More from the fundamentalist front...

May 7, 10:22 PMSnohomish County Progressive ExaminerChad Shue

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In the 2009 race for King County Executive it would appear that former TV anchor Susan Hutchison has an early advantage with the voters - and that seems to be just fine with her opponents and the Progressive blogosphere. In a poll commissioned by one of the more recent entries into the race, State Senator Fred Jarrett (D-Mercer Island) Hutchison garnered some 20% support - well out-distancing each of her male counterparts. The poll of 500 King County voters rated Jarrett at 7%, Dow Constantine and Larry Phillips (both Democrats currently serving on the King County Council) at 6% and 5% respectively and late entry State Senator Ross Hunter (D-Medina) at 3%. Meanwhile almost 60% of those polled said they were undecided.

Susan Hutchison, KC Exec candidate

Most analysts agree that Hutchison's early lead in the poll is tied almost exclusively to name recognition from her time a local television personality. It is that analysis plus the fact that the vast majority of the respondents reacted negatively to "a religious conservative candidate" that has the Democratic Party and the liberal bloggers ready and anxious to begin presenting a "clear picture" of Susan Hutchison to the electorate.

One of the first out of the gates was David "Goldy" Goldstein. Writing at Horsesass.org even before the polling had begun, he said:

"Hutchison, for all her benign, if fading, public profile, is a genuine Republican of the corporatist/religious wing-nutty persuasion, who’s about as out of step with the values of the majority of King County voters as she is with their middle class lifestyle.  And what exactly are her qualifications for higher office?  According to the Seattle Times:

Hutchison has been executive director of the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences since 2003, chairs the Seattle Symphony board of directors and sits on the boards of several other nonprofit organizations.

And by “other nonprofit organizations,” of course the Times means the board of the Discovery Institute, the folks whose main claim to fame is their well-funded effort to destroy science education in our nation’s schools by promoting the creationism-cum-voodoo they call Intelligent Design.

So if your natural history education came half from the Bible and half from The Flintstones, Hutchison is likely your candidate of choice."

It wasn't long before Erica Barnett; writing at The Stranger, picked up the attack:

"...It's one thing to believe in God (as plenty of public officials, including outgoing county executive Ron Sims, do); it's quite another to advocate the teaching of religion in science classes and to condemn scientists for being scientists.

Hutchison's creationist beliefs dovetail perfectly with the Discovery Institute, the right-wing think tank where she served as a board member. Best known for pushing "intelligent design," the Discovery Institute encourages public schools to "teach the controversy," an attempt to put evolution and creationism on equal footing in science classes.

Discovery Institute founder Bruce Chapman told The Stranger that Hutchison left the think tank's board at the end of 2007. However, the group didn't take her name off its list of board members until just last week, after reporters started calling to ask if she was still affiliated with the group. "Somebody made a mistake," Chapman said. Her biography at the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences, of which she's executive director, until Tuesday still listed the Discovery affiliation.

And despite her claim that she wants to "end partisan bickering," Hutchison also has a long history of giving to right-wing Republicans—and only right-wing Republicans.

Since 2003, her campaign donations have included:

• $2,075 to Republican gubernatorial challenger Dino Rossi, plus $1,000 to ChangePAC, a Building Industry Association of Washington–backed group that supported Rossi,

• $500 to George W. Bush,

• $3,000 to Republican George Nethercutt, who ran against Washington senator Patty Murray,

• $3,000 to Eastside Republican congressman Dave Reichert, himself a faux-"moderate" Republican, and

• $500 to 2008 Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who shares Hutchison's disdain for science and her belief in a personal Christ as the only road to salvation.

In all her years of political involvement, the "nonpartisan" Hutchison has given not one dime to Democrats or Democratic causes..."

Another area of concern is Hutchison's involvement (and motivation for) 2008's Initiative 26; making all King County elective offices officially "nonpartisan." Opponents of the initiative suggested at the time that it was simply and effort by Republicans to slip under the radar of the more liberal voters in King County. In fact, when asked recently about Hutchison's entry in to the Executive's race, Washington State Democratic Party Chair Dwight Pelz offered:

"This is why the Republicans ran the initiative to make it a nonpartisan office — to sneak a right-winger like Susan Hutchison past the voters of King County."

Even with all the "forces of the left" lining up against her, the early betting is that, so long as Susan Hutchison remains the only "non-partisan" Republican woman in this race she is well positioned to be standing at the end of a "top two" primary and should have an opportunity to face voters come November.

Peace,
Chad Shue