Back in 2007, our state Supreme Court struck down a section of state law regarding false statements made in political advertising.
The case stemmed from a complaint about the accuracy of a statement made in a campaign brochure in a state Senate election.
In a 5-4 majority opinion, the justices found “the notion that the government, rather than the people, may be the final arbiter of truth in political debate is fundamentally at odds with the First Amendment.”
“State’s highest court backs lying in politics,” read the headline in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, while The New York Times opted for “Law on Lies by Politicians Is Found Unconstitutional.”
While legislators have revised the law since then, candidates in our state remain free to say anything they want about themselves, forcing voters to wonder what is fact and what is fiction.
That is worth keeping in mind during what's left of the primary voting period, which concludes August 6, and as the candidates who survive the primary shift into their general-election campaigns.
Bob Ferguson's campaign for governor is providing multiple examples of how candidates can say anything, without needing to back it up — or while conveniently overlooking facts that would contradict their political advertising.
I recently commented on the double-speak in Ferguson's initial television campaign ad. It professes concern about public safety and the cost of living in ways we’ve never heard from him until now.
Nothing in his 12-year record as attorney general supports those claims, including the legislation he has chosen to request or support.
Now Ferguson has another say-anything TV ad that doubles down on public safety, flatly declaring it to be his top priority.
This time he begins by saying our state is dead last in the nation — 50th out of 50 — when it comes to the number of law-enforcement officers based on population.
Ferguson got that wrong, and the truth is worse: Washington actually ranks 51st, meaning even the District of Columbia rates higher on law-enforcement staffing.
This shocking statistic is included in the statewide crime report issued annually by the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs. WASPC has been tracking the officers-per-capita number since 1980.
The national average stands at 2.31 officers per 1,000 residents. Here in Washington, it’s at 1.35 officers per thousand.
Republicans know our communities need more officers. We have repeatedly introduced legislation to help with recruitment and retention. Ferguson could have but did not support these bills.
Instead, his TV ad highlights the shortage of officers while deliberately leaving out how our state has been dead last in this category for 13 consecutive years.
Maybe it’s because that embarrassing record coincides almost exactly with his three terms as attorney general and lame-duck Jay Inslee’s three terms as governor.
What's even more disappointing – and this is something Washington voters need to know – is when WASPC recently invited what it views as the top four gubernatorial candidates to participate in separate interviews, with an identical set of questions, only Ferguson said no.
In other words, a candidate who claims public safety is his top priority is refusing to answer questions from public-safety leaders in our counties and cities.
On top of that, he builds a television ad around a WASPC statistic but then won't talk to WASPC when it gives him an opportunity to share his policy proposals.
To reach the national average of 2.31 officers per 1,000 residents, Washington would need to hire 8,000 more officers.
It seems like a no-brainer that a governor who is serious about rebuilding our law enforcement infrastructure would want to engage with the sheriffs and police chiefs who would be central to that effort.
Ferguson's apparent lack of respect for local law-enforcement leaders makes him even less believable on the critical issue of public safety.
But the credibility gap isn't limited to public safety, as a closer look at his political advertising shows.
Ferguson's campaign website speaks of how the state needs to manage its fiscal affairs effectively, yet as attorney general he has spent at least $15 million hiring private law firms to defend the state in court.
If Ferguson can't handle his agency's workload without going to outside law firms for help, taxpayers shouldn't trust him to oversee multiple agencies.
In his online advertising, Ferguson also claims to fight for open government. That is plainly contradicted by a King County court ruling in 2023, which fined Ferguson's office and another state agency $200,000 as a penalty for what was called an “egregious” withholding of evidence in an ongoing lawsuit.
The case involved a developmentally disabled woman who was neglected by an assisted living facility in King County. Ferguson’s office withheld at least 100,000 pages of documents wrongfully. His agency was ordered to pay another $122,000 in legal fees in the case.
This doesn't just undermine Ferguson’s claim of supporting open government. Because taxpayers are ultimately responsible for these fines and fees, it also is another example of failed fiscal management.
Ferguson advertises himself as supporting fair elections. Yet when an issue arose this year about others who had filed as candidates for governor, Ferguson reportedly tried to strong-arm Washington’s secretary of state into listing those candidates on the Aug. 6 primary ballot in a way not allowed under state law.
That hardly sounds like someone who truly wants fair elections.
As a result, the man who in 2017 declared on X (then Twitter) that “no one is above the law,” in a reference to former President Trump, now faces an ethics complaint that basically accuses him of trying to act above the law.
One of the truly incredible claims Ferguson makes is that he will ensure legislators pass budgets that are balanced and include adequate reserves in the state “rainy-day fund.”
It’s a ridiculous thing to say because we already are required to pass balanced budgets, and the voters of Washington have done a great job of not only creating and protecting but also ensuring the growth of the rainy-day fund.
Ferguson either doesn't understand that, or he wants to trick voters into believing he would give them something they already have.
In 2007, the state senator whose complaint led to the state Supreme Court ruling on political advertising was quoted as worrying it would mean “no downside to lying” in campaigns.
I have faith that when voters are presented with information which helps them see when candidates are making false or misleading statements, they can be the final arbiter of truth — as the justices put it years ago — and act accordingly.
Bob Ferguson's campaign has no shortage of credibility issues. In particular, his new claim about prioritizing public safety falls apart once you know he won't even engage, as a candidate, with those responsible for enforcing the law.
Although he and other candidates have the legal right to say whatever they want about themselves, the people of our state have the right to skip over Ferguson’s name on the ballot and vote Republican — while also saying “yes” to all of the cost-saving initiatives he and other Democrats won’t support. That’s the better path for Washington.
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Sen. John Braun of Centralia serves the 20th Legislative District, which spans parts of four counties from Yelm to Vancouver. He became Senate Republican leader in 2020.
