We wanted to endorse Republican Stephen Litzow. We really did. We've only endorsed four Republicans so far, and we wanted to a little more diversity in our picks. More important, it'd be nice to have a moderating force in the TeaPublican party.

Litzow, after all, is a pro-choice Republican (he's on the board of NARAL Pro-Choice Washington's political action committee). And he told us he supports Planned Parenthood's bill to make "Crisis Pregnancy Centers"—anti-abortion groups that disguise themselves as all-purpose reproductive health centers—divulge what services they actually provide.

So, yeah, he's a liberal on social issues. He's also been endorsed by Stand for Children , the ed reform group who's candidates we typically line up with.

However, that's where it stops. We ran through the list of this year's initiatives and Litzow is on the wrong side of all of them. Litzow supports repealing sales taxes on soda, candy and bottled water. He supports allowing private insurers into the workers' compensation market. He opposes the high-earners' income tax. And he supports reinstating I-960, the Tim Eyman-sponsored two-thirds majority requirement for the state legislature to raise taxes.

No wonder Liberty Mutual has maxed out to his campaign (they like the workers' comp measure), as has the Tesoro oil company (they like the two-thirds rule because they don't want the legislature to raise the hazardous substance tax.)

Other contributions that raise red flags for us come from Bellevue developer and light rail antagonist Kemper Freeman and the Building Industry Association of Washington's political action committee. Additionally, Litzow has been the beneficiary of more than $30,000 in independent ads from the People for Jobs PAC, a political committee that's bankrolled by conservative, corporate interests such as the state farm bureau, the Washington Restaurant Association, Liberty Mutual, Kemper Freeman, Weyerhaeuser, Bank of America, Phillip Morris, the farm bureau, the state bank PAC, and Boeing.

Here's another reason we're not endorsing Litzow: His Democratic opponent, Sen. Randy Gordon (D-41, Bellevue) had an outstanding freshman term. (Gordon was appointed to fill the state senate seat of Fred Jarrett when Jarrett became Deputy King County Executive.)

Gordon just came out blazing. He shepherded a constitutional amendment through the House that (if it passes in November) would give judges discretion to deny bail to dangerous defendants. (Gordon's bill, which came in response to the Lakewood shootings, was more liberal than the initial reactionary proposals to simply deny bail to such defendants, which Gordon said would have created an “American gulag”). He passed a bill that makes insurance companies that lose appeals on claims pay clients at a higher rate. And he passed a bill increasing training (and expectations) for state-certified electricians.

He also had some cool proposals that failed: a bill to penalize banks that charge excessive ATM fees; a bill to make municipal judges elected throughout the state; and a bill to fight gang violence (which he said he withdrew because the ACLU had concerns about it.)

Given Litzow's status with NARAL, it's worth noting that Gordon has also been endorsed by NARAL (and Planned Parenthood.) And speaking of endorsements, Gordon's gotten the nod from the Sierra Club, the Washington State Labor Council, the League of Education Voters, and our progressive friends at the Washington Bus. Yes, Gordon is a lib. A fiery one. But he's also got an "Outstanding" rating from the nonpartisan Muni League.

Gordon won't say where he stands on the initiatives—he says it's improper for state legislators to comment (a pretty sorry dodge)—but given his voting record (he voted to repeal Eyman's I-960 and for the candy, soda, and bottled-water tax increases) gives us a good idea.

For a complete list of PubliCola's picks (nearly 70 endorsements, including 32 No-Brainers) click here.