From the Oct 31 – Nov 6, 2002 issue

Pullout

LEGISLATIVE DISTRICT NO. 37 REPRESENTATIVE POS. NO. 2

Vote for Eric Pettigrew

Much to our surprise, the Glee Club really liked Libertarian candidate Ruth Bennett. She was thoughtful and informed, and we liked her attempt to deploy Libertarian precepts in the service of social-justice goals, like using deregulatory incentives to expand basic health-care coverage. Still, in the end we feared that, if elected, she'd end up voting with the Republicans too often--in a legislature that's shaping up to be another deadlock.

Not that she has much chance of beating out Democrat Eric Pettigrew, who has the heavyweight backing of the party behind him. Smooth and personable, over the course of two interviews Pettigrew spoke engagingly about increased public/private partnerships. (His major accomplishment is having convinced Safeco Insurance to invest in the Central neighborhood by opening a job-training and education center on Jackson Street.) Even if his knowledge seemed spotty on some issues important to his constituents (like predatory lending), it sure would be nice to have a black voice in lily-white Olympia, especially from a guy who won "Best Personality" at Nogales High School for the class of '78.

Though we're concerned that Pettigrew risks becoming little more than a party hack and placeholder, we're secretly hopeful he has the potential to prove us wrong.