Johnson withstands Kitsap challengers -Write-in candidate Steve Alexander garners less than 5 percent of the vote

By Travis Baker
Bremerton Sun Staff

11/6/02

Bremerton, WA - State Supreme Court Justice Charles Johnson turned back a challenge from two Kitsap County residents in Tuesday's election for the top court's Position 4.

Johnson, of Gig Harbor, was leading Pam Loginsky of Port Orchard by 12 percentage points in the early returns for Position 4.

The write-in campaign of retired Kitsap County District Judge Steve Alexander of Bremerton went the way of most write-in campaigns, if returns in his home county of Kitsap are any indication.

Fewer than 5 percent of the votes cast in Kitsap were write-ins. If all were for Alexander, he'd run a distant third to Johnson and Loginsky in this county.

But his votes probably cut into Loginsky's total. Both were critical of Johnson's participation in a mid-October 5-4 Supreme Court decision that could lighten the prison sentences of many persons serving time for second-degree murder.

They also criticized other of his decisions in recent years.

Alexander's total probably never will be known. Write-in votes are counted only if their total is great enough to affect the outcome of a race, said Dean Logan, state election supervisor and former Kitsap County clerk.

A statewide count of all write-ins wasn't expected until the end of the Tuesday vote count. That's when Logan's office asked counties to report their write-in numbers.

Johnson survived a rebuke from some law enforcement agencies after his vote on the second-degree murder decision.

But Loginsky said Johnson didn't have that many friends in the law enforcement community to begin with, because of past votes she considered unfavorable to the fight against crime.

Johnson had lots of other friends, though, if campaign contributions are a gauge. He raised $115,000 to Loginsky's $17,000, according to the state Public Disclosure Commissioner Web site.

Alexander, who didn't have enough contributions to be included on the PDC Web site, got a late start in his campaign. He conducted it largely via e-mail and Web sites in which recent Supreme Court decisions were analyzed.

Meanwhile, appellate attorney Jim Johnson had a slim advantage for the state Supreme Court's Position 3. He held a 51 percent lead over Mary Fairhurst, a longtime official in the state attorney general's office, in early returns.

Published in The Sun: 11/06/2002