Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1907-09-21
ATTORNEY GENERAL TELLS
or PRIMARY LAW.

liz oNIOilSN general HAS lSSuSu lH6
following statement dealing with fea-
lures of the direct primary election
law:
As the time for the municipal
elections of December and early spring
draws near, a great many questions
are coming up in the minds of the
people as to the extent of certain pro-
visions of the law. An inquiry came
to me few days ago from an official
in North Yakima, a city of the third
class, where party lines Of the domi-
nant political parties do not seem to
have been recently drawn in munich
pal elections, explaining that last year
there were two municipal parties, one
having a ticket called the Peoples
ticket and the other the Citizens tick
ct. He states that a great many of
the citizens there prefer to continue in
the nonpartisan way, so far as city
elections are concerned, and the official
asks whether or not those tickets can
be legally put forward under the pro-
visions of the primary law.
cit would seem that there is no
good reason why these two tickets
cannot again be placed upon the ballot,
either with or without dominant POI
litical parties placing tickets in the
field The law provides that any sort
Of a ticket, of whatever name, may be
placed in the field, or upon the ballots
regularly, when, during the previous
year, it had received 10 per cent of the
regular votes of the municipality,
county or state.
"Another inquiry made by the same
official is, is a candidate for municipal
Office, which has no salary attached
thereto, required to make deposit of
a fee with his declaration of candi.
dacy.
"Section 5 provides that when q
candidate files his declaration it shall
be accompanied by a fee, which fee
shall be SO for any Office with salary
or compensation attached of $1,000 or
less per annum, and when such salary
or compensation exceeds $1,000 per an
mum, an additional sum of one per
cent Of such excess.
cit seems clear from the above
provision that it would only be fair to
cOnstrue this law literally, and that
uuboro az oASoo hoe no ca low, Nv. ANN
pensation attached, the candidate
should not be compelled to pay the fee.
1t would not seem proper to compel
man to pay the state or municipality
any money for the privilege of holding
office, when such office carries no sal
airy or compensation of any kind.
81 understand this matter was dis
cussed by members of the Legislature
when the law was before that body,
and that this was really the intention
of the lawmakers.
can inquiry received by me from
an official of Bellingham states that
he expects to be a candidate for reel
ection and that in looking over the
primary law he is in doubt as to what
he would be allowed to do in the mat
ter of expenses of his candidacy.
"He states that heretofore he and
other candidates have been in the habit
of distributing personal cards. with
instructions printed thereon how to
vote for him, and on election day it
was the custom to have man at each
polling place distributing cards, sett-
ing forth the facts as to his record and
talking for him. These men were
paid a days wages. He wants to
know as to whether the attorney gen
eral is of the opinion that this can be
continued under the new primary law.
In looking over the new law it
would seem that there is nothing to
prohibit candidate from employing
such means for getting votes and to
spend all the money he desires in that
way. providing he is willing to make
an affidavit, after he is nominated, as
to the amount of money he has person
ally expended in his own behalf"