Two weeks ago, Washington State Ferries had a big problem with a cover story we ran featuring Patty Murray in a suit made of meat. WSF eventually apologized for pulling the Pork Patty issue off of its boats. But before the mea culpa came comments that the Senator’s bacon bikini was “disrespectful” and “denigrating to women.” One wonders, then, what WSF would have thought of another possibly offensive piece of cover art that ran almost 12 years ago to the day.Back in 1998, Murray had just finished her first term and was facing a challenge from Republican Linda Smith. Smith was the Michele Bachman of her day, a proto-Tea Party queen who held an admirable stance on campaign finance reform and a not-so-admirable stance on nearly everything else.Smith was loud. She was aggressive. She was everything Murray-the-meek-dormouse was not. A contrast in styles played up by illustrator Darren Newby’s cover for the October 14th issue.So which is more offensive? Murray in meat or Smith in leather? I’m not sure. The Smith-as-dominatrix cover got a lot of complaints, but no boat-banning. One thing I do know, however: neither one made the animal rights people very happy.