Or because she is a woman who lives east of the Cascade Mountains.

Or because she’s a bit of all three. Given the statements made last week by Gov. Chris Gregoire and her staff, it’s hard to know for sure.

At the formal announcement, Gregoire spoke of the need for the court to look like Washington and how important it is for people in Eastern Washington to feel they are represented. Not since Justice Richard Guy’s retirement in 2000 has an East Sider been on the bench.

But in informal questioning from reporters, Gregoire called Stephens the “best available choice, period.”

Perhaps confirming a Western Washington bias, not much is known about Stephens. She’s been on the state Court of Appeals Division III only since spring. She has practiced law for 14 years, primarily in appellate work.

But as accomplished as she might be, it’s hard to believe that of all the attorneys in Washington state, Stephens was the best available choice, period.

More likely, she was the best available choice who was female (because the governor wanted to maintain the current gender balance), who was from Spokane (because the governor wanted someone from Eastern Washington) and who was of moderate-to-liberal politics (because the Democratic governor wasn’t going to appoint a conservative).

For some reason, however, Gregoire couldn’t say that Stephens was the best person who matched the search criteria. Perhaps she just did what most presidents and governors do when they apply quotas to appointments but claim they don’t.

Remember when the first President Bush appointed Clarence Thomas to replace the U.S. Supreme Court’s only black member?

“What I did was look for the best man,” Bush I said. “The fact that he was black and a minority has nothing to do with that.”

Yeah, sure. Whatever. How about they just say that diversity is important and that a lot of people are good enough to fill these jobs and that it’s OK to let women or minorities benefit from the tie-breaker sometimes?

If Gregoire applied criteria to her search that caused her to overlook white men from Seattle, who is going to object other than white men from Seattle and people who object to everything she does or says or is?

Either way, Debra Stephens is now one of nine Supreme Court justices. She won’t have much time to get acclimated before she’ll need to start running for the seat. Already she’s being targeted by the Justice for Washington Foundation, which called it a disappointing appointment because of Stephens’ extensive work for the state Trial Lawyers Association.

The trial lawyers group is one of the main funders of Democratic candidates and causes and has a lot of issues before the court. Stephens didn’t help when she said she was “affiliated with the trial lawyers.” And had a Republican governor appointed someone who was “affiliated” with the Building Industry Association of Washington, liberal and Democratic groups would have raised an alarm.

But the BIAW, which is a big part of the conservative political infrastructure and has played hardball in the last several Supreme Court races, hasn’t said much about Stephens.

So her main handicap might be the whole Eastern Washington thing. Other than Guy, who also ran as an incumbent justice following a gubernatorial appointment, there hasn’t been a lot of statewide electoral success from east of the crest.

The last U.S. senator elected from Eastern Washington was Moses Lake’s Lewis Schwellenbach in 1934. The last governor was Cheney’s Clarence Martin in 1936.

That’s it. But at least Martin got Washington State University’s stadium named after him.

Peter Callaghan: 253-597-8657

peter.callaghan@thenewstribune.com

blogs.thenewstribune.com/politics