MOELLER BEST FIT

Would-Be Heir To Retiring Rep. Val Ogden Matches Her In Most Important Areas

When veteran state Rep. Val Ogden decided early this year to retire from
serving Vancouver's 49th Legislative District, she and her friends set
about finding a worthy successor.

They spurned Vancouver City Councilman Jim Moeller's bid for the role. High
on their list of criteria was gender. They thought Ogden ought to be
replaced by another woman.

And so they recruited Catherine Rich-Daniels and gave her considerable
money and moral support. Moeller didn't fold, however. He kept on
campaigning and ultimately beat Rich-Daniels, 6,564 to 5,615 votes, in the
September primary.

If those who voted for Rich-Daniels do not follow the usual 49th District
pattern and shift to Moeller, the Ogden group could get its wish of seeing
another woman elected to represent the district.

But she won't be a Democrat.

Odds are she'll be Republican Barbara Peterson, who got 6,256 votes in
September. There's a very long shot she'll be Independent Marlene
Korczakowski Adams, who got five times the 200 September votes, the
equivalent of 1 percent of the total cast, that she needed to stay in the
running.

Democrats, independents and a lot of Republicans had better go with
Moeller, who has the capacity to supplant Ogden.

A lot of people will find it impossible to punch out the Moeller chad from
the ballot card, no matter his demonstrated qualities and qualifications.
He is liberal. He is gay. He joined forces with former Vancouver City
Manager Vernon Stoner to root out the Jefferson Davis monument from its
half-century stand next to Highway 99 in front of Covington House. He is an
unabashed backer of the city's plan to get a convention center built
somewhere south of Esther Short Park without putting the question to a
public vote. As a long-time addiction counselor, he'd consider
decriminalizing marijuana if he could get some other brave souls to stick
up their heads against the the war on drugs.

Notwithstanding all of those lightning rods he packs around with him,
Moeller has what it will take to be a legislator in Ogden's mode. He knows
how to work in a complicated system to get what his constituents really
need and some of what they want. He understands that service in the
Legislature means struggle to make a tiny dent in a huge boulder and not an
opportunity to perform easy, quick, radical surgery on the state tax system
or law and justice.

Neither Peterson nor Adams offers anything like a strong case that she
should take the seat.