Spearman backs Fairhurst for state high court

Veteran Assistant Attorney General Mary Fairhurst quickly won the backing of a defeated primary election opponent yesterday in a partisan-flavored race for a seat on the nonpartisan Washington Supreme Court.

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King County Superior Court Judge Michael Spearman was eliminated from the four-way race Tuesday despite having the best-financed, most broadly endorsed campaign. He said he is supporting Fairhurst over high-profile appellate lawyer Jim Johnson, who is endorsed by the state Republican and Libertarian parties and a number of conservative interest groups.

"I think that (Fairhurst) has got the better ability to be fair and impartial, and I think that's critical to being a justice on the Supreme Court," Spearman said. "That's what I emphasized in my entire campaign."

The judge's comments reflected a suggestion by Johnson's critics that the lawyer might bring a politically conservative agenda to the court if he is elected in November.

Johnson said yesterday he shouldn't be judged by the organizations he has represented in court.

"I'm going to disappoint everyone who thinks I'm going to do anything but protect constitutional rights, and on that I'm hard-core," he said.

With thousands of absentee ballots still uncounted, Fairhurst so far has drawn 31.8 percent of the vote, Johnson 30.9 percent, Spearman 26.3 percent and Stan Morse, a Redmond lawyer who ran a token campaign, 11 percent. Fairhurst and Johnson advance to the general election, with the winner succeeding Justice Charles Z. Smith, who is retiring.

In the other Supreme Court race on the ballot, three-term Justice Charles W. Johnson slightly outpolled Pamela Loginsky, a staff lawyer for the Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, but not enough to win an outright majority and advance to the general election alone. So far, Johnson has 38.8 percent of the vote, Loginsky 37.5 percent and Tacoma lawyer Doug Schafer 23.7 percent.

While the race to succeed Smith already has been unusually partisan-tinged for a judicial office, it soon might become more so.

The state Republican Party has spent money on Jim Johnson's campaign, and party Chairman Chris Vance said, "Some people in our party think this is the most important race on the ballot this year.

"The State Supreme Court is very evenly divided right now among people you would consider conservative vs. liberal," Vance said, "and having Jim Johnson I think would help give us a conservative majority on the court, in terms of property-rights issues, in terms of law enforcement issues, that sort of thing."

The state Democratic Party hasn't endorsed anyone in the race, but party Chairman Paul Berendt said yesterday it might soon. If it does, it would be Fairhurst, he said.

"This isn't a Democrat-vs.-Republican issue, but we cannot forfeit our state's Supreme Court to right-wingers," Berendt said. "I haven't decided what we will do, but we're going to be active in this race. . . ."

P-I reporter Neil Modie can be reached at 206-448-8321 or neilmodie@seattlepi.com

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