Too Much of a Bob Thing

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Apparently twenty-eight individuals are still listed as candidates for governor of Washington state in the upcoming August primary elections.  I say "still" because two others dropped out of the race this past Monday, the last day on which candidates could withdraw.  Both of those two had only been in the race over the weekend, since late on the preceding Friday, the last day in which they could have filed and gotten their names on the ballot.  In addition to filing at the last minute for the same office, and dropping out at the last minute, the pair had one other thing in common:  they were both named "Bob Ferguson."

There is also another "Bob Ferguson" who is still in that race, the state's current attorney general who had filed early in the final week of filing.  When two more candidates with the exact same name as him filed a few days later, the attorney general of Washington and gubernatorial candidate smelled a pair of rats.  He reasoned, quite reasonably, that the other two Bob's might just be on the ballot to interfere with the election by causing confusion among the voters.

All three Bobs were running as Democrats.

The state of Washington has a statute covering that particular issue.  It states that a person can be guilty of a class B felony for filing for public office using "a surname similar to one who has already filed for the same office, and whose political reputation is widely known, with intent to confuse and mislead the electors by capitalizing on the public reputation of the candidate who had previously filed."

The campaign of Attorney General Bob Ferguson threatened legal action if the other two did not withdraw by the deadline of 5:00 p.m. this past Monday.  Both of the other Bobs withdrew, and both were vocally unhappy with what they regarded as being forced off the ballot.

The Bobs who withdrew had been represented by the same campaign manager, a local conservative activist.  Coincidence?  Probably not.

(I can't help but wish that southeast Missouri had a few more Jason Smiths who were interested in politics!)