(The Center Square) - Candidates for Washington Supreme Court Position 4 held a debate Friday morning that focused in large part on the political support each of the candidates has received in a race that is considered non-partisan, with Election Day just three weeks away.
The Center Square took part as a panelist in the debate held on the Microsoft campus in Redmond.
The race is between King County Superior Court Judge Sean O’Donnell and Washington Court of Appeals Judge Ian Birk, who are competing to replace retiring Justice Charles Johnson on the court.
As reported by The Center Square, Birk criticized O’Donnell last month in a campaign email for having Republican supporters, and the backing of the state GOP.
O’Donnel fired back with a letter signed by 62 current and former judges to say the attack was inappropriate.
During Friday’s debate, panelist Dave Ross asked O’Donnell about Birk suggesting O’Donnell should disavow any GOP support.
“Judge Birk is a very smart person...but his judgment on this issue has been exceptionally poor. And the Seattle Times described it as disqualifying. It said that he was headed to the gutter in this race,” said O’Donnell.
“Five dozen judges across the state, basically rebuked him for it, and pointed out, we run judicial races differently, and we do it for a reason, because we do not want politics coming into these elections.”
Birk responded to say he has no regrets about being critical of O’Donnell for getting GOP support.
“I think the voters are entitled to know who is backing a candidate, because that's material information…..I don't look at PDC reports. I don't want to know who my donors are," he said.
"I don't want to know who my opponent's donors are, because at the end of all this, my opponent and I will both be judges, and people will come before us, and I don't want that to color anything."
On the same question, O’Donnell said a person's political views and political beliefs should have no bearing on how they decide a case.
“I decide a case on the facts and the law,” he said, noting that he has endorsements from Democratic former Governors Christine Gregoire and Gary Locke.
“When does that happen? That both parties can disagree so much [but] can say, 'we trust you to be fair and impartial.'”
The Center Square asked both candidates about the recent Washington Supreme Court ruling invalidating I-2066 to protect natural gas as an energy choice.
Candidates were asked, “Any concern that the people's right to initiative is being eroded by the State Supreme Court?”
“I think that baked into that question is really sort of a political viewpoint, and I'm not gonna bite on that part of the question," said O'Donnell. "I will say the rights reserved to citizens on an initiative power is right there in the Constitution. And it has to be honored and respected."
Birk responded by saying, “Upholding the initiative process is an important function of the court. One of the responsibilities of the court in upholding the state Constitution is to uphold the people's right to self-govern in a democracy."
"And that includes their right to govern, through their elected officials by the legislature and their right to govern directly through the initiative process,” he added.
“I don't think it's new for the court to apply the single subject rule to initiatives,” he said, adding that he did not want to ‘armchair quarterback’ the courts decision.
Birk was referring to the Supreme Court ruling that I-2066 dealt with more than a single subject, which said that voters may not have understood that in protecting natural gas, they were also impacting the environment and amending building codes.
Washington Policy Center and the Ruckelshaus Center sponsored several other Supreme Court debates this week, of which The Center Square participated in three as a panelist.
Ballots for the Nov. 3 election are expected to be mailed out next week, and voting officially begins Oct. 16.
