WSLC Reports Today -- Nov. 4-8, 2002

The latest election tallies have a see-saw battle in the 26th District that could determine which party is in control of the State Senate, and a dramatic surge among labor-endorsed Democrats in the 47th District that could increase the majority that party enjoys in the State House of Representatives.

In the 26th, State Senate challenger Betty Ringlee (D) surged into the lead early Friday, but surrendered it again to incumbent Bob Oke (R) as late afternoon results began to trickle in. It may be several more days before the winner of that race can be definitively established. Meanwhile, early Friday returns in the 47th, Rep. Geoff Simpson moved strongly into the lead in his re-election race and challenger Pat Sullivan vaulted into contention against Republican incumbent Rep. Jack Cairnes.

But with an estimated 350,000 mail-in ballots remaining to be counted statewide—including some 150,000 in King County alone—election results will continue to evolve in the coming days. Late Friday afternoon, many counties across the state are scheduled to release new tallies; click here to see the latest results. (Click here for a county-by-county summary of votes remaining and when the next updates are scheduled.)

Following are the competitive races in which the Washington State Labor Council made an endorsement -- endorsed candidates are listed in bold, incumbents marked with an asterisk -- that have updated results as of 3 p.m. Friday (see Wednesday's posting for previous results):

SUPREME COURT
Position 3
Jim Johnson — 535,768 — 50.25%
Mary Fairhurst — 530,308 — 49.74%
(Margin: 5,460 — Change in margin since election night: – 4,436)
This is the tally as of 3 p.m. Friday.

STATE LEGISLATURE
1st LD State Representative, Position 1
* Al O'Brien; (D) 12,222 — 49.78%
Joshua Freed; (R) 11,569 — 47.12%
Chuck Jackson; (L) 757 — 3.08%
(Margin: 653 — Change in margin: + 69)

1st LD State Representative, Position 2
* Jeanne A. Edwards; (D) 12,379 — 50.60%
Leo Van Hollebeke; (R) 12,085 — 49.39%
(Margin: 294 — Change in margin: + 92)

6th LD State Senate
Laurie H. Dolan; (D) 17,006 —48.57%
* Jim West; (R) 18,004 —51.42%
(Margin: 998 — Change in margin: – 81)

17th LD State Representative, Position 2
Deb Wallace; (D) 14,139 —51.83%
* Jim Dunn; (R) 13,140 —48.16%
(Margin: 999 — Change in margin: + 172)

25th LD State Representative, Position 2
Dawn Morrell; (D) 15,260 —50.83%
* Dave Morell; (R) 14,758 —49.16%
(Margin: 502 — Change in margin: + 152)

STATE LEGISLATURE (continued)
26th LD State Senator
Betty P. Ringlee; (D) 17,525 —49.72%
* Bob Oke; (R) 17,722 —50.27%
(Margin: 197 — Change in margin since election night: + 18)

26th LD State Representative, Position 2
* Brock Jackley; (D) 17,340 —49.54%
Lois McMahan; (R) 17,656 —50.45%
(Margin: 316 — Change in margin: + 34)

30th LD State Representative, Position 2
Greg Markley; (D) 8,514 —49.15%
Skip Priest; (R) 8,807 —50.84%
(Margin: 293 — Change in margin: + 45)

31st LD State Senate
Yvonne Ward; (D) 12,321 —47.93%
* Pam Roach; (R) 13,383 —52.06%
(Margin: 1,062 — Change in margin: + 28)

41st LD State Representative, Position 2
Judy Clibborn; (D) 12,029 —52.31%
Mike Wensman; (R) 10,966 —47.68%
(Margin: 1,063 — Change in margin: + 191)

45th LD State Representative, Position 2
* Laura Ruderman; (D) 11,053 —51.69%
Elizabeth Bookspan; (R) 10,327 —48.30%
(Margin: 726 — Change in margin: + 126)

47th LD State Representative, Position 1
* Geoff Simpson; (D) 7,721 —50.34%
Phil Fortunato; (R) 7,614 —49.65%
(Margin: 107 — Change in margin since election night: Was 550-vote lead for Fortunato, so total swing of + 657 for Simpson)

47th LD State Representative, Position 2
Pat Sullivan; (D) 7,425 —48.97%
* Jack Cairnes; (R) 7,736 —51.02%
(Margin: 311 — Change in margin: – 483)

48th LD State Representative, Position 1
Ross Hunter; (D) 9,674 —52.31%
George Aiton; (R) 8,819 —47.68%
(Margin: 855 — Change in margin: +23)

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7
Participate in National Day of Action at Wal-Mart on Nov. 21

Mark your calendars for Thursday, Nov. 21. That day, working families across the nation will join with community, student, civil rights, environmental and consumer activists for a National Day of Action at Wal-Mart. In Washington and Oregon, the following actions are planned Nov. 21:

Wal-Mart customers, many of whom are union members, will join with other members of their communities to conduct actions at local stores in every state. Their message will be that they want to spend their dollars at a store that recognizes the value of being a good corporate neighbor—one that responsibly raises living and working standards, rather than eroding them.

