Times endorsements: Why we're holding incumbents' feet to the fire

Incumbent politicians engage elections from a position of strength. They are there and doing it. The challengers are forced to talk in vague terms about how they would do better.

This dynamic can make it difficult to not endorse incumbents who have previously received the support of The Seattle Times editorial board.

This year proved to be different for us. We broke with two prominent politicians last week we have long supported. Republican Congressman Dave Reichert, and state Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish.

This didn't happen because of an ideological change in the candidates or with The Times. It had everything to do with the times we are living in and the editorial board's approach to this election.

We flipped the conventional filter of putting the onus on the challenger and placed it squarely on the incumbents. If an incumbent was going to earn our endorsement it was on them to convince us at our endorsement meeting and through our reporting. They were going to have to explain their recent actions and have a clear understanding of what they needed to do if re-elected.

The editorial board also gave weight to the seven issues we identified for the Reset 2010 project.

• Fiscal responsibility;

• Independence/leadership;

• Getting out of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars;

• Education, with an emphasis on doing better by higher education and reforming K-12;

• Public safety;

• Creating more jobs on Main Street and reining in Wall Street;

• Ensuring Washington state's competitiveness nationally and internationally.

The decision was not that difficult. Dunshee was against the fiscal restraint we pleaded for during the last session. He doesn't seem to believe there is a need to change the way Olympia operates.

In the 8th Congressional District, Reichert has had six years to grow. He hasn't. His being caught on tape glibly talking about taking votes for the environment so he could stay in office was not a great way to start off an election year. That gaffe was compounded by his voting against fiscal reform and showing up for his endorsement interview woefully unprepared and more defensive than I've ever seen a candidate.

The two candidates in the 8th we did endorse, Suzan DelBene and Tim Dillon, showed up prepared and were thoughtful in follow-up discussions. (Disclosure: I was in the same fraternity as Dillon at Washington State University. He was a couple classes ahead of me. I probably haven't seen him since 1992. I also did not interview him or sit in on his endorsement meeting).

I was serious when I first wrote in June that the editorial board felt that this was a supremely important election and that we would be covering it differently.

This didn't mean beating up on incumbents. We interviewed what must have been a record number of ill-prepared candidates, many of whom had no idea how government works or how they would approach the job if elected. These go-nowhere candidates looked doubly bad when facing off with incumbents deserving of re-election, such as state Sen. Derek Kilmer, D-Gig Harbor, Reps. Glenn Anderson, R-Fall City, and Ruth Kagi, D-Lake Forest Park.

Our primary endorsements, which began on July 14, are almost complete. We wrap things up Monday with the 1st and 2nd Congressional districts. Sunday we chime in on the U.S. Senate race and the 9th Congressional District.

It has been a busy couple of months that will give way to an even busier general election. Hopefully the candidates who advance are ready to define themselves and grasp the need for independent politicians who are prepared to do things differently.

Ryan Blethen's column appears Sunday on editorial pages of The Times. His e-mail address is: rblethen@seattletimes.com