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closeFriday, Jan. 09, 2009
Top 2 primary system complicates replacement of state lawmakers
By Michelle Dupler and Joe Chapman, Herald staff writers
The state Legislature will be missing two members when it resumes Monday.
The recent deaths of Reps. Steve Hailey, R-Mesa, and Bill Grant, D-Walla Walla, mean a major chunk of Eastern Washington will be without two veteran legislators.
And the process for replacing them could face a court test if political parties decide to file challenges, officials in Secretary of State Sam Reed's Office said.
Dave Ammons, a spokesman for Reed's office, said the state is in uncharted territory for replacing legislators who don't finish their terms because of the new Top Two primary system.
It used to be Democrats and Republicans each were guaranteed a spot on the ballot when they nominated a candidate, but the new primary system advances the top two vote-getters in the primary to the general election -- and that can mean two politicians of the same party facing off in November, as happened in the 8th District race when Republican Rob Welch challenged incumbent Rep. Larry Haler of Richland.
State law says if a political party nominated the legislator who steps down or dies, then that party gets to pick a slate of replacements.
But the new primary system raises the question of whether Hailey or Grant were truly "nominated" by their parties, Ammons said.
He said the thinking is that by voting for a candidate nominated by the party, voters also were voting for the party. But that isn't necessarily the case anymore.
"Right now, the party's main claim to power over that seat is that they endorsed the person who won in both cases, and with that knowledge we will assume voters approved (them)," Ammons said.
Elections officials have interpreted the law to mean 9th District Republicans can pick a list of three possible successors for Hailey, and Democrats can pick three for Grant's seat.
"If anybody wants to sue, they're welcome to ask for clarification from the courts, or anyone is welcome to propose legislation this winter if anybody thinks there should be a different policy," Ammons said.
Ninth District Republican precinct officers met Saturday and chose three nominees to replace Hailey.
County commissions from the six Eastern Washington counties in the 9th District are to meet Jan. 19 in Colfax to choose Hailey's successor.
Nominees include Don Cox, a former state representative from Colfax who held the District 9 seat before Hailey; Jeff Holy, an attorney and former police officer from Spokane; and Jochen Engelke, a Mesa-area businessman and farmer who ran for the Franklin commission in 2006.
A quorum of at least half of the 18 county commissioners have to attend the meeting. It is open to the public and starts at 11 a.m. in the Whitman County Public Service Building auditorium, 310 N. Main St., Colfax.
Franklin County Commissioner Rick Miller, when asked which nominee he prefers, said he likes having a representative from Franklin County's end of the district, but that he also values having a skillful legislator who can represent the area's needs.
"So I'm going to look for a good legislator. I'm going to look for who's going to do the county the best," Miller said.
At the selection meeting, candidates will introduce themselves, and each commissioner will get to ask each candidate a question. Then the commissioners will vote on the nominees until one wins a majority.
Democrats have yet to meet to nominate potential replacements for Grant.
In Franklin County, it will be the third time in just over a year that the county commission has participated in proceedings to appoint a legislator in mid-term.
Ninth District county commissioners chose state Rep. Joe Schmick to succeed David Buri, who resigned to become a lobbyist in late 2007.
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