Hutchison fires back at Constantine "for outright lies."

Constantine appearing at a candidate's forum this month (Photo:Johnathan Fitzpatrick)

Susan Hutchison, a candidate for King County Executive, fired back this afternoon against Democratic opponent Dow Constantine.

Constantine, a county councilman also running for the office vacated by Ron Sims, called Hutchison out at a press conference saying she's been ducking candidates forums and has more conservative views than she's let on.

Hutchison, in a statement, said, "It’s disappointing my opponent has decided to attack me with outright lies. 

 "The issues he has raised have nothing to do with county government, and while I am disappointed, I am not surprised.  Mr. Constantine finds himself well behind in the polls, and with no positive vision for our county.  His only hope is to sling mud and engage in personal negative attacks," she said. 

 "The fact is, Mr. Constantine is chairman of the King County council.  He has served on the council since 2002, and before that he spent years in the state legislature.  He is a career politician who finds himself behind in the polls because he is responsible for overseeing a county government with countless problems.

She tacked on a list of those problems:

• A $50 million budget shortfall
• Unsustainable government spending – since 2000 general fund spending has increased more than 30%
• One of the highest small business failure rates in the country
• A transportation system grinding to a halt.

"Mr. Constantine's campaign is one of partisanship and divisiveness.   Voters decided last year to make the county executive a non-partisan office because we need to bring people together, not divide them.  Working together with business and labor, Democrats and Republicans, and environmentalists and community leaders behind a common good is what I've done in the private and non-profit sectors over the last two decades.  It's what I'll continue to do as King County Executive," she said.

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Susan Hutchison, the journalist, would have been put off by the rope-a-dope campaign Susan Hutchison, the politician, is running.

Hutchison has been taking criticism for not appearing in forums. Still, she finds herself with a large lead in the race.

This has some other candidates worried. so Constantine called her out.

After a press conference this afternoon, Constantine said, "Susan Hutchison is a nice lady I'm sure.

But if you're going to run for the highest office in the county, you have to participate."

Hutchison, who's running as a Republican, has come under some scrutiny for her conservative Republican ties, detailed, for instance, in the P-I .

She's said that she's skipping candidates forums because she's boning up on the issues so that she doesn't pull a Palin.

"I'm sure she can see Medina from her backyard," Constantine quipped.

He urged Hutchison, "to show up and answer questions from the other candidates and the public."

Of course, at some point, she'll have to appear at candidates forums. Constantine, though, worried there may not be enough time between the primary elections and the general elections to for voters to get to know who they're voting for.

Constantine in a press release said, “Contrary to conventional wisdom, such a win by Hutchison is a very real possibility, given the former KIRO/7’s name familiarity with voters and her refusal to admit her actual views on issues like choice, the teaching of intelligent design creationism in the public schools, gay civil rights, protecting the environment and a host of other matters of interest to the public.

Hutchison, not surprisingly, didn't respond to emails to her campaign asking for comment.