Larry Phillips
King County Executive candidate Larry Phillips scored a one-on-one debate with Republican rival and former KIRO anchor Susan Hutchison on KUOW’s "Weekday" this morning, and host Steve Scher took advantage of the opportunity to pit the two candidates against each other at every opportunity. (So far, Dow Constantine has been able to position himself as frontrunner Hutchison’s main Democratic opponent, thanks in large part to his decision to come out swinging against her way back in June ).
Scher was unusually aggressive, particularly in questioning Hutchison. And of course, the "R" question was front and center.
Prodded by Phillips, who all but shouted, "[Hutchison] may not want to admit she’s a Republican, but she’s a Republican’s best friend!",Scher asked Hutchison point-blank: "Are you a Republican?"
Hutchison’s response: "[It's] fine if you think that, but the voters voted for this to be a nonpartisan race, because the issues in this race are nonpartisan. So if my opponent wants to keep telling everyone that he’s a Democrat, that’s fine, but I’m not going to divide people that way."
In her answers to Scher’s questions, Hutchison stuck to scripted variations on four themes: 1) I’m a nonpartisan nonpolitician, so don’t ask me about my many longtime Republican ties; 2) I will bring all the stakeholders to the table and reach compromise solutions to the complex problems facing our county; 3) The reason things don’t get done at the county is because of the influence of special interests; and 4) We need to reduce overhead and duplication in county services to cut the fat and solve our budget problems.
Some examples:
Asked how she would deal with Glacier Northwest’s gravel mine on Maury Island, given that the negotiation process with the mining company is out of the county’s hands, Hutchison responded, "Of course, the [Puget] Sound is in crisis as we know and we have a particular eye on that right now because all of us want to make sure that it’s cleaned up and becomes the beautiful piece of water that we all want it to be. I believe that in order to solve these complex problems, you bring all the stakeholders to the table, and you work through the governmental processes. And so that’s what is happening." She added: "Whenever we can speak and help the interested parties find consensus to the benefit of our citizens that’s what we need to do in an executive position."
Asked how she would address the problem of pollution in Puget Sound, Hutchison replied, "Well you lead the charge … [in] all kinds of programs. When we’re talking about environmental impact, I think the big mike of the executive is crucial. I’ve reached out to a number of organizations and a number of leaders when it comes to our environmental policy because we have to work together. There’s been a sense over time that it’s so political, our environmental efforts, that even those efforts made to reach consensus and solve problems are met by some as problematic because they really have politicized. … The moment they get to a point where they’re close to a decision and some action, somebody with a very special interest comes in and says it’s no, we don’t want this problem to be solved, because it’s not to our benefit."
Susan Hutchison
Asked how she would clean up the Duwamish River, Hutchison said, "When we have new leadership in the executive’s office we can start making some real strides—bringing people together to solve our complex problems.
Asked for specifics, Hutchison named "the environmentalists, the conservationists, the scientists, the tribes. You bring ‘em together and they face each other and they’re charged with working out a solution and you give ‘em a timeline. … You know, we cleaned up Lake Washington in a much shorter period than [the ten years proposed for Duwamish cleanup]."
At that point, Scher pressed Hutchison to explain how she would deal with one particular party to the Duwamish cleanup: The Boeing Co., which the Duwamish River Cleanup Coalition has claimed is taking too long to complete its part of the cleanup. Hutchison responded that she would "of course" call Boeing, adding, "I know a lot of people at Boeing. My husband works there."
Then she went off on a tangent about the need to "really focus our priorities and cut the size of the overhead of government, which has grown astronomically. … We need creative solutions."
But, again, she didn’t propose any specific solutions, aside from combining the various agencies that handle things like drug abuse and homelessness, which would eliminate maybe a dozen positions. (Phillips pointed out that it would not be legal to transfer dollars dedicated to things like drug abuse prevention to Duwamish cleanup).
Phillips, for his part, played the role of the experienced statesman, noting his work to preserve land adjacent to Glacier’s gravel mine as a park and marine preserve, eviscerating Hutchison’s claim that she would bring everyone "to the table" on Duwamish cleanup ("That collaborative effort to reach out to those entities has already occurred, which is why we’re implementing the agreement"), and shooting down Hutchison’s attempt to slam him for taking money from unions ("I’ve been a Democrat my entire life. I’ve been supported by business, by labor, by environmentalists, and by Democrats. I have not hidden who I am.")
In a press release after the debate, Phillips’ campaign called Hutchison "evasive" and "inaccurate," noting the Duwamish transfer issue as well as the fact that Hutchison claimed her experience managing the Charles Simonyi Fund for the Arts prepared her to manage the 13,000-employee county, and the fact that she said she would eliminate six "homelessness agencies" at the county that don’t actually exist.
