The Columbian Nails it: In Our View: Parties vs. People

Like a broken clock, right twice a day, the Columbian stumbled on to this issue and hit it out of the park.

All three parties involved in this nonsense, (R's, d's and libs) have illustrated they could care less about the will of the people of this state. Their continuing interference in our lives and the will we've expressed at the polls of this state indicate that there should be a pox on all their houses.

The R's missed a golden opportunity to stick up for what's right and to join with the people in defeating this sordid effort to exert party control over the political process of this state. Of course, given who's running this right-side of the spectrum Titanic, what do we expect?



In our view: Parties vs. People

Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Columbian editorial writers

The war between Washington voters and the state's political parties continues, with the latest battle being won by the Republicans, Democrats and Libertarians.

The voters, as represented by the state of Washington, the King County elections office and the state Grange, were on the losing side of U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly's strongly worded decision in Seattle Friday about the way we will vote in our primaries. It might prove to be the decisive legal battle in the war, although we hope that's not the case and that the state sees promise for appealing Zilly's decision.

Zilly outlawed the "top-two" system that voters approved last fall and were to have used in any partisan primary races with at least three candidates, which are mostly in even-numbered years.

So now we're forced to use the so-called "Montana system" that was tried here for the first time in the 2004 primary. Surely you remember that diminution of our role as voters and citizens: We had to select a ballot listing only Republicans, or only Democrats or only Independents, then vote only on that ballot.

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