Alexander

R-Thurston County

Hunt

D-Olympia

Romero

D-Olympia

Olympia lawmakers get praise for stand on raises

BRAD SHANNON, AND PATRICK CONDON, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Friday, March 15, 2002

OLYMPIA -- Democratic Reps. Sam Hunt and Sandra Romero of Olympia knew they were playing with fire late Wednesday night.

Their push to win extra money for state employee health benefits threatened to delay a vote on the state's supplemental budget -- and send state lawmakers into a special session.

If there was any sin a Democratic lawmaker could commit this year -- besides voting for a general tax increase -- it would have been forcing an overtime session during an election year.

That would boost Republicans' claim that Democrats can't rule.

"We could have stopped everything," said Hunt, a second-year legislator from Olympia, whose 22nd Legislative District is dominated by state government and state-worker interests.

An early surprise

Hunt and Romero were surprised early Wednesday when they learned that a budget deal negotiated between the House and Senate failed to include pay increases for state workers.

Senate Majority Leader Sid Snyder, D-Long Beach, and other Senate Democrats had been adamant about not giving pay increases at a time when state programs for vulnerable people were shrinking.

Labor leaders praised both Olympia lawmakers for pushing the issue to the hilt.

"Reps. Hunt and Romero really went to bat for us," said Lynn McKinnon of the Washington Public Employees Association.

Until the legislators took their stand, legislative leaders "told us they might be able to come back and give us something better in January," said Bev Hermanson, lobbyist for the 19,000-member Washington Federation of State Employees. "But we've been there before. That's not the kind of thing you can take to the bank."

Some of Romero's and Hunt's House Democratic colleagues appreciated their stand.

"Every one of us has had the experience of standing in front of the tank," said Rep. Laura Ruderman, D-Kirkland, who waged her own battle this week against health care activists in her caucus over prescription drugs.

"When you're in the tank, you don't always remember that" feeling of having been under attack, Ruderman said. "You've got to remember that feeling when you're the one in the tank."

Hitting the wall

In the end, Hunt and Romero called off their threat to vote against the budget late Wednesday night.

They backed off when the Democratic leadership, which needed all 50 caucus members' support to pass the budget, added $8 million into health-care benefits for state workers.

That money, which included $2 million in federal funds, had been earmarked for job classifications that are severely underpaid compared to their private-sector counterparts.

Hunt and Romero didn't push further to win a pay increase in the budget, and they ended up voting for an amended version.

The amended budget cleared the Senate on a 26-22 vote early Thursday morning, sending the package of spending cuts, new lottery games and liquor tax increases to Gov. Gary Locke.

GOP flak

Republicans in the House and Senate blasted the budget as "unsustainable" because it spends $1.4 billion more than the state expects to receive in taxes during the 2001-03 budget cycle.

Republicans said Democrats failed to rein in government costs and chose to protect state employees and their jobs.

Rep. Gary Alexander, R-Thurston County, said he supports efforts to give state employees better pay and benefits.

Alexander considered offering an amendment that would give workers a 2 percent raise.

His own GOP caucus, however, wanted a pay freeze for state workers and far deeper cuts in state jobs.

"I guess in any process you work as hard as you can and get as far as you can," Hunt said of his decision to declare victory at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday -- barely a day before lawmakers' allotted time would run out.

Party leaders signal when they can't budge anymore, Hunt said.

"When you read the signs, that's it," Hunt said.

"In the end, we can't lock ourselves in a box, either," Romero said.

Shut out of raises

Only state workers and higher education faculty will get no cost-of-living increase this year. Kindergarten through 12th grade school employees and community college workers will get 3.6 percent raises assured by Initiative 732.

Lawmakers were unable to muster a two-thirds vote to amend the measure. Home-care workers also will get hourly raises of 25 cents, and vendors under contract with the state for such services as nursing care will get 1.5 percent raises.

Neither Romero nor Hunt faces retribution from their own caucus, and they won't be seen as selfish, said House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam.

"I think they just wanted to make sure their concerns were heard. They were able to shift some money onto the health care benefits," Kessler said. "I just know they had to make their point. It is their constituents. ... Any one of us would have done it.

"It might have been a total breakdown if they had not been team players."

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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