The League of Women Voters is holding a debate for the candidates in the 6th Congressional District Wednesday at the University of Puget Sound, yet incumbent Norm Dicks has decided not to attend. By avoiding the debate, Dicks is denying the public the opportunity to make a more fully informed decision.
Dicks has a record that certainly needs defending. He voted for the Iraq war and for its reauthorization. He voted for the Patriot Act and its renewal. He voted for the FISA bill that weakens judicial review of surveillance while giving telecommunications companies retroactive immunity for their illegal spying. He voted for NAFTA and CAFTA.
In the 2006 election, many voters believed they were electing a Democrat who would stand up to the Bush administration. Instead he enabled it. And the top-two primary may have an unintended, unfortunate consequence. If Dicks and the Republican challenger, Doug Cloud, are the top-two finishers, then the voters will hardly have a choice at all in November.
There are two anti-war, pro-civil liberties candidates in the race: Paul Richmond (Democrat) and Gary Murrell (Green). A race between one of these candidates and either Dicks or Cloud would give voters in the 6th District a real choice about the direction we want to take our country. (Anderson-Connolly is an associate professor of comparative sociology at the University of Puget Sound.) election
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