SGN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW -
Supreme Court candidate Stan Rumbaugh
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Seattle Gay News
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posted Friday, July 23, 2010 - Volume 38 Issue 30 SGN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW - Supreme Court candidate Stan Rumbaughby Mike Andrew - SGN Staff Writer Everyone wants to like Stan Rumbaugh, but not everyone can. Rumbaugh is running for a seat on the Washington Supreme Court against incumbent justice James Johnson. In his nearly six years on the court, Johnson has acquired a reputation for being anti-Gay, anti-Native, anti-labor, and pro-big business. Rumbaugh is - by all accounts - none of those things, and he is sharply critical of his opponent's conservative record. Yet Rumbaugh is, himself, embroiled in a labor dispute with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the union that represents faculty at Bates Technical College in Tacoma, where Rumbaugh is Chairman of the Board of Directors. And therein lies the dilemma for progressive voters. In an exclusive interview, SGN talked with Rumbaugh about his campaign, his views on LGBT rights, and his difficulties with organized labor. First run for office This is Rumbaugh's first run for public office. He tells SGN he sees the campaign as an extension of his commitment to public service. "Look at my public service - go down the list - I've been on the Tacoma Housing Authority board, Bates College, Planned Parenthood," Rumbaugh says. "I've played an active role in the community because it's important. And I enjoy doing that." "I thought I could expand the scope of my legal purview to cutting edge problems," he says of his decision to run for Supreme Court justice, "to merge public service and expanding in my chosen profession." Rumbaugh is a partner in the law firm of Rumbaugh, Rideout, Barnett and Adkins. According to his campaign website, his firm's motto is "working lawyers for working people," and this is a theme Rumbaugh returns to again and again in his conversation with SGN. "I've practiced law for 31 years," Rumbaugh says. "I've handled thousands of cases for individuals and small businesses. I think I have a duty - my first duty - to serve the people, to see they get the services and the protections of individual rights and liberties." In contrast, incumbent justice James Johnson has often sided with right-wing causes and big business, a fact Rumbaugh is quick to point out. "Jim Johnson has represented Tim Eyman, he's represented the BIAW [Building Industry Association of Washington], he worked with Slade Gorton to undermine Native sovereignty," he says. "And [Johnson] didn't stop representing them, even on the bench," Rumbaigh continues. "In 17 cases, he voted with the BIAW 16 times." After a pause, Rumbaugh sighs. "You know, when you're a lawyer you can represent anyone you want - but who you choose tells something about you." LGBT rights < Rumbaugh's campaign website features a page devoted to LGBT issues, most of it criticism of Johnson's opinion in the Andersen v. King County marriage equality case. In Andersen, the state Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that there is no constitutional right to marriage for same-sex couples. Johnson joined the majority, and wrote a concurring opinion in the case. Asked if he foresaw marriage equality litigation coming to the court in the future, Rumbaugh replied, "It's possible. I don't believe DOMA is a dead issue as far as Washington courts go." "You see what happened in Massachusetts," he elaborated. "A federal district court ruled DOMA unconstitutional. Now it will run up the line [to the U.S. Supreme Court]. If the Supreme Court reviews it, we may end up with other pieces of litigation in some states." While Rumbaugh declined to expand on the constitutional rights of same-sex couples, he did offer some hints to SGN readers. "If you look at the cases my firm has had at the Supreme Court - Vasquez v. Hawthorne, for example - maybe you can draw your own conclusions." Rumbaugh's law partner, Terry Barnett, was lead counsel in Vasquez, in which the state Supreme Court ultimately ruled that same-sex partners are entitled to inherit community property, reversing an appeals court decision. "The client [Frank Vasquez] had mental handicaps," Rumbaugh recalls. "There was no will. He came into my office and said 'Help me.' My first thought was 'Why come here?' but when I looked into the [Appeals Court] decision I came to the conclusion it was just flat-ass wrong." Rumbaugh has been endorsed by Equal Rights Washington and QLAW, the LGBT bar association. Trouble with the teachers union Ironically in view of his stated commitment to public service, Rumbaugh's service as chair of the Bates