Ford should reject ad, claims group

By Brad Shannon | The Olympian • Published August 08, 2008

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Campaign fliers attacking three of Appeals Judge J. Robin Hunt's decisions are "misleading, inaccurate, and inappropriate," according to an independent group that formed this year to monitor judicial elections in Washington.

Complaint against Hunt's campaign

A nonpartisan citizens group keeping an eye on Washington judicial campaigns is reviewing a complaint filed Thursday by the Building Industry Association of Washington against the campaign of Appeals Court Judge J. Robin Hunt.

The complaint says that she demeaned her opponent, Tim Ford, in a July 2 fundraising letter sent to trial lawyers. The Olympian obtained a copy of the fundraising letter signed by several attorneys, including Charles Wiggins, the author of an earlier complaint about ads run by critics of Judge Hunt.

The letter was on the letterhead of Hunt's campaign and called Ford "inexperienced and ambitious and a threat to the cause of injured people." The letter also said suggested Ford was a tool of the BIAW, a politically strong group that helped elect conservative Justice Jim Johnson in 2004 and ran hard-hitting ads in the Supreme Court races of 2006.

Hunt said she was not aware of the letter and that she did not think the clean-campaign pledges she and Ford signed earlier in the year applied to private or targeted communications such as a fundraising letter. She said Ford's campaign had circulated disparaging fundraising appeals about her.

The pledge

The Washington Committee for Ethical Judicial Campaigns' candidates pledge:

I believe judicial candidates should aspire to the highest ethical standards to promote public trust and confidence in the fairness and impartiality of Washington courts. To that end, I will not take any action during the campaign which will harm the public faith in the integrity of the judicial system in Washington and hereby pledge that, as a candidate:

"I will conduct myself in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity, independence, and impartiality of the judiciary and participate in thoughtful discourse in judicial forums and with the media. If requested by the Washington Committee for Ethical Judicial Campaigns, I will publicly disavow advertisements that impugn the dignity, integrity, or independence of a candidate and will use my best efforts to have such advertising modified or discontinued. I will not engage in activities that erode public trust and confidence in the dignity, integrity, or independence of the judiciary. I will also submit copies of this fully executed pledge to my campaign committee and key supporters.

Pledged this day of ______________________________________, 2008.

Washington Citizens for Ethical Judicial Elections, led by retired judge William W. Baker, notified Hunt's opponent, Tim Ford of Olympia, that the ads were out of line. Baker asked Ford to disavow the ads.

Ford said Thursday that he won't criticize the ads, which were sponsored and paid for by an independent group that he is not involved with.

"I've been critical of judge Hunt's record. She's made a lot of mistakes," Ford said in a telephone interview. "To the extent people want to spend their money talking about her mistakes and it's factual, that's great. And these ads are factual."

The complaint is the first that the bipartisan judicial-watch committee has received. It has no authority other than the ability to call public attention to wrongs that it sees.

In a related matter, the Building Industry Association of Washington filed a complaint with the committee Thursday, Baker said. BIAW leader Tom McCabe said a letter sent out by Hunt's campaign disparaged Ford in a demeaning way.

The anti-Hunt fliers were paid for by Olympia-based People's Choice for Leadership, one of the political action committees formed by Olympia Master Builders this year to back candidates at the court and county commissioner levels.

OMB's government-affairs director, Will Stakelin, said 95,000 mailers were sent to voters in the six counties served by the Appeals Court district, including Thurston and Mason counties. The cost was $38,000.

People's Choice has received $160,000 from OMB's Progress for Our Community, which in turn received $170,000 from Affordable Housing Coalition. Major contributions to the council included $120,000 from the Building Industry Association of Washington and more than $50,000 from Olympia Master Builders.

The fliers slammed three of Hunt's rulings and accused her of "a record of hiding the truth." Stakelin said his group stands by its flier, believing Hunt's record on open government is "very weak."

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