Washblog

Actually, there wasn't all that much debate. Senator Franklin read the bill, and then Republican Senator Pam Roach (Auburn) proposed two amendments, one to require public hearings 60 days before any election measure authorizing local financing, and another to require that any such measure list in the title the cost to taxpayers. (SSB 5270 allows local jurisdictions to establish public funding for local elections, but it requires that any such financing be first approved by the voters.) Both amendments were rejected. I followed the vote by counting the Ayes and Nays on my fingers.

Presumably, most of the debate is done in the senators' caucuses. During my visit, the senators were in caucus for some of the time.

Actually, SSB 5270 is itself an amendment to the existing statute. So, Roach's amendments were amendments to amendments.

Even though both the Senate and the House have passed public financing bills with identical language, the sponsors and bill numbers are different, and according to state law, both houses need to pass identical bills, with the same sponsor and numbers. Washington Public Campaigns reports here that we should contact our legislators in the House and ask them to approve Local Option in a vote, concurring with the Senate bill, ESSB 5278.

This was my first trip to Washington's capital (me being new around here), and I was impressed with the beauty and majesty of the legislative building:

There was a rally on the steps to promote funding for disabled people:

There was some sort of formal awards ceremony in the capitol rotunda. The cavernous room had so much reverberation that I couldn't hear what they were saying.

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Govenor Gregoire gave a speech to the education lobbyists, but the room was too crowded for me to attend. (There were scores of noisy kids on the trip -- maybe their presence underscored the importance of the issue, but maybe they just got in the way.) Instead, I figured I'd lobby about impeachment.

I spoke with Senator Eric Oemig and his staff about impeachment and how I could best help. He mentioned that there'd be some sort of event outside, near the "Winged Victory" World War I memorial. There I later met with Linda Boyd -- the tireless advocate for impeachment and head of Washington for Impeachment. Senator Oemig met with us near the Winged Memorial and said that the only way to move the impeachment bill forward is to persuade (annoy?) the lawmakers. First, ask them, "Will you support impeachment if it comes to a floor vote?". Most Democrats will say yes. Then ask them, "Will you help bring the bill to the floor?". That's the harder task, because Senators need to expend political capital to push bills to the floor. Each Senator has their favorite bills, and they horse trade. So, if you as a citizen support a bill, talk to your lawmakers and convince them that it's important (duh?).

The short, 60 days legislative session leaves so little time for lawmaking. Gosh, maybe the Republicoids like government to be ineffectual.

Actually, I think the Democrats in Olympia have been getting a lot accomplished.

Anyway, Senator Oemig suggested that when you talk to a lawmaker, insist on a yes or no answer to the question about whether they will support your bill and whether they will help bring it to the floor. Politicians like to say, "Well, I'm considering it but...."

Linda, I, and some other impeachment supporters watched the Senate proceedings for close to an hour. Except for the vote for the local public funding of elections, the proceedings were pretty boring and tedious: they were approving memberships to the board of regents of various schools. The regents votes were all unanimous in favor, but still they took a long, drawn-out roll call.

So many serious, over-dressed homo sapiens on the Senate floor!

One way to lobby lawmakers is to go to the doors of the Senate and House chambers and write messages on colored pieces of paper. I went to the Senate door and wrote messages to three lawmakers on the Rules Committee urging them to push the impeachment bill. I handed the messages to the doorman, who looked at the papers and told me that I was at the Republican door and that I needed to deliver the messages to the Democratic door. Furthermore, I used the wrong color paper. The Republican paper is light blue, and the Democratic paper is light green. Alas, politics is so tricky.

More detailed instructions for contacting legislators via these color slips can be found here.

When you write your message on the slips of paper, you're allowed to request the lawmaker to meet you in the lobby. If the lawmaker isn't too busy, s/he may do so. But on this day, they were all quite busy.

Another way to lobby lawmakers is to stand outside the House and Senate chambers and wait for the lawmakers to leave. I tried this, and managed to speak with the aide of a Senator on the Rules Committee.

Near the Senate and House chambers mulled dozens of lobbyists who looked like -- lobbyists. Many of them wore expensive suits and had little lapel buttons saying "Third House". I asked one guy what that means. He said it means that he's a registered lobbyist. Oh, like the fourth estate is the press, so the third house is the lobbyists -- the first two being the House of Representatives and the Senate, I guess. I asked the guy what he's a lobbyist for. Johnson & Johnson, he said. Figures.

Lobbyists wait outside the Senate Chamber

Three colorful and dynamic lady lobbyists with lots of buttons:

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A computer near the Senate chambers displays the "Order of Consideration" of bills. Notice the public financing bill at the bottom.