“With events in all 50 states, this Day of Action will demand that Wal-Mart become a responsible corporate citizen that provides good jobs, equal opportunity, fair business and trade practices and respects the rights of workers,” AFL-CIO President John Sweeney and United Food and Commercial Workers President Douglas Dority say in a joint letter to affiliated unions and to state and local central bodies.

Wal-Mart is the largest private employer in the country with more than 1 million employees. And it leads all companies in sales and profits. At the same time, say Sweeney and Dority, it is a corporate outlaw and virulently anti-union. They cite the fact that the National Labor Relations Board has issued more than 40 complaints against the company in 25 states in recent years for labor law violations.

Because of its size, Wal-Mart exerts tremendous influence on the practices of other retailers. “Wal-Mart is setting the lowest common denominator for wages and benefits—its workers are paid $2 to $3 an hour less than union workers who perform similar jobs; less than 38 percent of its workers are covered by company-provided health insurance,” say Sweeney and Dority.

Wal-Mart also is involved in the West Coast dockworkers labor dispute. The Wall Street Journal reported in May that Wal-Mart—which receives nearly one-quarter of all the goods carried in containers unloaded on ports—leads a coalition of retailers urging West Coast shipping owners to demand concessions from the dockworkers.

“Wal-Mart truly has declared war on American workers and America’s unions,” Sweeney and Dority say. “We must no longer say it is someone else’s fight. It is our fight, too, and the survival of our movement could well depend on its success.”

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7
Dispute between PMA factions may doom agreement with ILWU

With an estimated 450,000 mail-in ballots remaining to be counted statewide—including some 190,000 in King County alone—election results will continue to evolve in the coming days. (Click here for a county-by-county summary of votes remaining and when the next updates are scheduled.)

Following are the competitive races in which the Washington State Labor Council made an endorsement (endorsed candidates are listed in bold) that have updated results, now that King and Clark counties have released the counts for additional absentee ballots.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6
How labor-endorsed candidates fared in Tuesday's election

The results of Washington's General Election are not yet final, pending the counting of thousands of absentee ballots. In King County, because of problems getting ballots mailed to voters in a timely fashion, an extraordinary number of absentee ballots have yet to be counted, so many legislative races there are far from decided. Counties have until Nov. 20 to count and certify those ballots, and it won't be known for another couple of days how many ballots remain to be counted.

That being said, here's how WSLC-endorsed candidates fared Tuesday in the initial results for congressional, judicial and state legislative races, and statewide ballot measures (results as of 7 a.m. Wednesday; visit vote.wa.gov for the latest results):

WSLC-endorsed candidates are listed in Bold. An asterisk (*) denotes incumbents.

CONGRESS

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, District 1
* Jay Inslee; (D) — 69,193 —55.34%
Joe Marine; (R) — 51,991 —41.58%
Mark B. Wilson; (L) — 3,833 —3.06%

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, District 2
Bruce Guthrie; (L) — 2,566 —1.81%
Bernard Haggerty; (GR) — 2,659 —1.81%
* Rick Larsen; (D) — 71,654 —50.74%
Norma Smith; (R) — 64,322 —45.55%

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, District 3
* Brian Baird; (D) — 94,015 —63.01%
Joseph Zarelli; (R) — 55,170 —36.98%

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, District 4
* Doc Hastings; (R) — 75,486 —66.12%
Craig Mason; (D) — 38,672 —33.87%

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, District 5
Rob Chase; (L) — 7,443 —5.14%
Bart Haggin; (D) — 46,957 —32.47%
* George Nethercutt (R) — 90,179 —62.37%

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, District 6
John A. Bennett; (L) — 5,767 —4.43%
* Norm Dicks; (D) — 83,949 —64.48%
Bob Lawrence; (R) — 40,465 —31.08%

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, District 7
Carol Cassady; (R) — 24,963 —21.12%
Stan Lippmann; (L) — 4,685 —3.96%
* Jim McDermott; (D) — 88,540 —74.91%

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, District 8
Heidi Behrens-Benedict; (D) — 38,107 —37.13%
* Jennifer Dunn; (R) — 61,450 —59.88%
Mark A. Taff; (L) — 3,057 —2.97%

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, District 9
Sarah Casada; (R) — 39,958 —38.79%
J. Mills; (L) — 2,977 —2.89%
* Adam Smith; (D) — 60,057 —58.31%

JUDICIAL

SUPREME COURT
(Only contested races in which the WSLC made an endorsement are listed.)

