The Political Desk: Secretary of State

Now, HERE'S a position where you have to balance partisan demands for the good of the State. Secretary of State is responsible for, among other things, our elections process.

Kim Wyman (Republican) is the incumbent, and has been a good successor to Sam Reed (R), who ran the joint for years. Wyman pushed both for primary selection of Presidential candidates and for an early voting in the primary cycle. She was stymied by both political parties in those attempts. She's also worked to improve tech.

Tina Podlodowski (Democrat) ran against Wyman the last time, and comes against Wyman with her opposition to the Washington Voting Rights Act (a fair cop) and that voting has declined over her tenure (A bit of a stretch, since you're comparing a presidential election year with off-year elections).  She also went public with a request to cancel the presidential primaries, but after everything was set in place, so, no.

Tim Turner (Libertarian) runs on the fact that the two party system creates it own inherent flaws. Honestly, if you're considering a Libertarian for Lt. Governor, the same argument applies here. Mentions his family's tradition of government service a couple times, which sent me to his website, which doesn't fill me in. He is an author, though, and his book is The Profit Bargaining Ratio Theory.

Looking at these guys, I tend to favor Kim Wyman, as she has done the job. I would push for more progressive measures, but have to admit she's been on the right side of several arguments.

More later,