Fuse Sizzle-Fizzle Awards 2009

Our country's birthday is three days away. We can think of no better time to celebrate leadership and accountability -- two of the most important keys to a strong democracy.

The Fuse Sizzle Awards identify who's great, and who's second rate when it comes to progress. They score state leaders for their work on bills that advanced the progressive values that America was founded on -- values like freedom, opportunity, and security for all.

Why take this measure? Because we know that without stronger leadership and more accountability we cannot achieve true progress in Washington State. The awards are based on extensive conversations with activists, lobbyists, and progressive leaders, as well as a great deal of research and our own experience.

And so, without further ado, we bring you the 2009 Fuse Sizzle Awards:

The Sizzles

• "Intercontinental Smackdown Champion" to Representative Sharon Nelson
• "True Patriot" to Representative Eric Pettigrew
• "Mother Jones" to the members of the Blue Green Alliance, including Representatives Tami Green, Dave Upthegrove, Sharon Nelson and Timm Ormsby
• "Strong Man" to Representative John McCoy 
• "Profiles in Courage" to Representative Maureen Walsh and Senator Dale Brandland
• "Spotlight on the Shadows" to Josh Feit and David Goldstein
• "Committee Chair of the Year" to Senator Jeanne Kohl Wells
• "Favorite Gunslinger" to Representative Brendan Williams

The Fizzles

• "Junkyard Dog" to Senator Janea Holmquist
• "Katrina" to both houses of the Legislature and the Governor 
• "Broken Compass" to Senators Steve Hobbs and Jean Berkey
• "Profiles in Lack of Courage" to Representative Troy Kelley
• "Wrong Way" to the chairs of the House and Senate Transportation Committees, Representative Judy Clibborn and Senator Mary Margaret Haugen
• "Pushmi-pullyu" to Governor Christine Gregoire

There's the list up-front. Here are the whys and what fors that led to each award:

"Intercontinental Smackdown Champion" to Representative Sharon Nelson (34th District), for out-organizing her opponents and taking down both the predatory lending industry and the oil industry in the same legislative session. She passed payday lending reforms into law and helped the House pass a fee on oil companies to clean up water pollution.

"True Patriot" to Representative Eric Pettigrew (37th District), for courageous and principled leadership based on the progressive values that make our country great. He led an uphill fight to identify new revenue options that could offset draconian budget cuts until the bitter end. His leadership reflects a commitment to community responsibility, compassion, equal opportunity and common sense virtue - all important values that are both progressive and patriotic.

"Mother Jones" to the leaders of the Blue Green Alliance, including Representatives Tami Green, Dave Upthegrove, Sharon Nelson and Timm Ormsby. Their coalition of conservation and labor legislators is a significant challenge to the relatively conservative, business-oriented ways of the House Democratic caucus. Mother Jones was a famous turn of the century labor and community organizer; she was denounced on the floor of the US Senate as the "grandmother of all agitators."

"Strong Man" to Representative John McCoy (38th District), for defending a citizens clean energy initiative - I-937 -- from major rollbacks pushed by energy utilities and approved by the Senate.  Resisting intense pressure from the Senate, he held the bill in committee until all parties committed to a reasonable compromise.

"Profiles in Courage" to Representative Maureen Walsh (16th District) and Senator Dale Brandland (42nd District), for doing the right thing in the face of guaranteed grief. Rep. Walsh and Sen. Brandland are Republicans who voted for a bill expanding domestic partnership rights for same sex couples and their families. Rep Walsh co-sponsored the bill.  Her principled courage earned her an official censure from her local party, the Franklin County Republicans.

"Spotlight on the Shadows" to Josh Feit and David Goldstein, for journalism that matters. Josh Feit provides the state's sharpest political reporting on his new Publicola political blog. David Goldstein and his friends at HorsesAss provide the snarkiest progressive muckraking and political analysis in Washington. Feit and Goldstein keep legislators honest and provide the information and analysis we all need to recognize great leadership and hold legislators accountable.

"Committee Chair of the Year" to Senator Jeanne Kohl-Wells (36th District), for making her Senate Labor and Commerce Committee a force for progress in Washington. Most of the good things the Senate did this year came out of her committee, including: predatory lending reforms, long overdue updates that strengthened and simplified the Consumer Protection Act, and good government reforms to prevent trade associations from diverting workers compensation funds into political campaigns.

