Steve Bloom/The Olympian
A chilly fog settles in Tuesday around the Capitol. The Legislature is set to reconvene Jan. 14.

Legislature's year mired in deadlock

Lawmakers have little to show for 2001

BRAD SHANNON, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published December 26, 2001

OLYMPIA -- One story told in the halls of the 2001 Legislature went this way: Lawmakers weren't really living through one of the state's longest and most paralyzing sessions on record.

No, they'd actually died in the massive Feb. 28 earthquake, and they were stuck in purgatory -- where the limbo caused by a 49-49 split between Republicans and Democrats in the House of Representatives might last an eternity.

Those who survived the 6.8-magnitude quake, which shut down the domed Capitol for nearly two months, found the session was outright hell.

"It was like having gravity being enhanced. Paralysis. Your movements were blocked. It's like being under a rock, a big one," said Rep. Sandra Romero, an Olympia Democrat who was in her ninth, and easily her most wearying, session.

"There was no creativity," Romero said. "We felt stifled. There was no motivation to move anything. It was like a dark cloud hung over the whole session."

Catastrophes

Gov. Gary Locke urged lawmakers to adopt a transportation package, but his calls were easily drowned out by a series of catastrophes: an earthquake, a statewide drought, an energy crisis, Boeing's relocation of its headquarters out of the Northwest and a deadly season of forest fires. State workers also went on strike.

Echoing a theme of biblical curses, Rep. Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, suggested there also was "famine because of the budget" which added policy stalemate on top of stalemate.

Despite complete closure of the Legislative Building, lawmakers were able to resume work in makeshift quarters within days of the earthquake. With desks jammed together as if in a crowded school, the 49 senators and especially the 98 representatives were in unusually close quarters for floor sessions convened in what had been committee rooms.

The temporary setup, lacking modern electronic conveniences, meant that votes had to be counted one outstretched arm at a time, in a throwback to pioneer days.

Some lawmakers said the close setting created camaraderie; others thought it smelled of bodies packed too closely. Few results were produced.

In fact, although the House had been in a 49-49 tie since 1999, the deadlock was considered more lethal than ever.

The lack of a Democratic or Republican majority meant either party's co-speaker in the House could squelch bills he didn't like. So little was accomplished as bill after bill arrived from the Senate and died.

The stultifying result was emotionally draining -- for staff as well as legislators.

The most surreal day of all was April 22, the final day of the regular session. Rain fell; a handful of legislators, who were still locked out of the quake-damaged Capitol, met around the sundial in a thicket of umbrellas, while Republican Co-Speaker Clyde Ballard and Lt. Gov. Brad Owen readied their gavels to end the session for the House and Senate, respectively.

Special sessions

Budget disputes and an elusive transportation agreement kept lawmakers returning to the Capitol for three special sessions. They avoided a government shutdown by passing a budget before June 30, but hopes for a transportation deal collapsed in mid-July -- a few hours before the city's Lakefair parade. Hopeful House Democrats had rounded up their vacationing members from as far away as Ireland, Kansas City and California.

The multiple sessions totaled 163 days, one day short of tying the longest on record. It left lawmakers like Romero and Sen. Dan Swecker, R-Rochester, drained.

"The meltdown in the House -- that was incredibly discouraging to (those of) us who were trying to get something done. To see all these bills we'd send over there not go anywhere," Swecker said.

What's ahead

Next year promises to be different, however, because the Democrats won a two-vote majority in the House and they will have a freer rein.

But some worry the Senate, with a one-vote Democratic majority, could splinter over cuts that will have to be made in the budget due to revenue losses triggered by the recession and the Sept. 11 attacks.

"You've got to have the pain to get the gain," Swecker said. "Maybe the pain we had to go through last year will help us this year to get the results. I've got to say the fact (there are) majorities in both houses, regardless of the party, bodes well for getting some things done."

Predicted Romero: "I think there will be a will to sit people down at the table and negotiate."

Brad Shannon, political editor for The Olympian, can be reached at 360-753-1688 and at shannonbrad@hotmail.com.

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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