For all of these, I have an incumbent versus a challenger. That makes things pretty easy. Has the incumbent done their job? In doing that job, have they done things I agree with? Have they been swept up in some personal failing, Internet faux pas, or general scandal?.\ If so, let's look at the challenger, and see if they have enough to tip the scales in their favor. That's my system, and it has served me well.
Let me hit the high points, here:
State Treasurer has two candidates for the office. They will both go onto the November ballot, and we'll talk about them then. In the meantime, vote your heart.
State Auditor has three candidates - two Dems and Rep. The incumbent is Pat (Patrice) McCarthy, and has most recently overseen two major independent audits regarding Unemployment Benefits in the wake of the COVID-19 - one regarding getting payments to those unemployed by shutdowns, and another investigating a fraud scheme that looted the unemployment benefits. She does not oversee unemployment benefits, so I can't go after her for that, but in the later case, fought to get the money back from the fraudsters.. So, OK, she does the job. Her opponents are a Republican who is a "real" CPA (as opposed to just running the state department), and a Democrat who want more "lean business practices," one of those phrases that raise eyebrows from me. Go with Pat (Patrice) McCarthy.
Commissioner of Public Lands has eight varied candidates, but I really like what incumbent Hilary Franz has done, balancing both the protection of the environment with smart forest development. Her opponents include a guy who wants to rake the forests (and who lists as his community service; "I've never been to jail"), one who wants an investigation of 5G Cell towers, and one recommending organic hemp farming. So, yeah let's go with Hilary Franz.
Superintendent of Public Instruction has its hands full right now with the whole question of whether we open the schools this fall (Spoiler: Not unless things get a LOT better right now). The candidates do not have to declare even a preference of party, so we get a spectrum from a guy who tells you right off he is a conservative to one that thinks we need to reopen the schools because not enough death, to one who wants to scrap everything and re-institute the Pythagorean academy. Again, let's let the incumbent with experience deal with this particular mess, in particular since Chris Reykdal has an agenda of what he's done and an agenda of what he wants to do.
Insurance Commissioner :Incumbent Mike Kreider. Has he done the job? Yeah. Well, OK then.
That it? Well, there is ONE more category - the State Legislative District #11. We'll do that next, then wrap up.
More later,