Position 3
Jim Johnson — 473,567 — 50.52%
Mary Fairhurst — 463,671 — 49.47%

Position 4
* Charles Johnson — 491,888 — 54.41%
Pamela Loginsky — 411,996 — 45.58%

BALLOT MEASURES
(Only measures for which the WSLC made an endorsement—indicated in bold—are listed.)

Referendum 51 - Transportation Financing
Yes — 422,128 — 37.17 %
No — 713,513 — 62.83 %

Referendum 53 - Unemployment Insurance
Yes — 417,926 — 39.39 %
No — 642,967 — 60.61 %

Initiative 776 - License Tab Fees
Yes — 610,427 — 53.88%
No — 522,470 — 46.12%

Initiative 790 - Fire Fighters' Pensions
Yes — 587,037 — 53.25 %
No — 515,418 — 46.75 %

STATE LEGISLATURE
Only contested races for which the WSLC made an endorsement are listed.
WSLC-endorsed candidates are listed in Bold. An asterisk (*) denotes incumbents.

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 1
State Rep., Position 1
* Al O'Brien; (D) 11,855 — 49.66%
Joshua Freed; (R) 11,271 — 47.21%
Chuck Jackson; (L) 744 — 3.11%
State Rep., Position 2
* Jeanne A. Edwards; (D) 11,999 — 50.42%
Leo Van Hollebeke; (R) 11,797 — 49.57%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 2
State Rep., Position 1
Larry Nelson; (D) 9,582 — 43.65%
* Roger Bush; (R) 12,370 — 56.35%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 3
State Rep., Position 1
* Alex Wood; (D) 10,701 — 56.45%
Jeff Knox; (R) 8,254 —43.54%
State Rep., Position 2
* Jeff Gombosky; (D) 12,461 —66.28%
Ryan Leonard; (R) 6,337 —33.71%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 5
State Rep., Position 1
Katrina L. Culp Ladopoulos; (D) 7,565 —36.36%
* Cheryl Pflug; (R) 13,240 —63.63%
State Rep., Position 2
Loren Skaggs; (D) 8,672 42.84%
* Glenn Anderson; (R) 11,569 57.15%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 6
State Senate
Laurie H. Dolan; (D) 15,348 —48.30%
* Jim West; (R) 16,427 —51.69%
State Representative, Position 1
Tony Bamonte; (D) 12,484 —40.36%
* Brad Benson; (R) 18,441 —59.63%
State Representative, Position 2
Sheila Collins; (D) 13,626 —44.01%
* John E. Ahern; (R) 17,329 —55.98%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 7
State Representative, Position 1
R. (Ron) McCoy; (D) 8,761 —32.31%
* Bob Sump; (R) 18,350 —67.68%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 10
State Representative, Position 2
Eron M. Berg; (D) 13,011 —45.68%
Barbara Bailey; (R) 14,677 —51.53%
Brett Wilhelm; (L) 791 —2.77%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 11
State Representative, Position 1
Zack Hudgins; (D) 7,937 —59.91%
Ruth Gibbs; (R) 5,311 —40.08%
State Representative, Position 2
* Velma Veloria; (D) 8,646 —65.48%
John Potter; (R) 4,557 —34.51%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 12
State Representative, Position 1
Todd R. Smith; (D) 7,692 —33.76%
Cary Condotta; (R) 13,847 —60.78%
Tom Stahl; (L) 1,241 —5.44%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 14
State Representative, Position 2
Marco Yolo; (D) 5,730 —30.65%
* James Clements; (R) 12,965 —69.35%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 16
State Representative, Position 1
Jody Clark; (D) 6,855 32.53%
* Dave Mastin; (R) 14,217 67.46%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 17
State Representative, Position 2
Deb Wallace; (D) 11,706 —51.83%
* Jim Dunn; (R) 10,879 —48.16%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 18
State Representative, Position 1
Bill Crego; (D) 11,088 —37.90%
* Tom Mielke; (R) 18,163 —62.09%
State Representative, Position 2
Dave Seabrook; (D) 14,013 —47.92%
* Ed Orcutt; (R) 15,228 —52.07%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 19
State Representative, Position 1
* Brian Hatfield; (D) 18,951 —67.93%
Mike Kayser; (R) 8,945 —32.06%
State Representative, Position 2
* Mark L. Doumit; (D) 18,445 —66.96%
Paul Waadevig; (R) 9,098 —33.03%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 21
State Senator
* Paull H. Shin; (D) 13,441 —61.61%
Cheryl Potebnya; (R) 8,373 38.38%
