Article by Erik Smith. Published on Thursday, July 08, 2011 EST.
Puyallup Senator Says Even-Handedness Has Made Him a Target, but it’s a Plus for Elections Position
State Sen. Jim Kastama, D-Puyallup.
By Erik Smith
Staff writer/ Washington State Wire
OLYMPIA, July 6.—When state Sen. Jim Kastama made an impassioned speech on the Senate floor last January opposing the seating of fellow Democrat Nick Harper, many figured he’d kissed his career goodbye.
Harper’s election to the Senate from Everett’s 38th district was clouded by one of the nastiest independent-expenditure scandals ever to surface in Washington politics – a phony campaign for a Republican that had been masterminded by a Democratic consulting firm, at the behest of the State Labor Council, the Federation of State Employees and the state’s trial-lawyer association. The tactic squeezed out a moderate Democratic incumbent in the primary.
Thing is, Harper didn’t have anything to do with it. Most Senate Democrats wanted him there – they needed his vote. Kastama called the election a fraud and an outrage, and he was one of only two members of his own party who voted to deny Harper a seat the opening day of this year’s session. There were many who thought he’d just written his own obituary.
“I was reading in some of the blogs speculating about my political death, but it never really happened,” Kastama said Wednesday. “So I think what that demonstrates is that if you in fact take a principled position, and you have the evidence to do so – I think people respect that.
“And that is what I would do as secretary of state.”
To no one’s surprise, Kastama is kicking off his campaign for the state’s top elections post this week. The first Democrat to enter the race, the longtime Puyallup lawmaker formally announced his campaign at Puyallup City Hall Tuesday night, and followed it up with a post-kickoff news conference at the press offices in Olympia Wednesday.
He says the evenhandedness that has landed him in trouble from time to time, and has led some to declare him toast, election after election, is precisely the sort of quality you want in the person who oversees the state’s voting process.
First Dem in Field
Kastama, 51, was first elected to the state House in 1996 and moved up to the Senate in 2000. His interest in the statewide post hasn’t exactly been a secret. Two weeks ago he announced that if longtime officeholder Sam Reed stepped out, he’d be stepping in. When Republican Reed announced his retirement last week, Kastama was quick to pump out a press release congratulating his service and announcing the time and place of his own kickoff. And while a flock of other Dems are said to be considering a bid for the rare vacant statewide position, it’s possible that Kastama’s early entry may have caused others to think twice.
Certainly he’s beaten them to some of the choicest endorsements, including 11 current Senate Democrats – among them, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown and Senate Ways and Means Chair Ed Murray.
Harper, by the way, isn’t on the list.
Only one Republican has announced so far – Thurston County Auditor Kim Wyman.
Elections Experience
It’s not normally a job that creates controversy. The secretary of state oversees elections, manages state records, handles corporate registrations and manages the state archives and state library. The secretary also is charged with guarding the state seal.
For the most part, Kastama pledges to continue Reed’s policies, though he hopes to use the office as a bully pulpit to promote economic development.
But to be sure, every now and then the office finds its way into the spotlight, as in 2004, when a tight race for governor triggered a double recount and eventually handed the mansion to Gov. Christine Gregoire by 133 votes – out of 2.8 million cast.
Kastama was intimately involved in the aftermath. As chairman of the Senate Government Operations and Elections Committee he helped write the laws that the secretary of state is charged with enforcing – perhaps 30 or 40 specific rule changes that emerged in 2005 and 2006.
“There were calls to do things at the time that would have overcorrected the system and disenfranchised voters in Washington state,” he said. “What I thought at the time is that I’m going to make decisions that in 10 years, 15 years, people will look back and say those were the best decisions to make. They didn’t overcorrect or disenfranchise voters; they didn’t undercorrect and cause problems going forward. They were the right reforms that needed to be made. That took a lot of political courage, as far as I’m concerned, from all of my colleagues who sat up with me. While other people were advocating for more severe reforms, we put through reforms that were very measured.”
A Raging Moderate
Kastama has been representing Puyallup for years, but you can’t exactly say he’s been coasting to re-election. His 25th District is one of the swingingest in the state, as likely to elect Republicans as it is Democrats. He’s been targeted several times by the GOP, and this time around he looked like a good candidate for a challenge from the left, by the same interests that shot down Everett’s Jean Berkey.
That’s because Kastama is a leader in the centrist Democratic faction that calls itself the “Roadkill Caucus,” a thorn in the side of “progressive” interest groups. On quite a few votes this year Kastama was one of a handful of Democrats who voted with Republicans and forced the Legislature to take a more moderate position on the budget and key business issues like workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance.
It’s not easy being a raging moderate, he said. You don’t get the kind of backing you might if you’re firmly in one camp or another. But here’s the thing. Policy is the place where people do battle, but where elections are concerned, you probably want a guy who plays things down the middle.
“My hope has been that they would want, more than anything, a person who is fair and balanced, someone who would look at them and treat them fairly,” he said. “I hope that they would want that like anyone would want that.”
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