Solving the riddle of Susan Hutchison, King County executive candidate

As King County voters mark their mail-in ballots the next few days in the still-new August primary, one question keeps coming to mind: Who is Susan Hutchison?

Yes, we recognize her as the most familiar name among five major candidates for King County executive, derived largely from her many years as the smiling face on KIRO-TV.

But few of us know much about the woman seeking county government's top job. This isn't a sleeper election. This is a critical public position. The county's financial structure is broken.

Voters do not know Hutchison because of a concerted effort on her part to ensure that people don't learn much about her.

Hutchison sat out early candidate forums. She frequently issued statements and declined to return journalists' calls, preferring instead on one occasion to read a statement to voice mail at 7:30 a.m. (a creative version of night calling), seemingly to avoid risky follow-up questions. By accident or design, she reaffirms an unflattering image of someone more comfortable in front of a teleprompter.

While other candidates posted answers on their Web sites to questionnaires from various interest groups, she said, through a spokesman, she was "studying the idea." Three weeks later in late July, no Hutchison responses had been posted, but she assured me, "We're working on it." Six weeks later? Forget about it.

The idea of posting these answers was proffered by state Sen. Fred Jarrett, another candidate, and it was followed promptly by most others in the race. Limited as they are, the postings provide voters useful information.

Hutchison also fought release of court documents related to her discrimination lawsuit against her former employer, KIRO-TV. Last week, as a judge ordered the documents released, she issued a printed and video statement but was unavailable to talk because she claimed she had signed a confidentiality agreement. A lawyer for KIRO said she could talk, but Hutchison kept clam.

The court documents offered few major revelations, mostly slices of life in TV news, but enough to make a voter wonder. For example, documents say Hutchison called in sick the Fourth of July weekend in 2002 after being told she could not have that time off. She was then photographed rafting in Oregon.

In the Northwest, calling in well is a cherished rite. I get it. But not after being told that too many other people were off the same time. That conduct makes it seem like Hutchison doesn't play well with others.

This is not a campaign for dogcatcher. Hutchison should have released the court documents without a protracted fight and they would have garnered less attention.

Hutchison also has repeatedly denied she is or was a Republican. She calls herself politically moderate. Fair enough. This is a nonpartisan race for the first time since the current county government was created.

However, The Seattle Times reported she was trying to run as a Republican for U.S. Senate in 2006. She met with Sen. Rick Santorum, then-chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, in an effort to challenge Democrat Maria Cantwell. Hutchison had been told several times by state party leaders that the preferred candidate, with blessings from the White House, was Safeco CEO Mike McGavick. The party did not want a contentious primary, says Chris Vance, former state Republican Party chairman.

A more honest approach would have been, "I have had ties to the Republican Party but I am running for the executive office on a nonpartisan basis."

County government is a complicated, rough-and-tumble workplace. The council is full of seasoned, adroit politicians. Few executives succeed if they don't know how to navigate in a straightforward manner.

Hutchison will surely make it through the primary, even though there are two more-experienced and qualified people for executive, Jarrett and state Rep. Ross Hunter.

In the weeks leading up to the general election, Hutchison should tell us much more about herself and why she would be a good executive. The cat-and-mouse routine makes her seem at best like she is hiding something, at worst, that she's inauthentic.

Joni Balter's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. Her e-mail address is jbalter@seattletimes.com