State Representative, Position 1
* Mike Cooper; (D) 12,909 —60.51%
Jeff Thorp; (R) 8,423 —39.48%
State Representative, Position 2
* Brian Sullivan; (D) 12,819 —60.03%
Micheal J. Huisman; (R) 8,532 —39.96%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 22
State Representative, Position 1
* Sandra Romero; (D) 19,565 —64.79%
Mark Daniels; (R) 9,557 —31.65%
James Wiest; (L) 1,074 —3.55%
State Representative, Position 2
* Sam Hunt; (D) 20,320 —67.81%
John D. Olson; (R) 9,646 —32.19%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 23
State Representative, Position 1
* Phil Rockefeller; (D) 15,699 —59.87%
Don Large; (R) 10,521 —40.12%
State Representative, Position 2
Sherry Appleton; (D) 12,727 —48.60%
* Beverly Woods; (R) 13,457 —51.39%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 24
State Representative, Position 1
Bill Thomas; (D) 12,237 —40.62%
* Jim Buck; (R) 17,883 —59.37%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 25
State Representative, Position 1
Audrey Chase; (D) 9,258 —38.32%
Joyce McDonald; (R) 14,368 —59.47%
Mario Young; (L) 531 —2.19%
State Representative, Position 2
Dawn Morrell; (D) 12,277 —50.72%
* Dave Morell; (R) 11,927 49.27%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 26
State Senator
Betty P. Ringlee; (D) 13,169 —49.66%
* Bob Oke; (R) 13,348 —50.33%
State Representative, Position 1
* Patricia Lantz; (D) 13,878 —52.29%
Ed Mitchell; (R) 11,694 —44.06%
Ted Haley; (IC) 964 —3.63%
State Representative, Position 2
* Brock Jackley; (D) 13,018 —49.46%
Lois McMahan; (R) 13,300 —50.53%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 27
State Representative, Position 2
* Jeannie Darneille; (D) 13,481 —68.60%
William E. Chovil; (R) 6,169 —31.39%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 28
State Representative, Position 1
Deborah (Debi) Srail; (D) 9,688 —43.87%
* Gigi Talcott; (R) 12,393 —56.12%
State Representative, Position 2
Darrell Reeck; (D) 9,952 —45.35%
* Mike Carrell; (R) 11,990 —54.64%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 30
State Senate
* Tracey J. Eide; (D) 8,725 —54.26%
Tony Moore; (R) 7,355 —45.74%
State Representative, Position 1
* Mark Miloscia; (D) 8,835 —55.33%
Jim Ferrell; (R) 7,132 —44.66%
State Representative, Position 2
Greg Markley; (D) 7,828 —49.22%
Skip Priest; (R) 8,076 —50.78%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 31
State Senate
Yvonne Ward; (D) 10,215 —47.59%
* Pam Roach; (R) 11,249 —52.40%
State Representative, Position 1
Mike Connor; (D) 9,738 —45.83%
* Dan Roach; (R) 11,507 —54.16%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 32
State Senate
* Darlene Fairley; (D) 14,342 —61.40%
Michael Plunkett; (R) 9,015 —38.59%
State Representative, Position 1
* Maralyn Chase; (D) 13,645 —59.16%
Robert L. Ransom; (R) 9,418 —40.83%
State Representative, Position 2
* Ruth Kagi; (D) 14,681 —63.75%
Margaret R. Wiggins; (R) 8,345 —36.24%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 33
State Senate
* Karen Keiser; (D) 8,622 —62.99%
James Russell; (R) 5,064 —37.00%
State Representative, Position 1
* Shay Schual-Berke; (D) 8,450 —61.98%
Peter Graves; (R) 5,182 —38.01%
State Representative, Position 2
* Dave Upthegrove; (D) 8,407 —63.02%
Henry M. Foote; (R) 4,932 —36.97%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 34
State Representative, Position 2
* Joe McDermott; (D) 14,351 —67.69%
Larry L. Gilbert; (R) 5,736 —27.05%
Cary Thomas; (L) 1,114 —5.25%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 35
State Representative, Position 1
* Kathy Haigh; (D) 15,647 —59.44%
Frank Dare; (R) 10,673 —40.55%
State Representative, Position 2
* William Eickmeyer; (D) 14,840 —56.78%
Craig Chapman; (R) 11,292 —43.21%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 36
State Representative, Position 1
* Helen Sommers; (D) 21,036 —78.62%
Angela Brink; (R) 5,719 —21.37%
State Representative, Position 2
