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Gorton challenges GOP stand
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| Contributor | User 13 |
| Last Edited | User 13 Mar 01, 2004 04:39pm |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Newspaper - Seattle Times |
| News Date | Monday, March 1, 2004 06:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | In a 40-year career in Republican politics, Slade Gorton wasn't known for taking on his party.
But in recent weeks the former Republican U.S. senator, state attorney general and state lawmaker has been pushing GOP legislators to rebel against party leaders who want a new, restrictive state primary next fall.
Gorton backs a Louisiana-style primary, the so-called "top-two" plan promoted by Secretary of State Sam Reed. That would send the top two finishers in the primary to the general election, regardless of party.
Republican and Democratic party officials hate that plan. They want separate party primaries and some sort of party registration, even if it is voluntary.
The current system, nearly 70 years old, let people vote for Democrats and Republicans on the same ballot. That was ruled unconstitutional in a lawsuit brought by the political parties. Lawmakers felt new pressure to find a replacement this week after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take the case.
"I think the Supreme Court decision invalidating it was in error, but that's pretty academic. It governs us," Gorton said. "So I think we should go to the closest thing people have been accustomed to.
"Most members of the Legislature in both parties feel the same way, but they also feel heavily pressured by the party."
Gorton wrote a newspaper column on the issue and spent a day in the House Republican Caucus room, urging GOP legislators to stand up to party Chairman Chris Vance. Gorton wants them not to worry about retribution should they buck the party and the party win even more control over who gets on the ballot.
"It will be a very shortsighted political party that tries to dump a successful incumbent over a single organizational issue like this, because they would probably be turning that seat over to the other party," Gorton said.
Gorton says the state's primary "reflected how people actually think about politics. I think that even people who identify themselves as Democrats |
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