Saturday, July 29, 2006

Lunatic-fringe candidates

Every jurisdiction has them ... the odd people who run for office—any office—in just about every election cycle.  Washington’s filing deadline for the 2006 election cycle passed yesterday afternoon.  And, like clockwork, the usual suspects came out to play once again. 

• Stan Lippmann?  Yep, he’s running in the special election for Seattle City Council position #9, against appointed incumbent Sally Clark.
• Mike The Mover?  He’s set his sights on the Democratic nomination for the Senate, one of four “challengers” to Maria Cantwell in the primary.  Oh, and keep your eye on another aspiring perpetual candidate in that little group, one Michael Goodspaceguy Nelson. 
• Mark Wilson?  No, not this time.  As has been detailed elsewhere, Wilson dropped out of the Senate race a couple of weeks ago and is now supporting (and stumping for) Maria.
• Richard Lee?  Hmmm, not this time, as far as I can tell.  Maybe he’s doing some detective work on Mars or something, looking for those guys who killed Kurt Cobain.

But the real topic of this post, my choice as the lunatic-fringiest candidate of the day, is none other than Eastside attorney/HorsesAss.org commenter/(u)SP commenter Richard Pope.  Not content to run (and lose) for the Port of Seattle Commission—as he did last year ... and in 2001 ... and in 1999—and not satisfied with failing to garner any support in numerous other races in numerous other years since 1996 (see the full list, as compiled by the Washington Secretary of State), he’s at it again.  At the last minute, it seems, he’s filed once again for 2006. 

This time, the Popester is setting his sights a good bit lower than before ... he’s one of three candidates for Position No.2 in King County District Court’s Northeast Electoral District.  I know little about either of his opponents.  Googling reveals that incumbent Mary Ann Ottinger has served in Issaquah District Court since 1992 and was named “Judge of the Year” by the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association in 1998.  However, she was recently suspended from her position for 30 days, due to violation of court procedures.  If the Frank V. LaSalata running for the position is this guy (I have no idea whether there are two lawyer/judges with the same name), then he and Ottinger are both somewhat flawed judicial candidates.  Not that that’s an argument in support of Richard Pope, of course.  His blog comments, occasionally logical but more often unhinged and obsessive, are more than enough to convince just about anyone other than a blood relative that Pope is unfit for any elective office, in any jurisdiction.  This time, at least, he isn’t pretending to be a Democrat, as he did when he ran for County Attorney in 1998.

I don’t understand what these people find so enticing in running nuttily for offices they have less than zero chance of winning.  Surely there are better ways to waste one’s time and money.