* Mary Lou Dickerson; (D) 21,298 —80.28%
Rudy McCoy-Pantoja Jr.; (R) 5,230 —19.71%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 37
State Representative, Position 1
* Sharon Tomiko Santos; (D) 12,243 —86.73%
John Stafford; (IC) 1,872 —13.26%
State Representative, Position 2
Eric Pettigrew; (D) 11,704 —83.38%
Ruth Bennett; (L) 2,333 —16.62%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 38
State Senate
* Aaron Reardon; (D) 12,909 —65.16%
Glenn Coggeshell; (R) 6,901 —34.83%
State Representative, Position 1
John R. McCoy; (D) 10,212 —51.38%
Erv Hoglund; (R) 9,662 —48.61%
State Representative, Position 2
* Jean Berkey; (D) 11,632 —59.21%
Gregory Dean Lemke; (R) 8,011 —40.78%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 39
State Representative, Position 1
Bob Quarterman; (D) 10,395 —44.94%
Dan Kristiansen; (R) 12,733 —55.05%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 40
State Representative, Position 1
* Dave Quall; (D) 17,051 —61.31%
Roger E.Pederson; (R) 9,721 —34.95%
Brian J.M. Rosenau; (L) 1,037 —3.72%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 41
State Representative, Position 2
Judy Clibborn; (D) 10,426 —52.18%
Mike Wensman; (R) 9,554 —47.81%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 42
State Senate
* Georgia Gardner; (D) 12,214 —47.09%
Dale Brandland; (R) 12,552 —48.39%
Donald B. Crawford; (L) 509 —1.96%
Peter Francis Tassoni; (GRN) 662 —2.55%
State Representative, Position 1
Jim Boyle; (D) 10,930 —43.16%
* Doug Ericksen; (R) 14,394 —56.83%
State Representative, Position 2
* Kelli Linville; (D) 14,400 56.81%
Gene Goldsmith; (R) 10,947 43.18%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 44
State Senate
Phil Doerflein; (D) 11,103 —46.68%
Dave Schmidt; (R) 12,679 —53.31%
State Representative, Position 1
Hans Dunshee; (D) 12,292 —51.48%
Tim Krivanek; (R) 11,584 —48.51%
State Representative, Position 2
* John Lovick; (D) 12,305 —51.77%
Randy Nichols; (R) 11,462 —48.22%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 45
State Representative, Position 1
Dave Asher; (D) 9,190 —46.93%
* Toby Nixon; (R) 10,390 —53.06%
State Representative, Position 2
* Laura Ruderman; (D) 10,200 —51.51%
Elizabeth Bookspan; (R) 9,600 —48.48%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 47
State Senate
Debbie Jacobson; (D) 4,422 —42.38%
* Steve Johnson; (R) 6,011 —57.61%
State Representative, Position 1
* Geoff Simpson; (D) 4,953 —47.37%
Phil Fortunato; (R) 5,503 —52.63%
State Representative, Position 2
Pat Sullivan; (D) 4,768 —46.15%
* Jack Cairnes; (R) 5,562 —53.84%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 48
State Representative, Position 1
Ross Hunter; (D) 7,974 —52.75%
George Aiton; (R) 7,142 —47.24%

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT 49
State Representative, Position 1
* Bill Fromhold; (D) 14,164 —62.35%
Mike W. Smith; (R) 8,553 37.65%
State Representative, Position 2
Jim Moeller; (D) 12,426 —54.62%
Barbara A. Peterson; (R) 8,643 —37.99%
Marlene Korczakowski Adams; (IC) —1,680 7.38%

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6
Swedish Medical Center technical employees vote to join union

The following press release was issued Monday by the Service Employees International Union Local 1199NW:

With low voter turnout predicted, the Labor Neighbor get-out-the-vote efforts today and tomorrow are even more important. Our federal and state governments are evenly split, and recent polls show voters are also split. It is anticipated that some state legislative races could be decided by just a handful of votes, and those critical votes may be the difference in deciding who controls Olympia.

In other words, anything could happen in Tuesday's election and the outcome will hinge on who is most effective at getting out the vote. So PLEASE VOLUNTEER TODAY AND TOMORROW to help turn out union voters. Here's the final Labor Neighbor schedule for today and tomorrow: