A New Hat in the Ring

Randy Dorn, the executive director of the state Public School Employees Union (PSE), has announced his candidacy for Superintendent of Public Instruction. The water gets muddied again; it had been looking like a two-horse race between Terry Bergeson and Richard Semler (sorry, David Blomstrom), since Skip Priest and Jim Kastama had both passed on running. There's a couple different ways to look at this:

• It's a positive for Richard Semler. The concern with the primary as it was shaping up was that Terry Bergeson could get 50%+ in the August election and thus negate the need for a general election in November. If Dorn can siphon more support from Bergeson and keep her below that 50% threshhold, it benefits Semler. On the other hand...
  
  
• It could be a strong negative for Semler and great for Terry Bergeson. The WEA just endorsed Semler, which now creates a WEA v. PSE dynamic as they each push their guy. Dorn has more statewide experience than Semler does, via his work with the PSE, but Semler's going to have the full force of WEA-PAC acting on his behalf. Ideally they'd both beat on Terry Bergeson, but I think her incumbancy gives her some powerful advantages--it could be that Semler and Dorn split the anti-Bergeson vote, which is great for her.
  
  
• The PSE benefits no matter what. The concerns of the classified staff are often the hardest to hear. The WEA has tried with their living wage campaign, but if Randy Dorn can speak to the needs of his membership during the course of the campaign, that's a plus.

It should be a fun summer to watch.