VOTE: Support labor-endorsed justices

Stop politicization of the courts by supporting Yu, Madsen, Wiggins

(July 27, 2016) — If you care about the politicization of Washington state’s highest court, find your Primary Election ballot, fill it out and send it in!

Rather than focusing on improving school funding, some right-wing state legislators are actively campaigning to unseat Supreme Court justices whose rulings attempt to hold legislators accountable for that underfunding. By voting in the Primary Election — and supporting three labor-endorsed incumbent Justices Mary Yu, Barbara Madsen and Charles Wiggins — voters can turn away this brazen political attack against the Supreme Court and re-elect justices with a proven record of making sure our constitution and laws are applied fairly for all Washington citizens.

In 2012, the Washington State Supreme Court unanimously upheld a lower court ruling that the State Legislature was failing in its constitutional “paramount duty” to sufficiently fund public education. Since then, the Legislature’s ongoing failure to improve school funding has led to a contempt-of-court ruling and fines against the Legislature by the Supreme Court.

Some conservative legislators are bristling at these rulings against them and have focused, not on restoring education funding, but on recruiting and promoting election challengers to unseat the incumbent justices.

State Rep. Matt Manweller (R-Ellensburg) has openly suggested that their threat of unseating a justice will make the court think twice about piling on more sanctions in what is known as the McCleary case on education funding. Manweller, a political science professor at Central Washington University, is suggesting that rather than deciding issues solely on their merits and the law, justices on our state’s highest court should worry about political payback from the likes of him.

Voters in Washington state have received their Primary Election ballots, and if recent elections and early return rates are any indication, the percentage of people that will bother voting between now and Aug. 2 will be shamefully low. The good news is, with such a small percentage of the state’s 4 million eligible voters likely to return their ballots, union members have a great opportunity to make sure that champions of working families — and Supreme Court justices like Mary Yu, Barbara Madsen and Charles Wiggins, who are holding legislators accountable to their constitutional duties — succeed in this election.

Your unions have analyzed the candidates’ questionnaires and interviewed each of them. Delegates from unions across the state have assembled to vote on which ones have earned endorsement from the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO as true advocates for fair wages, safe and healthy jobs, and sustaining public services.

In addition to Justices Mary Yu, Barbara Madsen and Charles Wiggins, check out the full list of WSLC-endorsed candidates.