Inky Recommendations (2012)

Published by Steve Campion. Category: Politics & Government

WA-List is non-partisan and makes no endorsements. We do, however, see politics as part of the life and culture of the state. It has steered our history. It will map our future.

Today we survey the published choices of seven newspapers from across the state.  The papers —  four from western Washington, three from eastern Washington — were chosen as bellwethers of the regions they represent. And we focused on the federal and the statewide races (candidates and issues) to keep the list manageable.  We’ll leave the many legislative, judicial, and local races to you and the sources you trust.

Newspapers take endorsements seriously.  So while the list below is intended as a summary of each paper’s choices, we know those choices have informed, reasoned arguments behind them.  We can’t reprint their full text opinions here, but we encourage you to go to the sources and read their endorsement editorials in full. Click the name of each newspaper in the table’s header row to visit their opinion/endorsement pages.  You may disagree with their recommendations (as surely as they disagree with each other), but you might enjoy reading their perspectives.  Your vote is ultimately your decision.

PLEASE NOTE that not all spaces are filled in yet because candidate evaluations are still in progress.  We began this list with 34 endorsements on Oct 8, 2012, and will update this page (until Election Day, Nov 6) as additional endorsements are published until Election Day, Nov 6.  The official state voter’s pamphlet is available from the Secretary of State’s election website.

ENDORSEMENTS FROM 7 NEWSPAPERS AROUND WASHINGTON STATE, 2012

Newspaper	Columbian	Herald	Herald	News Tribune	Spokesman -Review	Times	World
City	Vancouver	Everett	Tri-Cities	Tacoma	Spokane	Seattle	Wenatchee
President	Romney	Obama	Romney	Obama	Romney	Obama
Senate	Cantwell	Cantwell	Baumgartner	Cantwell	Cantwell	Cantwell
Congress, Dist 1		DelBene				Koster
Congress, Dist 2		Larsen				Larsen
Congress, Dist 3	Beutler					Beutler
Congress, Dist 4			Hastings
Congress, Dist 5					McMorris Rodgers
Congress, Dist 6				Kilmer		Kilmer
Congress, Dist 8				Reichert		Reichert
Congress, Dist 9				Smith		Smith
Congress, Dist 10				Heck		Heck
Governor	McKenna	McKenna	McKenna	McKenna	McKenna	McKenna	McKenna
Lieutenant Governor	Finkbeiner	Finkbeiner	Owen	Owen	Finkbeiner	Owen
Secretary of State	Wyman	Wyman	Wyman	Wyman	Wyman	Wyman	Wyman
State Treasurer	McIntire		McIntire	McIntire	McIntire	McIntire	McIntire
State Auditor	Watkins		Watkins	Watkins	Watkins	Kelley
Attorney General	Dunn	Ferguson	Dunn	Dunn	Dunn	Dunn
Commissioner of Public Lands	Goldmark	Goldmark	Goldmark	Goldmark	Goldmark	Goldmark
Insurance Commissioner	Kreidler		Kreidler	Kreidler	Kreidler	Kreidler
Superintendent of Public Instruction						Dorn
I-502 marijuana	Yes		No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
I-1185 2/3 vote on taxes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No
I-1240 charter schools	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ref 74 same sex marriage	Approve	Approve	Approve	Approve	Approve	Approve	Approve
SJR 8221 debt limit	Approve	Approve		Approve	Approve	Approve	Approve
SJR 8223 UW, WSU investments	Approve	Approve		Approve		Approve	Approve

NOTE on colors: Blue space = Candidate preferring the Democrat party.  Red space = Candidate preferring the Republican party.  Pale yellow space =Approve/Yes.  Gray space =Reject/No.

SOURCE: The editorial pages of the Columbian, Everett Herald, Tri-City Herald, The News Tribune, Spokesman-Review, Seattle Times, and Wenatchee World.

October 8th, 2012

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