It's still a race for 2 spots on top court

By Brad Shannon | The Olympian • Published August 04, 2008

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Three Supreme Court races are on the ballot Aug. 19, but none is as hotly contested as races two years ago -- and one candidate has a free ride.

Links

For more information about the candidates, see www.votingforjudges.org or to the voters' pamphlets at www.vote.wa.gov. For more election news visit The Olympian's Election section.

Supreme Court races

Position 3

Mary Fairhurst

• Age: 50

• Hometown: Olympia

• Occupation: Supreme Court justice, six years

• Education: B.A. in political science and law degree, both from Gonzaga University in Spokane

• Background: 16 years of experience as assistant attorney general representing state agencies including revenue, transportation, criminal justice and personnel issues; served as judicial clerk to a Supreme Court justice.

• Family: Single; aunt of 13 children

• Web site: www.justicemaryfairhurst.com

• Top donors: Raised $165,121 as of July 29, including 15 separate donations of $1,600; the maximum donations include $1,600 each from six trial-lawyer groups, the Washington Education Association PAC and the SEIU State Council.

Michael Bond

• Age: 55

• Hometown: Mercer Island

• Occupation: Attorney, partner in Gardner Bond Trabolsi firm

• Education: Gonzaga University law school, 1978; also earned a master's degree in law, sustainable international development, from University of Washington, 2004.

• Background: 28 years of experience in private law, mostly defense work and much of it in construction-related claims with other work on environmental, product liability and bad-faith claims; began career as judge advocate in Marine Corps.

• Family: Married, two teen children

• Web site: www.bondforjustice.com

• Top donors: Raised $12,477 as of July 29, including $1,600 each from Richard Fowler of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., Byron Holcomb of Bainbridge Island, and Eric Nutt of Gig Harbor.

Position 4

Charles Johnson

• Age: 57

• Hometown: Gig Harbor

• Occupation: Supreme Court associate chief justice, 18 years on bench

• Education: B.A., University of Washington; law degree, Seattle University School of Law

• Background: 18 years as justice; 12 years of experience teaching state constitutional law at Seattle University; former general-practice lawyer in Tacoma who secured an upset victory over a sitting chief justice in 1990.

• Family: Married

• Web site: www.justicecharlesjohnson.com

• Top donors: Raised $46,841 as of July 29, including separate $1,600 donations from five trial-lawyer groups, the Washington Education Association PAC and the SEIU State Council.

James Beecher

• Age: 68

• Hometown: Seattle

• Occupation: Law partner with Hackett, Beecher & Hart

• Education: B.A., business administration, University of Puget Sound; law degree, University of Washington Law School.

• Background: Extensive trial-lawyer experience, splitting cases between plaintiffs and defendants; former in-house counsel for Safeco; 41/2 years as a senior trial attorney for the state attorney general and represented the Department of Labor and Industries; began career as assistant Seattle prosecutor.

• Family: Married, two children

• Web site: www.beecher08.com

• Top donors: No fundraising reported as of July 29; plans small expenditures before primary.

Frank Vulliet

• Age: 66

• Hometown: Mercer Island

• Occupation: Self-employed, semi-retired lawyer

• Education: B.A., University of Washington; law degree from University of California Hastings College of the Law

• Background: Third-generation Washingtonian, 30-plus years of law experience in trial and appellate work at state and federal courts; served as military magistrate; ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for state Senate in 1996; also ran for Mercer Island city council.

• Family: Divorced twice, two adult sons

• Web site: www.vulliet4justice.org

• Top donors: No fundraising reported as of July 29.

Deborah Stephens

•Age: 44

• Hometown: Spokane

• Occupation: Supreme Court justice since January swearing-in to fill unexpired term

• Education: B.A. and law degree, Gonzaga University

• Background: Extensive trial and appellate experience including more than 120 appearances before the state high court; adjunct professor on constitutional law at Gonzaga since 1995; former school board member and Court of Appeals judge

• Family: Married, two children

• Website: www.justicedebrastephens.com

• Top donors: Raised $96,450 as of July 29, including $1,600 from retired Justice Faith Ireland and $1,600 each from five trial-lawyer groups, the Washington Education Association PAC and the SEIU State Council.

• Debra Stephens of Spokane, who was appointed by Gov. Chris Gregoire late last year as the first woman justice from Eastern Washington, drew the lucky card and has no opponent.

• In another race, one-term Justice Mary Fairhurst has a huge financial and endorsement edge over challenger Michael Bond, a King County lawyer who thinks Fairhurst, who is backed by more than 100 judges and the governor, too often takes the side of government in cases.

• In the third race, three-term Associate Chief Justice Charles W. Johnson faces two weakly funded opponents, both of whom say the court system needs improvement.

Unlike two years ago when outside groups spent more than a million dollars trying to influence the outcome of Supreme Court races by running sharply negative television ads, the races this year are relatively quiet.

Fairhurst raised more than $165,000 by late July -- more than the $164,221 the job will pay next year. Several of her largest donations, each for $1,600, came from trial-lawyer groups that are giving heavily to all three incumbents. Fairhurst also has money from the Washington Education Association, Service Employees International Union and Washington Federation of State Employees. Bond had raised $12,477, including a $3,000 loan.

In Johnson's race, he was the only candidate reporting fundraising as of July 29.

"There is no Supreme Court race," Tom McCabe, the hard-nosed vice president of the Building Industry Association of Washington, half-joked recently. It was McCabe's group that played a turbulent role in the 2006 elections with ads aimed at the chief justice, but this time BIAW found no one it wanted to support.

Whether it's a tough campaign or not, the Fairhurst-Bond race will be decided in the Aug. 19 primary. The candidate who gets 50 percent of the vote plus one will move on alone to the Nov. 4 general election. The three-way race involving Johnson could continue to November, unless Johnson wins an outright majority in the primary -- something he says he was unable to do his last two tries.

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