Johnson may face primary challenge

YAKIMA, Wash. -- State Rep. Norm Johnson's sup-port of a domestic-partner benefits bill earlier this year turned some of his fellow Republicans against him and has a local woman thinking of challenging him in next year's election.

Michele Strobel, who owns a Selah cosmetics company and whose husband, Marc Strobel, is a pastor at Selah Covenant Church, has been publicly contemplating a run at the 14th District state House seat since last month, when she appeared before a conservative crowd at the One Nation Under God Tea Party in Yakima. She's new to politics but feels God wants her involved.

"I really believe that I am called," Strobel, 47, told a crowd at the Yaki-ma Convention Center last month, drawing applause. "And I am seriously considering running for office."

Johnson's "yes" vote on this year's "everything but marriage" bill, an expansion of the state's domestic partnership law that was recently reaffirmed by voters as Referendum 71, spurred Strobel's interest. It provides gay couples who register with the state all the rights and responsibilities afforded married couples. Senior heterosexual couples also can register as domestic partners, if at least one partner is 62 or older.

"This isn't the country I knew when I was young," Strobel said at the Oct. 15 event. "This isn't the country my grandparents fought for."

Strobel couldn't be reached for comment Friday, but in a phone message to the Herald-Republic Thursday, she said still hadn't decided whether to seek Johnson's seat.

"I am seriously considering it but I haven't announced yet," she said.

Johnson and state Sen. Curtis King of Yakima were among a handful of Republicans to buck the party and support the domestic partnership bill. The other 14th District state representative, Charles Ross, R-Naches, voted against it.

Strobel's potential candidacy is a reflection of political reality in Yakima -- proved by Yakima County's 65 percent to 35 percent vote this month against R-71. A majority of voters here disagree with Johnson and King on the issue. And it's a more pressing issue for Johnson, a freshman who faces re-election next year; King isn't up for election again until 2012.

"I think Norm made a real blunder there," said former Union Gap schools chief Bob McLaughlin, who was part of the six-candidate primary last year for the seat that ultimately went to Johnson. "I think it could hurt him."

Other than Strobel, no other candidates have emerged yet for Johnson's seat, according to county Republican Party Chairman Max Golladay and county Democratic Party Chairwoman Mary Stephenson.

But anticipating a possible primary challenge, Johnson already has begun sending out campaign letters and has raised nearly $2,800, according to the state Public Disclosure Commission.

As a sitting represen-tative, he'll be barred from fundraising from 30 days before the Legislature convenes in January until 30 days after adjournment in the spring.

That restriction wouldn't apply to Strobel or other challengers.

King concedes that the domestic-partnership vote could hurt Johnson next year, but he thinks the bulk of the voters who elected Johnson last year still support him.

"There's a chance that he might be (vulnerable)," King said. "But I don't think it's much of a chance. You have to look at all of the votes he took. ... He worked his butt off to save the Yakima Valley School. He worked his butt off to get support money for the Pacific Northwest University."

Johnson was the point man on a state funding proposal for Yakima's new Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences, ultim-ately succeeding to the tune of $800,000.

Johnson has stood by his
vote on domestic partner-ships.

"I feel I voted the right way, because to me it was pure and simple a vote of equality," he said.

And he hopes constituents who disagree with him on gay rights will be able to look past it and focus instead on the high marks he got from agriculture and business groups for his voting record this year.

That's the case for Yakima attorney Al Schweppe, another of Johnson's opponents in the 2008 Republican primary.

"I was opposed to (the domestic partnership bill)," he said. "I would have voted with Charles Ross on this issue. But I agree with Norm on 90 percent of his other votes."

Golladay echoed that sentiment, saying he'll likely support Johnson. The party, which generally endorses its incumbents, will make its decision later, he said.

"I can't define him by one vote," Golladay said. "And yet some people are wont to do that, and I can understand that."

He said he's met with Strobel about her potential run and advised her to thoroughly consider all aspects of her platform before declaring herself a candidate.

"I counseled her and said, 'You can't be a single-issue candidate,'" Golladay said.

Ross, himself an impassioned opponent of the domestic partnership bill during committee hearings, plans to support Johnson come election time.

"Constituents as well as other elected officials need to look at the balance of all the votes he took," Ross said. "He represented the district well."

Lawmakers who vote their beliefs knowing they'll take a political hit -- whatever the issue -- are worthy of respect, he said.

"There is a lot to be said for that," Ross said.

* Pat Muir can be reached at 509-577-7693 or pmuir@yakimaherald.com.