I received a news release this morning announcing that King County Executive Ron Sims had endorsed Dr. ChangMook Sohn for State Treasurer… which I suppose would be a significant coup for Sohn in this very low profile statewide race, if not for the second paragraph:
“Dr. Sohn has the experience to be State Treasurer: he’s been the state’s top economist for more than two decades; he’s founded a bank; and he’s taught economics at two state universities,” said Sims, who also endorsed Seattle legislator Jim McIntire for the post.
Sims has endorsed both McIntire and Sohn? Isn’t that kinda like buttering your margarine?
“Sims has endorsed both McIntire and Sohn? Isn’t that kinda like buttering your margarine?”
Not at all. We live under the “top two” primary system now. If both those guys win, there will be no candidate on the ballot from any of the following entities:
Republican Party
Grand Old Party
G.O.P. Party
Cut Taxes G.O.P. Party
And if no one from any of those outfits is on the November ballot, that’ll save general election voters the trouble of trying to figure out who the hell they are.
Seems like an excellent strategy, especially if it prevents some Republican’s slimy, corrupt fingers from fondling the taxpayers’ money, the state pensioners’ money, the state’s self-coverage for workmen’s comp money, et cetera ad nauseum.
The better choice is to go with the guy that the current DEMOCRATIC State Treasurer, Mike Murphy, endorses: Allan Martin.
If Ron Sims’s dual endorsement somehow has the effect of putting both of his endorsees on the November ballot, then I’m all for it.
Oh, what a laugh it would be if Sam Reed’s baby — the bastard child of the inane blanket primary — resulted in two Democrats on the ballot for a statewide office.
It would still be a disgusted laugh for me, however. Party candidates without party primaries is an absolute travesty.
P.S. to the idiots who’ll say “make ’em pay for their primaries”… There are always going to be primaries for other, non-partisan, positions. Unless you have some sort of nongovernmental way to pay for those primaries, the party primaries would merely be piggy-backing on already-necessary, already-funded, primaries that’ll take place anyway.
@2 Tom McCabe’s slimy fingers are already fondling workmen’s comp money. And none of the L & I tax money McCabe touches goes to helping injured workers. That should be a crime.
N @ 4: Thanks, I hadn’t thought that deeply on the subject. That’s a good point.
But I still don’t see any problem, even with a “top-two” system, of a party having a privatly-run & financed primary or caucus in advance of the “official” primary. It could be a good way of them sorting out the wheat from the chaff, and deciding upon which of their candidate is the best one to run under the party banner. Under the “top two” system, that means the person who survives that process within their own party has the best chance of getting on the final ballot, whereas other parties might find their votes split between a lot of also-rans.
Come to think of it, if the Republicans can bring trademark infringement suits against people using their symbols, then why can’t they prohibit anyone who hasn’t gone through such a private primary/caucus process from using their name (or nickname) on the ballot?