Top Two Primary

Solicitor General Maureen Hart wrote a letter Friday on behalf of Secretary of State Sam Reed to lawyers from the state Democratic and Republican Parties sticking up for the legality of the state's "top two" primary. Earlier in the week Democrat David McDonald and Republican John White wrote to Reed suggesting that a 9th Circuit Court injunction banning the primary was still in place despite the Supreme Court's decision that it was facially legal.

"Wholly aside from the practical impossibility of your suggestion, there is no legal basis for it," Hart said of the lawyers' claim that the state should cease with the top two primary. "The injunction was based entirely upon the District Court's conclusion that I-872 would facially violate the constitutional rights of the plaintiff political parties - a judgment that has been reversed. An injunction must be obeyed until it is ‘reversed by orderly and proper proceedings.'"

The 36th District Democrats met in Ballard Thursday night in an attempt to sort out what their executive board could not do earlier this week - officially endorse a candidate for state House of Representatives.

But when all the votes were counted, the membership body ultimately came to the same deadlock.

After a motion to issue a dual endorsement failed in a vote of the member body, the 36th LD Democrats voted 107-61 in favor of John Burbank over Reuven Carlyle. Although the tally represented a clear majority of those in attendance, it did not meet the two-thirds majority necessary for an official endorsement.

Secretary of State Sam Reed continues to stand by the "top two" primary, despite Tuesday's actions from lawyers for the state Democratic and Republican Parties.

Notably, he dismisses the attorneys' arguments that a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals injunction from 2005 would trump the Supreme Court decision upholding the validity of the top two primary.

State Democratic Party lawyer David McDonald, who is also a member of the Democratic National Committee, told state attorneys yesterday that the "top two" primary runs contrary to a federal court order of 2005 and as a result would call into question the legality of this year's vote.

David Postman reports on McDonald's letter at the Times that McDonald's letter was brought about by a call for "supplemental briefing materials" from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last week, signaling that the case still had some life despite being upheld by the Supreme Court in March.

UPDATE: Republican Party attorney John White has also sent out a letter to state lawyers, per Postman. His statement is below the jump.

The most recent Elway Poll, done June 18-22, followed up on its gubernatorial preference question by asking would-be voters what they thought "GOP" meant. Three fourths of the 405 registered voters knew that Grand Old Party stood for the Republican Party, but the other twenty-five percent of them got it wrong.

Fifteen percent of the respondents did not know what the acronym stood for while seven percent believed it represented the Democratic Party, and three percent thought something else entirely. Even more significant is that the sample of people who answered incorrectly fell relatively evenly across the political spectrum.

Washington's "top two" primary was in the national limelight Monday when FOX News did a story on the recent fuss over exactly which party many state Republicans prefer when they call themselves GOP.

The story includes cameos by Washington's own Democratic Party Chari Dwight Pelz, Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi, Republican U.S. House candidates Steven Beren (R-Seattle) and Larry Ishmael (R-Kirkland) and Spokane Party Republican Party chair Curt Fackler (R-Spokane).

Check it out below:

SPOKANE -

Rep. Sam Hunt (D-Olympia) just introduced state Democratic Party Chair Dwight Pelz in a discussion about the "top two" primary, how it came about, and where it might lead. He enumerated the differences between Washington's current setup and the Louisiana process after which it was modeled. Hunt, like Pelz, is not a fan of the system.

Pelz read from the Supreme Court's decision that upheld I-872, notably the passage that created wiggle room by stating that voter confusion in the ballots could reverse the decision.

The party chair maintains that "it is our opinion that the courts did not uphold the constitutionality" of top two when they upheld it earlier this year, but rather they declined to rule on it.

"We think Democrats should pick Democratic candidates," he reiterated, "and Republicans should pick Republican candidates."

Shakespeare's Juliet once pondered, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet." But in politics, does the same rule apply?

Washington's new "top two" primary is giving candidates a chance to find out whether or not the Republican Party, by any other name, would smell as sweet.

By and large the party preferences statements have been very predictable. Most candidates say that they "prefer Democratic Party" or "prefer Republican party", along with a few Greens and Constitution Partiers. The most common variation on the filing list is between Republican and GOP, two terms that are synonymous for the same thing.

Jim Camden at the Spokesman-Review caught one of the state's more interesting filings this morning. Somewhat out of the blue, Spokane County Republican Party Chair Curtis Fackler decided to run against Democrat Mike Kreidler for state Insurance Commissioner.

But that's barely half the story. Far more noteworthy is Fackler's party preference. For the "top two" ballot, Fackler has filed under "no party preference." He says it was a strategic decision. Check out how the story goes in the Spokesman-Review below the jump.

The filing period for elected office began this morning at 8:00AM, and will continue through end of business Friday at 5:00 PM at the Secretary of State's office. In addition to providing extra money to the state, the filing also acts to winnow out candidates who are not serious enough to spend any money to get their names on the ballot. Filing fees range from $412.80 for state legislative positions up to $1,652.00 for U.S. Representative.

Already, two candidates for U.S House, Democrat Cheryl Crist in the 3rd District and Republican Rick Bart in the 2nd, have already announced their filing. Hundreds more announcements are sure to come this week, as are accompanying campaign events in Olympia.

For more information on filing fees and where the candidates will be doing it, see the Secretary of State's website here. UPDATE: Find all of the candidates who have filed here.