Surprise filing in Supreme Court race vs. Stephens

• Published June 05, 2008

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A semi-retired Tacoma defense lawyer with a long background in juvenile and mental-health law filed an unexpected candidacy today for Supreme Court.

Jack Hill said he had considered making such a run before. He filed to run against the newest member of the court, Debra L. Stephens of Spokane, who was appointed by Gov. Chris Gregoire, filling a vacancy left by former Justice Bobbe Bridge’s retirement last year.

“I felt this was the right time to give voters a choice. It’s not issue driven,’’ Hill said. “I don’t come to the court with a strong agenda with something I think needs to be fixed or corrected.’’

Hill said he led the Pierce County public defender office for 25 years but also did civil work, family law and much mental-health law related to Western State Hospital commitments. Since retiring from the defender role in 2006 he has worked as a pro tem judge in superior, district, municipal and Western State Hospital court settings.

See here for a 2006 news profile on him.

In other surprises today, Erik Lee filed for state Senate against longtime Democratic incumbent Karen Fraser of Thurston County.

And in Mason County, a candidate finally took advantage of the cute options available under the state’s new “top two” primary, which asks candidates to list a party preference of 16 letters or less.

Randy Neatherlin, a Belfair Republican running for the 35th district legislative seat being vacated by Rep. Bill Eickmeyer, listed his party preference as the “No Gas Tax’s (R)” Party.

I’m not sure how it will work out on the ballot, but in the other 35th district seat, one Republican candidate listed himself initially as (Blue Collar) Brad Gehring on the state elections web site. He later changed to Brad Gehring; he and Republican Marco Brown of Belfair are challenging Democratic Rep. Kathy Haigh of Shelton.

In Lewis County, Republican Ted Shannon and Democrat Chuck Bojarski joined the crowded 20th district state Senate race. Republican Neal Kirby and GOP Sen. Dan Swecker filed previously.