You didn’t read that wrong, the Washington Education Association, an organization that typically is considered “left-leaning” by people who consider themselves to be “right-leaning”, has endorsed across the void.
Kim Wyman, Republican candidate for Secretary of State, is the first statewide candidate to receive an endorsement from the WEA. As unions typically tend to favor Democratic candidates, and teachers tend to favor democratic candidates, it comes as a bit of a shock that a teachers union might go for a GOP offering.
The WEA also endorsed two Republican candidates for the state Legislature, among the usual smattering of Democratic candidate endorsements.
Added to this unusual showing of non-partisan political maneuvering, we have Governor Gregoire’s appointment of GOP Senator Cheryl Pflug of Maple Valley to a state position on the Washington Growth Management Hearings Board, which pays $92,500 per year. This is nearly double what a State Senator is paid, and comes with the added benefits of not having to run for election, and being a six year appointment. Some cynical folks will likely say this appointment was made in order to get Pflug, the incumbent, to drop out of the Senate race to allow a Democratic candidate to have a better chance at winning, but being Pflug was one of only 4 GOPers to support legalizing gay marriage in this state, she had already likely alienated a decent sized chunk of her more “traditional marriage” favoring supporters out there.
With all this cross party action going on, one can’t help but wonder…. are we finally going to see a little work in this state towards fixing problems regardless of party affiliation, or is this just a quirk of the game?
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