How the high court goes

Bellevue attorney John Groen is apparently failing in his campaign to unseat Gerry Alexander, chief justice of the Washington Supreme Court.

If that result holds, it is a remarkable demonstration that mounds of money and scurrilous advertising did not sway a majority of Washington voters. There was unfairness on both sides, but by far the larger bucket of slime was emptied upon the chief justice. Particularly odious was the TV ad that attempted to tar Alexander with a drunken-driving episode about which he merely commented to a reporter.

This is how our Supreme Court campaigns now work in the state of Washington: The candidates go to forums, get some endorsements, raise a little money and put out a few fliers and signs. These puny efforts are engulfed by groups that dump in heaps of money for TV and radio ads concocted by specialists in character destruction. The candidates offer reasoned debate and the TV and radio ads offer belligerent innuendo — and you have to search to find the debate, while the innuendo finds you. The candidate thus slimed demands that his opponent repudiate the assault, and the opponent says: I didn't do it; those other people did.

The drunken-driving ad was by the Building Industry Association of Washington. That organization showed a crassness in this campaign that was unfortunately not unique, but was second to none. And voters saw through it.