ANTI-INCUMBENT FERVOR, reflecting Congress’ dismal 17 percent approval rate in national polls, has a potential stampede of challengers eyeing the 2010 election season.
Meanwhile, state legislators are trapped in a special session that holds little prospect of pleasing voters, regardless of how the incumbents resolve their twin assignments of deciding how to raise tax rates to collect another $800 million, and how to spend some $2 billion less than spending advocates consider bare bones.
Adding to incumbents’ woes is the fact that they are legally barred from soliciting or accepting campaign contributions during legislative sessions, including the current special session that could drag on for as long as a month.
A candidate’s credibility is traditionally tied to the ability to raise campaign funds.
For example, financial resources have propelled Paul Akers, a Whatcom County Republican and successful inventor, to the front of the crowded field lining up to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Patty Murray.
However, on the legislative and local level, some see fundraising as a negative, not a positive.
“There has to be a better way,” Larry Carter of Port Ludlow told me.
Disgusted by candidates who beg for donations and rely on out-of-area special-interest funding, Carter and his neighbor, Craig Durgan, are appealing to people across the state to stand up and run.
They suggest that challengers adopt an innovative, contribution-free campaign strategy based on social networking to build support.
“We don’t want your money, we want your vote,” is the message they propose.
Candidates wouldn’t need big war chests if individual supporters who want bumper stickers or campaign signs simply hand-made their own, Carter said.
He also suggested that backers could write advertisements and buy newspaper space or airtime without routing money through someone’s campaign treasury.
Carter, a retired Navy command master chief, and Durgan, a retired chief engineer in the Merchant Marine, trace their political involvement to Jefferson County’s shoreline management regulations.
Concerns about loss of their waterfront property propelled them to leadership in the Citizens Alliance for Property Rights.
Carter and Durgan became regulars at Jefferson County commissioners and Planning Commission meetings, but their interest now centers on the state Legislature, which enacts the laws under which counties operate.
“Kessler and Van De Wege are the tax team,” Carter said, referring to Rep. Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, and Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim, who currently represent Clallam, Jefferson and part of Grays Harbor counties.
“I wish 10 people would run against them” so the primary could identify the strongest challengers, Carter said.
He and Durgan have not announced as candidates themselves, but they appear headed for the filing office.
If so, they won’t be alone.
Jim Boyer, a Port Ludlow Republican, has been hard on the campaign trail for a year, chasing the Jefferson County District 3 commissioner seat now held by Democrat John Austin.
The few Republicans now in office can also expect challengers.
Port Angeles attorney David R. Fox, who ran for District 2 Clallam County commissioner as a Democrat in 2008 and was eliminated in the primary, now says he’ll take on incumbent Clallam Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly, a Republican seeking a third term.
At the March 15 Clallam County Republican precinct officers’ meeting, party chair Dick Pilling was rattling off a list of interested campaign newcomers when in walked Doug Cloud, the Gig Harbor attorney who has run a couple “placeholder” campaigns against Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, whose 6th Congressional District includes the North Olympic Peninsula.
Cloud is running again on a platform of freedom, individual responsibility and wealth generation. He’s now serious enough to have essentially shut down his private law practice to concentrate on campaigning.
“People are very receptive for the first time,” he said.
“It’s not just Republicans — it’s non-establishment people who are not happy with the way things are going.
“We can win — we’re going to do it one way or the other.”
With the close of Washington state’s June 7-11 filing period still 12 weeks away, every incumbent could face challengers.
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Martha Ireland was a Clallam County commissioner from 1996 through 1999 and is the secretary of the Republican Women of Clallam County., among other community endeavors.
She and her husband, Dale, live on a Carlsborg-area farm.
Her column appears Fridays.
E-mail her at irelands@olypen.com.
