Not so noble

Ha ha ha ha. Hee hee hee. Isn't that a big knee-slapper? Jim Nobles, onetime member of the Seattle Monorail Board, is running for King County assessor against incumbent Scott Noble.

Nobles versus Noble. Isn't that hilarious?

Uh, no. Nobles is clearly using the fact that his last name is almost identical to Noble's name. Maybe all the goodwill Scott Noble built up over the years will be confused with Jim Nobles, and the latter will win on the incumbent's solid reputation and credentials.

No one should be amused.

Nobles has a right to run for any office and has already run for a few. A person usually doesn't get to pick his last name. But this is just too clever by half.

Selecting this office and this incumbent to run against is a message to voters that Jim Nobles, the one with the "s" after Noble, thinks voters are too dumb to tell the difference.

After all, this is a state where voters almost always favor anyone with the last name Johnson for state Supreme Court. Run with a first name of Faith for the court and you are a shoo-in. Faith Johnson, if there were such a person, would be elected before filing.

Jim Nobles may have a lot to offer as assessor. During his work for the monorail board, he showed he genuinely cares about the taxpayer.

But running against an incumbent with built-in name familiarity and respect — trying to confuse voters with the name game — is cynical and a little cheesy.