Sims to take a hard left in campaign for governor

By Ralph Thomas
Seattle Times Olympia bureau

	Ron Sims
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King County Executive Ron Sims is planning an aggressive run to the left in his bid to capture the Democratic nomination for governor.

Sims is crafting a campaign message he hopes will appeal to devout Democrats. He's promising the sky for education and vowing to make health care available to all.

Too costly? No problem; he's putting together a proposal for a state income tax. He's speaking out in favor of gay marriage and against charter schools.

It's a risky strategy. Few, if any, politicians have ever been elected statewide on such stridently liberal themes.

But Sims had to do something. By just about any measure that matters, he is trailing his main Democratic opponent, Attorney General Christine Gregoire. She has landed most of the major union endorsements so far, raised nearly twice as much money as Sims, and is ahead in the polls.

On the campaign trail, Gregoire has all but ignored Sims and former state Supreme Court Justice Phil Talmadge, the other Democrat in the race. Instead, she is already gearing her message for a general-election showdown with Republican Dino Rossi.

But after a sluggish start, Sims has started raising money at decent clip. His new campaign headquarters — in a highly visible old warehouse across the street from Safeco Field — is starting to bustle. And he recently began shopping for a big-name media consultant to help him push his message.

Since entering the race last summer, Gregoire has been hugging the political center line. So Sims is going to try to pass her on the left.

"My biggest complaint is that people think she's a progressive," Sims said. "She's not."

Some supporters say Sims' strategy could work, especially now that Washington's nearly 70-year-old blanket primary — a system that favored centrists — has been abolished.
 
But others predict Sims' leftward message will not play well statewide. And those in Gregoire's camp are convinced they will prevail with a more moderate approach.

"He's obviously not talking to the voters we're talking to," said Gregoire campaign spokesman Tim Zenk. "It sounds like a very misguided strategy."

Not a true Democrat?

People on the Sims campaign like to joke that there are two Dinos running for governor: Dino Rossi and "Democrat-In-Name-Only" Gregoire.

To illustrate that punch line, Sims' campaign has a chart showing how he lines up opposite both Gregoire and Rossi on issues such as the income tax and gay marriage.

Sims aims to make a big pitch for overhauling Washington's tax structure to help boost spending on such things as education, health care and transportation.

Sims campaign manager Tim Hatley said the plan will rely heavily on a 2002 study headed by Bill Gates Sr. that criticized the state's tax system as outdated, bad for the economy and unfair to poor people.

As Gates recommended, Hatley said, Sims will probably propose ditching the state sales tax and replacing it with a personal income tax. But while the Gates study called for a "revenue-neutral" tax overhaul, Hatley said Sims' proposal would boost overall tax collections.

"Let's be honest, we need more money," said Hatley.

The income tax has been a politically taboo topic for decades and repeatedly rejected by voters. Few politicians have taken it up as a cause, and those who did failed miserably.

Gregoire has shied away from new taxes. Instead, she is talking about boosting revenue by abolishing business tax breaks. But so far, the only one she has mentioned specifically is a tax break for gold-bullion dealers. Eliminating it would bring in about $200,000 a year.

Sims is also trying to distinguish himself from Gregoire on education. He frequently fires off bold declarations like, "I would never cut education at all, under any circumstances."

And he didn't hesitate to get on board when the League of Education Voters proposed an initiative to boost school spending through a $1 billion sales-tax increase. Gregoire, meanwhile, has been noncommittal. She agrees schools and teachers need more money, but has called the plan for new taxes "very troubling."

Gregoire's campaign will focus more on jobs and the economy.

"The last time I checked, regardless of party, the voters want to know how we're going to create jobs and cut health-care costs," said Zenk, Gregoire's spokesman. "They aren't talking about new taxes."

In tune with party

But on issues such as taxes and education, Hatley said, polls show Sims is more in step than Gregoire with a majority of Democrats.

"Ron will run as a Democrat," Hatley said. "No more of this mushy, middle-of-the-road status quo."

But given Gregoire's popularity and her centrist campaign theme, Sims really has no other option than to run to the left, said Seattle-based pollster Stuart Elway.

"It's a good strategy for him," said Elway.

How well it works will depend largely on what sort of nominating process the party winds up with. The primary election signed into law this month by Gov. Locke — separate ballots for each party — is likely to be challenged in court as well as through the ballot box. No matter what happens, the old blanket primary — which allowed people to vote across party lines — is gone for good.

While it will most likely be replaced by a system that restricts voters to one party's ballot, there is still a remote chance the state will have no primary at all this year. In that case, the parties would choose their candidates through nominating conventions open only to declared party members.

Under either scenario, Sims figures he will benefit because hard-core Democrats will play a bigger role in picking which candidate moves on to the general election.

Some Democratic leaders are glad Sims is willing to run on taxes and liberal themes such as gay marriage — stands that are in line with the state Democratic Party platform.

"The issues he's raising are good issues," said Greg Rodriguez, King County Democratic Party chairman. "It's things we all know need to be talked about."

Rodriguez said Sims' message is especially appealing to Seattle-area Democrats, but he doubts it will play well elsewhere. Besides, he said, most voters still view Gregoire as a solid Democrat.

"Even though these are issues she might not campaign on, she believes them in her heart," he said.

Rodriguez and others said the biggest problem for Sims is that most Democrats believe the party has a better chance of beating Rossi and the Republicans by sticking with a more centrist candidate.

"The fact of the matter is, in all my years as party chairman, I found it to be a very pragmatic party, a much more moderate party than many people characterize us as," said state Democratic Party Chairman Paul Berendt.

Strong support for Gregoire

Gregoire has been considered a front-runner since the day she entered the race, and it shows.

She has raised about $1.4 million in campaign donations. That's nearly double what Sims has raised.

In February, Gregoire convinced three of the state's largest and most powerful labor unions — the Service Employees International Union, the Washington Federation of State Employees and the Machinists — to weigh in early with endorsements for her.

Though Sims had previously landed an endorsement from the Teamsters, the triple endorsement for Gregoire was a major blow to his campaign.

"They've been stepping on the air hose," Hatley said of Gregoire supporters. "They don't want us in the race."

But Hatley said things are picking up for Sims. The campaign took in more than $230,000 in March, its best month yet.

With his tax talk and his support for the education initiative, Sims probably improved his chances of winning an endorsement from the 70,000-member state teachers union later this month.

Hatley predicted that once Sims takes to the airwaves and voters statewide get to know him better, his poll numbers will climb.

"Everyone wants to make it a Gregoire-Rossi race now," said Hatley. "Let's get through the primary first."

Ralph Thomas: 360-943-9882 or rthomas@seattletimes.com

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