Fuse Washington

The Sizzles

"The Boss" - Senator Lisa Brown

For being a progressive rock star as the Senate Majority leader. Can you believe they took the smartest person in Olympia -- who is also a wonderful person and very progressive -- and put her in charge of the State Senate? How often does that happen? Senator Brown demonstrated what leadership means while successfully driving a progressive agenda through the Senate.

"True Patriot" - Senator Craig Pridemore

For courageous and principled leadership based on the progressive values that make our country great.¹ Senator Pridemore led the successful effort to pass the Working Families Tax Credit – a groundbreaking tax rebate for working families -- and is also an important champion for conservation issues. You can always count on him to base his votes and decisions on progressive values rather than political convenience.

"Cool Leadership" - Governor Gregoire & Senator Chris Marr

For outstanding leadership on bills that will reduce Washington’s global warming pollution.

Governor Gregoire sponsored and pushed the Climate Action and Green Jobs bill through the Legislature. When House leadership got cold feet on the bill she turned up the heat and saved the day. The Governor is a closer – when it’s important to her she delivers. And this great global warming bill was important to her.

Senator Marr sponsored the Local Solutions to Global Warming bill. His effective and tireless work was the key to the bill’s Senate success. He is an inspiring and incredibly competent leader who can restore your faith in government. Good bills dream that he will be their prime sponsor some day.

"Intercontinental Smackdown Champion" - Representative Mary Lou Dickerson

For relentlessly arm-twisting fellow legislators into supporting a strong toy safety bill while successfully body-slamming the toy industry’s efforts to sell toxic toys to our kids. Her superhero act fueled the passage of the nationally groundbreaking Children’s Safe Products Act.

"Favorite Gunslinger" - Senator Brian Weinstein

For four years as a fearless and relentless crusader for consumer protection. Senator Weinstein rode into the Legislature after knocking off one of its leading conservatives in a tough campaign. He spent one term working like a bandit to strengthen consumer protections against three of Olympia’s most powerful special interests -- the building industry, the insurance industry, and the banking industry -- and unabashedly speaking his mind before riding off into the sunset. His mortgage lending reform bill (establishing fiduciary duties for mortgage brokers) was passed into law this year, and his Homeowners Bill of Rights should have been. Voters rejected the insurance industry’s attempt to repeal Weinstein's Fair Insurance Conduct Act through a referendum.

"Spotlight on the Shadows" - Chris McGann

For journalism that matters. A bill to give Microsoft and Yahoo a billion dollar tax break was quietly coasting through the legislature – that is, until PI Capitol Correspondent Chris McGann shone a front-page spotlight on the deal. The corporate giveaway would have resulted in about 50 permanent jobs, with an annual cost to the state of more than $800,000 per job. A little on the steep side. McGann’s story effectively killed the bill.

"The Collaborator" - Representative Skip Priest

For working across the aisle. Representative Priest is a leader in his caucus, and has worked with Democrats to generate bipartisan support on conservation, child care, and affordable housing.

The Fizzles

"Biggest Embarrassment" - Representative Jim Dunn

For compiling a remarkable track record of completely shameless behavior that is both exceptionally boorish and extraordinarily ineffective. He is unable to represent his constituents in any meaningful way after being kicked off of all his committees by his own caucus this past session. That punishment -- for sexually harassing a legislative staffer in public (by his own admission not the first time he’s had this sort of problem) -- included being stripped of his travel reimbursements.

He is still allowed to vote on the floor where he serves without peer as the least collaborative person in the Legislature. Rep. Dunn holds the House record for the number of bills on which he cast the sole No vote – 34 this past session alone. The bills he voted against all by his lonesome this year include a bill to fight criminal gang activity (approved 94-1) and a bill removing barriers that prevented school lunch programs from buying local fresh produce (approved 95-1).

"Off Her Rocker" - Senator Pam Roach

For consistently bizarre, belligerent, and extremist behavior. Known for her profanity–laced tirades, hard line support for gun rights, and conflicts with her own staff and party leaders, Roach opposed almost every bill Fuse supported this year.

