A Smith has joined the Johnsons in challenging Supreme Court Justice Susan Owens. But again, the candidacy raises questions in my mind.

Richard Smith filed this morning to run against Owens, state Sen. Steve Johnson, and Seattle attorney Michael Johnson.

Smith is an environmental attorney in Seattle. So why at the last minute did he get in the race against Owens, an incumbent already endorsed by Washington Conservation Voters, the state's leading green political group? WCV is the "legislative partner" of the Washington Environmental Council. Smith has served on the board of the council and chaired its legal committee. Has he had a falling out? Does he disagree with the group's endorsement?

History shows that common names do well in court races. It is also true that a singular female candidate in a race with several men gains an advantage as well. Four people in the race all but guarantees Owens will make it to the general election.

UPDATE: On the Michael Johnson issue, Richard Pope put this in the comments on the below post but it is worth moving up. It is against the law , in fact it is a felony, for somone to file a declaration of candidacy using "A surname similar to one who has already filed for the same office, and whose political reputation is widely known, with intent to confuse and mislead the electors by capitalizing on the public reputation of the candidate who had previously filed."

UPDATE UPDATE: Smith's partner, Knoll Lowney, confirms Smith has joined the Supreme Court race. Lowney is the attorney who represented groups that successfully challenged Tim Eyman's I-747 and is a longtime Eyman critic.

My colleague Ralph Thomas talked to Lowney, who said that Smith would make an excellent justice and has been "particularly concerned about the problem of special interests attempting to take over the Supreme Court." That's certainly the rallying cry of Owens supporters who have been critical of business backing of Steve Johnson. But does Smith have a beef with Owens in that regard?

"I guess you'd have to ask him that," Lowney said.

Clifford Traisman, the lobbyist for Washington Conservation Voters and the Washington Environmental Council, said he hadn't heard that Smith had joined the race against WCV-backed Owens. Traisman said Smith is a "cracker jack lawyer" and said, "I'm sure he's outraged at what's happening with the buying of the Supreme Court."

Does he think it's a serious campaign?

"One would wonder, getting in so late without doing the kind of outreach that's necessary," Traisman said.

UPDATE: There's another candidate in the race, Norman J. Ericson of Olympia. He's a $500 donor to Chris Gregoire.

UPDATE: Just finished a chat with Ericson. He is a state administrative review judge. A job he has held for 31 years. He used to be a clerk on the state Supreme Court.

He says he decided to get in the race in part because of what he sees as the "slippery slope" of special interest money in court races. He said that involves money going to challengers and incumbents.

But Ericson has nothing against Owens.

"I was looking at the positions that were up for election and settled on that position. There was nothing that Justice Owens did one way or another."

He says he's not a stalking horse and not running in any way to help Owens beat her best-known opponent, Sen. Steve Johnson.

"I decided to run so I could win."