Supreme Court race: Candidates' views easy to tell apart

OLYMPIA — Voters have a distinct choice in the Supreme Court race between incumbent Justice Susan Owens and state Sen. Steve Johnson.

Owens, who six years ago became the seventh woman elected to the court, has won numerous endorsements from labor unions, environmentalists, gay-rights groups and Democratic Party organizations.

Johnson, a Republican from Kent, has a solidly conservative track record in the Legislature. His campaign is backed by the building industry, major business groups and social conservatives.

"The lines are very clearly drawn," said Rick Forcier, executive director of the Christian Coalition of Washington, which supports Johnson.

There are three Supreme Court races this year. But two of those contests have been decided because the incumbents — Chief Justice Gerry Alexander and Justice Tom Chambers — won more than 50 percent in last month's primary. They will appear alone on the general-election ballot in November.

Owens and Johnson face a runoff after beating out three other candidates in the primary. Owens got 46 percent, Johnson nearly 35 percent.

Owens, 57, spent 19 years as a district-court judge in Clallam County. Before that, she worked for about 11 years as a tribal-court judge.

Johnson, 66, has served three terms in the state Senate, where he is the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee. Before that, he worked for more than 30 years as a private attorney.

The two have extensive — and sharply contrasting — public records.

The clearest example is their opposite stands on the state's gay-marriage ban.

In 1998, when Republicans controlled the Legislature, Johnson helped push through the Defense of Marriage Act, which limits marriage to one man and one woman.

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court narrowly upheld the gay-marriage ban. But Owens was one of four justices who voted to overturn the law.

In a related case last year, Owens sided with the majority in a 7-2 ruling that gave co-parenting rights to a lesbian who helped raise a child, even though the woman wasn't the girl's biological or adoptive parent.

Johnson and other critics say Owens' position in both cases is proof that she is a liberal "activist" judge who is too willing to decide policy matters that should be left to the Legislature.

But Owens suggests there are times the court has to play such a role.

"The Legislature is really behind the times socially," she said during a recent interview with editorial writers at the Yakima Herald-Republic.

Another way to view the differences between Owens and Johnson is to look at how various interest groups rate them.

Johnson regularly scores better than 90 percent on the legislative scorecards kept each year by the Association of Washington Business (AWB), a group that represents most of the state's largest businesses.

For the past four years, the AWB also has kept track of how often Supreme Court justices take pro-business positions. According to the group's latest scorecard, Owens voted pro-business less than half the time on some three dozen cases.

Owens has especially been criticized by builders and business groups for siding with government agencies in key public-disclosure and property-rights cases.

Johnson, meanwhile, gets low marks from environmentalists and labor unions. He was identified as one of three "out of step" state senators this year by Washington Conservation Voters, a coalition of environmental groups. And he has one of the lowest pro-union voting records in the Legislature, according to the scorecard put out each year by the Washington State Labor Council.

Owens has been endorsed by Washington Conservation Voters, and the state labor council recently gave $20,000 to a political-action committee backing her campaign.

Johnson got the third-highest rating in the Senate — 95 percent — this year from the Washington Conservative Union, a group that evaluates lawmakers based on whether they adhere to conservative ideals. For instance, Johnson won points for opposing gay-rights legislation that passed this year banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Owens, meanwhile, is being backed by gay-rights groups that helped push for the new law.

"They're both well-known and that's important because, these days, these are partisan offices," said Joe Fuiten, a pastor at Cedar Park Church in Bothell who formed a PAC that is backing Johnson. "How they view the world matters a lot."

Owens and Johnson, however, both portray themselves in a more moderate light.

Owens said her nearly 50 percent pro-business rating from the AWB is proof that she is not in lockstep with many of the groups supporting her re-election bid.

"I think if you look at my judicial record, you'll find I've ruled for and against labor unions, trial lawyers and environmental groups," she said.

Johnson, meanwhile, points out that he has been endorsed by some conservative Democrats. And he downplays the relevance of his legislative voting record. For one thing, he said, legislators don't base their votes just on personal philosophy — they also must weigh what's important to their district and caucus.

More importantly, he said, justices shouldn't take their political philosophy — "personal or social" — to the bench.

"I hope people understand that this is a different job," Johnson said. "It's not a policy-making job."

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