College Board put him in the middle of a labor dispute that may cost him the endorsement of the powerful Washington State Labor Council (WSLC). AFT - which represents faculty at the school - charges that Rumbaugh unilaterally voided their collective bargaining agreement, dismissing teachers under cover of an arcane Washington law. Rumbaugh tells SGN he was merely trying to cope with the school's budget crisis. "We [Bates Technical College] absorbed three rounds of cuts," he says. "We lost millions of dollars in operating budget. We were able to make it up through attrition, so there were no RIFs - not among the AFT, or the WEA, or the Operating Engineers." RIFs - "reductions in force" - mean losses of jobs, something labor unions will typically fight to avoid. According to Rumbaugh, the latest round of funding cuts left Bates' budget $600,000 short, making staff reductions inevitable. Karen Patjens, president of AFT local 4184, which represents Bates faculty, tells SGN she offered to bargain cost-cutting measures in order to save her members' jobs, as the union had done in the past. "All schools have been hit by mandated cutbacks," she said. "The first year we lost five positions. The second year we bargained givebacks - pay and furlough days. We went to the Board in March and offered to negotiate more givebacks." Asked by SGN to confirm that AFT had made an affirmative offer to bargain with Bates management, Patjens shot back, "Absolutely!" Instead of bargaining with the union, Rumbaugh invoked the state's seldom-used Financial Emergency Statute, effectively voiding the union's collective bargaining agreement, and dismissed teachers. "In order to book any savings at all, we had to give notice by the end of April, first of May," he explains. According to AFT Washington political organizer Richard Burton, Bates was the only one of 34 colleges in the state to declare a financial emergency. "The rest worked out some other solution to their budget problems," Burton says. Patjens charges that Rumbaugh's failure to deal with the union has exacerbated tensions with school employees. "We had no intention to end up in this kind of public battle," she says. "There were several times when this could have been resolved. All we needed was good faith bargaining. But at each step he didn't do it." According to Patjens, Rumbaugh has not even made an effort to communicate with her. "He has not called me at all," she says. "I've never had a legitimate conversation with him. I tried to speak with him after the last Board meeting. He cut me off and he walked away." Rumbaugh tells SGN that he agrees he could have handled labor relations at Bates better than he did, but he remains unapologetic. "Could the process have been better? Sure. Could we improve in the future? I'll try to make it happen," he says. "I know the AFT is unhappy. They have attacked me personally. That's how they do. The WEA [Washington Education Association, an independent teacher's union] has endorsed me. It's just a question of whose ox is getting gored." "It would make things better&." Rumbaugh's problems with the AFT may cost him a key endorsement when the WSLC convention meets in August. However, Rumbaugh does have the endorsement of the huge SIEU healthcare local 775NW. "We've met with Stan," SEIU 775 Vice President Adam Glickman tells SGN. "He's a very sensible, common sense lawyer with a history of advocating for working families. He's just what you want in a judge, a much better alternative." James Johnson, Rumbaugh's opponent, wrote the majority opinion in SEIU Healthcare 775NW v. Gregoire in which the state Supreme Court deprived members of the SEIU local of $87 million in wages and benefits. "[Johnson] is the most right-wing, anti-union judge," Glickman continues. "He's tied to Tim Eyman, to the BIAW, to the tobacco industry. He takes money from the tobacco industry and then he rules to overturn anti-smoking laws." Unlike the AFT, SEIU is not affiliated with the WSLC or the AFL-CIO. SEIU 775NW represents some 40,000 members statewide, so its endorsement is significant. In spite of their issues with Rumbaugh, even AFT members say that under other circumstances, they would prefer him to Johnson. "I'd love for him to get the [WSLC] endorsement," Patjens told SGN. "I just don't want him to get it while we're in the middle of a labor dispute that he is responsible for." AFT Washington's Richard Burton told SGN he hoped Rumbaugh would take the initiative to phone Patjens before the August WSLC convention. "It wouldn't make everything OK," Burton said, "but it would make things better." |
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| SGN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW -
Supreme Court candidate Stan Rumbaugh
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