Lawyer vies to replace judge

By Brad Shannon | The Olympian • Published April 05, 2008

Hunt, meanwhile, held off on fundraising until she learned that Ford is her opponent.

Before joining the bench 12 years ago, Hunt worked as a Bainbridge Island hearing examiner and municipal pro tem judge. She said others would report that she offers "well-reasoned, balanced, moderate" decisions and that she defers to the Legislature to fix conflicts between government policies.

Hunt defended her decisions on public records, calling herself a supporter of open government. She said the controversial Northwest Gas Association case still is undecided on appeal and that her ruling threw it back to the trial court for a decision.

The case dealt with pipeline interests trying to keep secret data on file with the state Utilities and Transportation Commission about specific pipeline material thicknesses and locations; the pipeline companies cited a terrorist-threat exemption in public records law as a reason not to disclose data.

Hunt allowed a temporary injunction and ordered the case back to trial in Thurston County, finding the lower court had erred. The suit against the UTC drew newspapers as third parties.

"We still don't know ultimately whether or not this particular information would fall under the terrorist exemption" in public records law, Hunt said. "We thought the pipeline companies should be allowed to show evidence why it should fall under the exemption and go to trial."

Despite his advocacy on open records, Ford said he would set aside that agenda and try to apply the law in an impartial and principled way, something he thinks Hunt has not done, particularly on government accountability.

Ford has a Web site, www.timford2008.com, lives in Olympia, is married and has one daughter. His campaign announcement said he served in the Navy as a lieutenant, was a helicopter pilot and earned his law degree from Gonzaga University.

Brad Shannon is political editor for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-753-1688 or bshannon@theolympian.com.