Contrast in court candidates

In the three recent political conventions I attended, there was one person who spoke at all of them — Gerry Alexander, chief justice of the state Supreme Court.

He was in SeaTac at the Mainstream Republicans of Washington conference, in Yakima for the state Republican Party, and then back in Yakima a week later for the state Democratic convention. His opponent, attorney John Groen, spoke only at the Republican convention. (He did talk to the Mainstream board, but not to the conference.)

That says something about their differing approaches to the campaign. But you can learn even more from what they said in the few minutes each had at the GOP convention.

It was Experience vs. Philosophy.

Alexander, a career judge, mentioned several times how long he had been on the bench — he was first appointed to Superior Court in 1973. He is a mild-mannered man, the longest-serving chief justice in state history, and, if re-elected, will hit the mandatory retirement age of 75 in the fifth year of his six-year term.

He recited the judicial oath for the Republicans and told them what he thinks it means to uphold the Constitution and discharge his duties fairly and impartially.

"A judge should not have an agenda," he said. "A judge should enter the courtroom ... with no preconceived notion as to how that case should come out, but rather should apply the law as best that judge can understand it as a human and apply it to the facts of the case."

Alexander said he knows voters are confused by judicial elections and frustrated at how little judges can say because of ethical constraints.

He tells them to "study the candidates and vote for the judicial candidate they think is most likely, by virtue of their temperament, their training and their disposition, to follow the oath of judges."

Groen, in his speech, led with talk of philosophy.

An attorney with the conservative Pacific Legal Foundation, Groen mentioned property rights four times and said he regularly appeared before the Supreme Court.

He listed some recent court decisions that he said "are the result of a willingness to engage in contorted legal analysis that avoids clear precedents and that alters the plain language of the statute and goes beyond the proper bounds of the court."

This year, Groen and state Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Kent, who is running against Justice Susan Owens, are playing themselves as outsiders taking on not just the incumbents, but the state's legal establishment. Johnson will not participate in ratings done by the King County Bar Association.

"When the bar association and incumbent judges essentially control public opinion, you have no ability to challenge an incumbent," said Alex Hays, a political consultant who heads the Constitutional Law PAC. He's advised Groen and Johnson, but his group has so far endorsed only Johnson.

"You have to make your candidacy about ideas," he said.

David Postman is The Seattle Times' chief political reporter. His column appears Fridays. Reach him at 360-236-8267 or at dpostman@seattletimes.com