During this past session, Senate Republican Party leaders banned Roach from contact with any employee of the Senate Republican caucus after she forced employees to spend inordinate amounts of time with her and demanded they pledge their loyalty to her. The reprimand became public after Roach released an open letter criticizing her caucus leadership and saying she had been "mooned" by fellow Republican Mike Hewitt.

Some other Senator Roach highlights from recent years:

• In mid-2000, the Senate agreed to pay $2,500 for counseling to a Roach aide who quit the previous year. The aide claimed she needed therapy after working for Roach nearly four years.

• In 2003, two of Roach's aides quit on the same day. Roach was reprimanded and asked to seek counseling by a bi-partisan committee, which cited multiple previous warnings that her treatment of staff violated the Senate's respectful workplace policy. Her new aide was suspended for digging up and turning over to Senate officials private emails written by the former staffers.

• At one point, Senate lawyers investigated but were unable to confirm an allegation that Roach pulled a gun on one of her staffers.

You can experience one of Senator Roach's more infamous tirades -- her eruption on the floor of the Senate because she thought someone had moved the flowers on her desk -- by clicking here. Audio courtesy of HorsesAss.org.

The "Mapquest" Award - Representatives Deb Eddy & Sharon Tomiko Santos

For legislators who lost track of the values of their constituents when they went to Olympia and need help finding their district again.

Representative Eddy consistently and effectively represents the building industry and local governments rather than the voters in her district. She regularly uses her position on House Local Government Committee to block and/or weaken bills that would strengthen efforts to manage growth, despite representing a district that struggles mightily with the impacts of irresponsible overdevelopment. In addition to working hard to weaken the Local Solutions to Global Warming Bill this last session, other Representative Eddy lowlights include:

• Rep. Eddy sponsored a bill (HB 2169) to eliminate school funding contributed by developers when they build new houses (known as school impact fees). New development increases the demand on local schools, and school impact fees ensure that developers are sharing the cost of the growth. Almost all of the school districts in Eddy’s district receive school impact fees. Fortunately, the bill was so bad that it didn’t even get a public hearing.

• Rep. Eddy has sponsored bills (HB 2950 and HB 1753) that would significantly increase traffic and/or taxes in communities across the state. Rep. Eddy’s bills aimed to gut a law requiring that new development be accompanied by improvements to roads that accommodate the additional traffic. Eddy's bill would instead leave taxpayers on the hook for the cost of improvements.

• Last year Representative Eddy helped lead the effort to kill HB 1463, a bill aimed at closing a major loophole that allows developers to sidestep rules limiting irresponsible development.

Representative Santos’ Fizzle Award is based primarily on her efforts to protect and support the payday loan industry, despite representing one of Washington's poorest and most progressive districts. She is also known as either a no-show or a behind the scenes opponent on many conservation issues, and this year opposed an effort to rein in pharmaceutical industry marketing abuses.

To be fair, Rep. Santos has played a positive role on immigration and other poverty issues.

In 2005, over 3.5 million payday loans were made in Washington State. That’s about one and half loans for every state resident over age 16. Payday lenders charge exorbitant fees on short-term loans that result in incredibly high interest rates. A typical such loan in Washington has an annual interest rate of 391%. Almost 82% of borrowers cannot repay the first emergency loan they take out, and get caught in the cycle of borrowing more to pay off the initial loan plus fees.

Santos lowlights include:

• Santos opposed and helped block a hearing on HB 1020, which would have capped interest rates for payday loans at 36% (that seems like a pretty healthy interest rate to us). Nationally, even President Bush signed a law capping interest rates for military families at 36%. The bill had 27 co-sponsors in the State House.

• She prime sponsored HB 3098, which would have removed important limits on Refund Anticipation Lenders. Refund Anticipation Loans are a predatory loan product that advances a customer’s anticipated income tax refund, but at a steep price – generally between 50% and 700% annual interest.

• Santos has collected thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from predatory lenders over the years. The Democratic caucus doesn't accept predatory lending money for their campaign fund, perhaps reasoning that taking money extracted from the working poor is in bad taste.

• Santos led the House Democrats this past session with four votes on which she was the only No vote, including a bill creating a investigation and prosecution program for financial fraud and identity theft crimes (approved 96-1) and a bill expanding DNA sampling for convicted sex offenders (approved 94-1).