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closeTuesday, Jul. 22, 2008
Attorney aims to unseat incumbent justice
By Chris Mulick, Herald Olympia bureau
Mercer Island attorney Michael Bond went after state Supreme Court Justice Mary Fairhurst's record on public records issues during their meeting with the Herald's editorial board Monday.
Bond is seeking to unseat Fairhurst, who emerged from a crowded field and was narrowly elected in 2002.
The two candidates offer distinctly different backgrounds. Before being elected, Fairhurst worked for the state Attorney General's Office and once worked inside the Temple of Justice as a judicial clerk for the high court. Bond has 28 years of experience in the private sector working as a trial lawyer and called himself "an outsider who is trying to get inside."
"I haven't spent my entire career in Olympia," he said.
Fairhurst said the court is made up of justices with different backgrounds and that she is its only member whose experience is limited to the public sector.
"No one has complete experience," she said.
Much of the hourlong discussion centered on public disclosure issues. Bond argues Fairhurst has too often taken sides against disclosure of public records.
He cited a 2006 case in which the court determined state law did not require Sound Transit to provide additional notification to a Tacoma man who owned property that the agency wanted for a parking lot beyond a public notice the agency had placed on its website.
The Legislature has since changed the law requiring written notification to be sent to affected parties in condemnation proceedings.
Bold also cited the court's decision late last year to allow the Spokane School District to withhold documents related to its investigation after a student died from an allergic reaction from a peanut butter cookie. The district argued it could withhold the documents based on attorney-client privilege.
"Public records are our records, they're not government records," Bold argued.
Fairhurst said the court must consider all the exemptions to the state's sunshine laws that were approved by the Legislature and exercise judicial restraint. "That's what we struggle with on a case by case basis," she said.
Bond has reported raising almost $14,000 for his campaign, about $4,800 of which has been in loans or expenses he's covered himself.
Fairhurst has reported raising almost $150,000, mostly from a handful of unions and other interest groups, members of the legal community and other individuals.
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