The Constitutional Law PAC was a center-right

political action committee In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The l ...

formed in the state of

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

to help elect candidates to the

Washington Supreme Court The Washington Supreme Court is the highest court in the judiciary of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. The court is composed of a chief justice and eight associate justices. Members of the court are elected to six-year terms. ...

and Washington State Court of Appeals. Conservatives expressed concerns that the group's leadership was too liberal, while liberals criticized the committee as a conservative attempt to influence judicial elections. The center-left FairPAC was started in response.

Candidate Evaluation Committee

The Candidate Evaluation Committee was chaired by Former King County Prosecutor Christopher T. Bayley a moderate Republican. Members of the committee were Seattle labor attorney

Jerry Rubin Jerry Clyde Rubin (July 14, 1938 – November 28, 1994) was an American social activist, anti-war leader, and counterculture icon during the 1960s and early 1970s. Despite being known for holding radical views when he was a political activist, h ...

of the law firm Stoel Rives (Democrat), Chehalis attorney Renee’ Remund of the firm Vander Stoep, Remund and Blinks (Republican) and Senior Pierce County Deputy Prosecutor Phil Sorenson (Democrat). In 2006 the committee formed a bi-partisan Candidate Evaluation Committee to issue rating for appellate level judicial candidates in Washington State. The committee issued two ratings for each candidate: "Judicial Qualifications" and "Judicial Philosophy".

Judicial Qualifications

The Judicial Qualifications rating relied on similar criteria to those used by the King County Bar Association and other bar associations. The possible ratings were “Very Well Qualified”, “Well Qualified”, “Qualified” and “Unqualified”.

Judicial Philosophy

The committee based its "Judicial Philosophy" rating reflects on their understanding of a candidate’s “deference to the law, constitution and established legal precedent.” An “A” was used to indicate that the candidate showed complete deference to the law, constitution and established legal precedent. A “B” was awarded for significant deference, a “C” for partial deference, a “D” for insufficient deference and an “F” for little or no deference.

Ratings

The committee rated four incumbent judges as “Very Well Qualified”, Chief Justice Gerry L. Alexander, Judge Ronald E. Cox of the Court of Appeals, Judge Marlin Appelwick of the Court of Appeals, and Judge David Armstrong of the Court of Appeals. State Senator Stephen Johnson was the only non-incumbent rated Very Well Qualified. Two candidates were rated “Unqualified”, conservative Supreme Court challenger Jeanette Burrage and Joel M. Penoyar who was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2005.

Leadership

*Chairman of the Board: Former Republican

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

Slade Gorton *Board Members: Christopher T. Bayley, Anthony Sternola, Marianne Jones and Alex Hays *Executive Director: Alex Hays *Chairman, Candidate Evaluation Committee: Christopher T. Bayley.

References

{{reflist Politics of Washington (state) Washington (state) political action committees