Score one for the good guys today as the Seattle Times editorial board endorses incumbent Judge Robin Hunt for Court of Appeals, Division II, over BIAW shill and former (un)Sound Politics contributor Tim Ford:
Hunt’s challenger is Tim Ford, the open-government ombudsman for Attorney General Rob McKenna and was deputy state solicitor. Before working for McKenna, he was the in-house counsel for the Building Industry Association of Washington, which paid for some of the nastiest ads in previous judicial races.
We have seen no such ads in Ford’s race, and don’t expect any.
We like Ford’s emphasis on protecting the individual citizen and his enthusiastic support of public disclosure, but he has no judicial record and no jury-trial experience.
Legal know-it-alls tell me that Judge Hunt isn’t all that, but Ford isn’t much of anything. Ask Ford’s “fellow lawyers” in the AG’s office about their “colleague’s” legal qualifications (and I use those terms loosely) and the best he can hope for is a nervous laugh or a dismissive eye roll. Then again, while actually seeing the inside of courtroom (in person, as opposed to, say, on TV) is usually a prerequisite for a position like deputy state solicitor let alone the Court of Appeals, the lack thereof didn’t seem to hold Attorney General Rob McKenna back any, so I guess you can’t blame Ford for trying.
Anyway, I’ve got no idea if Judge Hunt is much of a liberal, or even a Democrat, but Ford is certainly as Republican as they come, so following our NHL-style scorecard we award two points to the Democrats, and zero to the Republicans, tightening up the overall standings for statewide and other prominent races.
| Seattle Times Endorsements | GP | W | L | T | Pts | |
| Republicans | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 9 | |
| Democrats | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 | |
| Third Parties | 7 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
PROGRAMMING NOTE:
Stay tuned for Meet the Bloggers at 10 AM.
Judge Hunt is a good gal. She garnered a vast array of liberal endorsements — the Daily Olympian, the State Labor Council and various union locals, local Democratic party organizations, Washington Conservation Voters, Gary Locke, Jay Inslee, State Treasurer Mike Murphy, Insurance Commissioner Mike Kriedler, a long list of liberal judges and supreme court justices, and has received “exceptionally well qualified” ratings from Washington Women Lawyers, the Loren Miller Bar Association (a pro-civil rights lawyers’ group), and several minority bar associations.
Judge Hunt is a highly regarded veteran incumbent.
Tim Ford is a judicial greenhorn who brings nothing to the table except rightwing ideology and the BIAW’s pro-developer, anti-environment, anti-consumer political agenda. The only endorsements I’ve found of Ford are rightwing blogs run by nonlawyers who base their support on ideology and know nothing about what makes a judge good or bad, competent or incompetent.
I thought Robin Hunt had received a bunch of Republican-type support when she was first elected in 1996, and that the person she had defeated had received a bunch of Democratic-type support.
Times have apparently changed.
Stupid wibbawiles! Trix are for kids! What’s wrong with the Times endorsing good moral upright Republicans! Mom and apple pie! Bring back the 1950s!
Beep! Beep!
Tom Bjorgen, the person whom Robin Hunt defeated in 1996 to first get elected was viewed as a Democrat. Bjorgen even gave money to Goldy’s sister-in-law for Snohomish County Executive in 2003.
Here is my response to your argument that the Seattle Times editorial page is Republican.
http://blog.seattletimes.nwsou.....organ.html
Bruce Ramsey
Times editorials
@3: “what is wrong with the times endorsing good moral upright republicans….”
The problem is that good, moral upright republicans is an oxymoron – there ain’t any. Most republicans are shills for big business, corrupt, supported an unnecessary war or are sexual perverts. If you want something moral – then don’t support the party of Bush, Abramoff, DeLay, forced abortions and slave labor.