from the chair
A Tradition of Civics
and Civility
Tom Hosea
It sounds so simple: Invite the top candidates for the state’s
top political offices to debate the issues of the day.
But then, let’s face it: Nothing is so straightforward in
today’s world. And that’s perhaps what makes the political debates by the Association of Washington Business that
much more noteworthy.
Walk down the hallway at AWB and you will see a pictorial
timeline tracing the history of the state’s top political leaders and candidates for state’s top office. The association has
hosted debates among
candidates for governor
for 20 years. The first
debate was held in 1992
(R) and Bob Ferguson (D) will also appear in the first debate
for attorney general.
As The Seattle Times noted soon after Inslee confirmed
his attendance for the event, “Debates inform voters, who
have an important decision to make about who should lead
the state the next four years. The June 12 debate in Spokane
is expected to be televised. The more public vetting of candidates, the better.”
We could not agree more. In fact, for the first time in
the association’s
history of the
debates, AWB will
provide 100 tickets to each of the
four campaigns, who can send supporters to watch their
candidates, along with about 400 AWB members, at The
Bing Crosby Theater in Spokane.
Previously, these debates were only open to AWB members. But this year, given the intense interest in these two
races and the enormity of the challenges facing our state
today, it only made sense to include more people.
We’ve also had the good fortune of securing some excellent media partners, which, as the Times noted, will further
carry this information to all corners of the state. Our friends
at TVW have agreed to carry the debate live, and are also
working with their media allies at KSPS in Spokane and
KCTS in the Seattle area. And our moderator, the excellent
and always well-informed Austin Jenkins, of both TVW fame
and his work on the Northwest News Network, brings the
power of his NPR affiliates to also make this event available
on the radio.
But more than anything, it’s the level of the discourse at
this event that makes it such a special tradition. In years past,
candidates may not have agreed on much, but they continued
the age-old political tradition of showing up, shaking hands
and having a vigorous discussion of the issues.
Politics is not for the faint of heart, and you have to
hand it to anyone who thinks they have what it takes
to run for political office in today’s fast-paced, highly
wired world. We look forward to hearing from all four
candidates in June. But perhaps more than that, we look
forward to providing our members with a venue by which
to engage in the 2012 elections — and then decide for
themselves by Nov. 6.
We look forward to providing our members with a
venue by which to engage in the 2012 elections —
and then decide for themselves by Nov. 6.
between then-gubernatorial candidates Mike Lowry (D) and
Ken Eikenberry (R). Since then, other races for statewide
office have been added to the ticket, including lands commissioner, state superintendent of public instruction and
attorney general. From the get go, AWB has viewed this
tradition as a unique opportunity for its members to see
and hear first-hand from the men and women who would
be our leaders.
The debates between former U.S. Rep Jay Inslee (D) and
Attorney General Rob McKenna (R) on June 12 in Spokane
will be the sixth such debate for AWB, and the very first in
the campaign cycle. King County Councilmen Reagan Dunn
14 association of washington business