Republican candidate for governor, Dino Rossi, may have the active support of Vice President Dick Cheney, but former Seattle City Attorney Mark Sidran also has national - if somewhat quirky - support in his race for the state attorney general's office.
Instead of a politico, though, the Franklin High School graduate has gotten the nod from Al Franken, former Saturday Night Live cast member, author of "Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot and Other Observations," and host on a fledgling, liberal-talk-radio show.
Sidran - 53, a lifelong Democrat and a humorous man in his own right - grins at the Franken endorsement, explaining that he and the comedian used to be classmates at Harvard.
They didn't know each other all that well, Sidran concedes, but his press liaison, Kenan Black, got to be friends with Franken years ago while working on the McNeil-Lehrer News Hour, where he covered Franken, who was bird-dogging presidential candidate Ross Perot at the time. And it was Black who hit the comedian up for the endorsement, Sidran explained.
Franken's endorsement reads, in part: "George W. Bush doesn't want Mark Sidran to be your next Attorney General. Neither does Deborah Senn, who did not go to college with me."
Senn, former state Insurance Commissioner, is Sidran's democratic rival in the upcoming primary, and she accused him in an Associated Press story of using the Franken endorsement to make a big joke of the race, he noted.
Sidran should be used to the heat.
As City Attorney, he was called everything from an enemy of the poor because of the anti-sidewalk-sitting and aggressive-panhandling laws he pushed through in Seattle, to a racist because of his efforts to close down violent hip-hop clubs in the city.
He was also called "Satan Sidran" in a self-involved alternative weekly in Seattle. Even worse in a city most regard as a liberal, democratic bastion, Sidran admits that many people are surprised to find out he isn't a Republican.
"I describe myself as a common-sense Democrat who's a pragmatist not an ideologue ... and I believe in law and order because it beats the alternative," Sidran said. "Now in Seattle, to some people, that sounds like a Republican."
Voters in conservative, Republican-heavy Eastern Washington probably won't see it that way, Sidran admitted, especially with the Franken endorsement and after seeing the TV spots he aired during the Democratic National Convention in Boston.
"I was proud to have both John Kerry and John Edwards join me in that ad," he said before leaving the interview briefly and returning with the head-shot photos he held up in the commercial to prove his point. "So they were there in spirit."
The photo bit was pure Sidran, who credits his sense of humor to a Jewish background. Both his father and grandfather on his father's side always tried to look on the brighter side of life, and they taught him not take himself too seriously, Sidran said. Deeply imbedded in Jewish tradition, he added, is the attitude: "Cheer up, it could be worse."
Conservative Eastern Washington voters aside, with the first closed primary in 70 years, Sidran first has to convince democratic voters in the entire state that he's the best choice for the AG office, he said.
"I think people in Eastern Washington have a sense of humor," Sidran added, and even if they don't, Sidran believes his endorsement by Gov. Gary Locke should drum up support among the humor-challenged. "I don't think anybody has ever accused the governor of having a sense of humor," he joked.
Sidran, who grew up in the South End but now lives in Queen Anne, said he comes from a diverse background. Countering charges that he has racist leanings, Sidran also points to endorsements from the African-American community.
The endorsements come from among others, former Mayor Norm Rice and his wife, Dr. Constance Rice; Seattle City Council member Richard McIver; Charles Z. Smith, the first black State Supreme Court Justice; and former King County Superior Court Judge Charles Johnson.
Sidran said he was blamed for cracking down on hip-hop clubs because he didn't like the music or the black clientele in the clubs.
"I would say it doesn't have anything to do with the music," he remembered. "It's all about body counts and bullets and mayhem. Who cares what kind of music it is?" It was the way some of the hip-hop clubs were run that fostered the violence, according to Sidran.
A University of Washington Law School graduate, Sidran also said he has received endorsements from progressive liberals and prominent ACLU attorneys, including Peter Greenfield, who challenged the sidewalk-sitting law.
Sidran also pointed out that the civility laws have stood the test of time since they were first introduced. "It took nine liberal city council democrats and an African American mayor to pass them," he said. "It's been 12 years and not one's been repealed."
King County Council member Rob McKenna is the odds-on favorite to win the Republican primary for the AG's office, noted Sidran, who predicted that the race will become a partisan battle.
"The issue is how you do the job when you get it," he said. "Once you're elected as attorney general, you have to put politics and partisanship aside." If that's not done, "you're going to spend a lot of time sitting in your office alone," is how Sidran put it.
Sidran touts his experience as a lawyer as reason he should be the next attorney general. The experience includes private practice, serving as city attorney for 11 years, and working as a King County deputy prosecutor for 10 years.
As city attorney, he headed up the third-largest law firm in the state, Sidran said. He believes that experience would hold him in good stead as attorney general, who oversees a staff of 500 lawyers and a 700-person support staff.
Sidran described the campaign for attorney general as a full-time job, although most recently he had returned to private practice. Before that, he took some time off, Sidran said. "For about a year, I tested my wife's patience and generosity," he said of Anais Winant.
Asked why he decided to run for the state office, Sidran said: "because I care about people, and I care about the future of the state."
Franken, at least, is optimistic about his chances. "Mark is a common sense Democrat with a proven track record and the clear ability to win in November or whenever the Department of Homeland Security allows us to vote," Franken wrote in his endorsement letter.
Staff reporter Russ Zabel can be reached at rzabel@nwlink.com or 461-1309.
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