"Favorite Gunslinger" to Representative Brendan Williams (22nd District), for challenging the House Democrat's submission to the Building Industry Association of Washington on consumer protection and campaign finance issues, for consistently speaking truth to power, and for sticking to his guns on progressive issues.

And now... The Fizzles

"Junkyard Dog" to Senator Janea Holmquist (13th District), for being a loyal attack dog for the building industry and far right. Throughout the session Holmquist mounted aggressive, personal and at times dishonest attacks against good government reforms, citizen activists, gay rights, womens' right to choose and whatever else her handlers gave her scripted talking points for.

"Katrina" to both houses of the Legislature and the Governor, for a failed response to a severe crisis. While other legislatures around the country found new ways to fund essential services, our states' leaders responded to the biggest economic crisis in generations by eliminating health coverage for 40,000 low-income people, cutting 9,000 higher education slots and cutting an estimated 8,000 government jobs.

"Broken Compass" to Senators Steve Hobbs (4th District) and Jeanne Berkey (38th District), for consistently betraying the needs and interests of their constituents, for consistently siding with powerful businesses in opposing progress, and for consistently failing to represent the values of voters in their districts. They rely on the business community to guide their votes. Some examples: they voted to weaken bills aimed at reducing global warming pollution and to roll back a voter approved clean energy initiative. They opposed efforts to improve training and pay for child care providers. Berkey voted against predatory lending reforms. Hobbs voted against improving local funding options for transit, and two years ago he led the fight against the Children's Safe Products Act, a bill to ban toxic toys.

"Profiles in Lack of Courage" to Representative Troy Kelley (28th District), for consistently being afraid to stand up for the interests of his district when it requires him to stand up to the business lobby. This past session he voted to roll back a voter approved clean energy initiative, against limiting development in floodplains, against fees on oil companies to clean up water pollution, against stronger protections for resource lands and against charging shippers and oil tankers to prevent oil spills with an emergency response tug at Neah Bay.

"Jekyll and Hyde" to Senator Chris Marr (6th District), for his transformation from a conservation hero in the 2008 Legislative Session to an anti-environmental crusader in 2009. After earning awards from Fuse and Washington Conservation Voters in 2008 for his leadership on growth management, Marr turned Hyde and led the Senate's efforts to roll back I-937. He also successfully blocked the passage of HB 1180, which would have removed BPA -- a toxic hormone-disrupting chemical that is harmful to children and adults -- from baby bottles and sippy cups.  And he opposed the Governor's global warming legislation, while successfully lobbying her to veto a local option tax to fund transit. He showed glimpses of Jekyll in 2009 with a good performance on workers compensation reforms and in the budget and revenue discussion. We need more Jeckyll and much less Hyde in 2010.

"Wrong Way" to the chairs of the House and Senate Transportation Committees, Representative Judy Clibborn (41st District) and Senator Mary Margaret Haugen (10th District), for leading the state backwards with a 1950s style approach to transportation that neglects transportation choices and cities. Rep. Clibborn attempted to eliminate funding for and divert funding away from voter-approved efforts to put light rail on the I-90 bridge. Senator Haugen successfully lobbied the Governor to kill new local option funding for transit agencies. Their backroom process for spending the $341 million of federal stimulus spending on transportation that came to our state did not allocate a single dime to investments in transit and transportation choices or in the city of Seattle, while spending liberally on freeway expansions. Both cut funding for one of the State's most cost-effective transportation investments - a program that provides incentives for employees of small businesses in urban areas to use carpools and transit.

"Pushmi-pullyu" to Governor Christine Gregoire, for a conflicted and often backwards performance on important issues. She continues to be a leader on global warming, but was a real disappointment on many other issues during the 2009 Legislative Session.   Her opposition to any discussion of new taxes set the stage for the Legislature's draconian all cuts budget.  She played a major role in the ridiculous decision to call the State Patrol on the State Labor Council for their Worker Privacy Act lobbying1. And then she wrapped up a terrible legislative session with three surprise partial vetoes that undermined this year's meager progressive victories: she axed hard-fought early learning education reforms, new local option transit funding and an advisory committee designed to monitor and support health care reforms.  Looking forward, we're hoping to see more of her progressive leader side and less of her cautious technocrat side.

Our elected officials work for us and their work should reflect our values and meet our community needs. With input from you, the voters, and our progressive partner organizations, it was ultimately up to our legislators to pass progressive polices.

It is up to us to hold them accountable. Cheers to our Sizzle winners! And a request to do better to the rest.