal ballots turn out to be legal voters who cast perfectly good votes. So how big of a mess this is remains to be seen.
That’s why there’s a court hearing this week, and a trial scheduled for later this month, in Wenatchee.
So perhaps everyone might want to – in the phrase uttered by Maya Rudolph in those Saturday Night Live skits – “simma down.”
More on naming rights, and wrongs
A reader responded to last week’s column on changing namesakes without changing names with an inquiry about the town of Cheney. Apparently no fan of the current administration, or at least its second in command, she wanted to know of a way to avoid any connection between the town and the veep.
Probably not an easy way to do that, short of a wholesale name change. But to be clear, the vice president’s name rhymes with rainy. The town is pronounced to rhyme with the old Bullwinkle chant, “eenie, meanie, chili beanie.” Maybe the local Chamber of Commerce could work that into a slogan.
OK, so it’s not brilliant. But is it that much worse than Near Nature. Near Perfect?