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True Patriot: to Rep. Tami Green, for courageous and principled leadership based on the progressive values that make our country great. She speaks truth to power, stands up to special interests, fights hard for her community, and challenges her colleagues to do what's best for Washington. Her leadership, courage, and passion were instrumental to protecting jobs, our schools, and our health care system.
Strong Man: to Rep. Ross Hunter, for flexing his political muscle to close wasteful tax loopholes and support a balanced approach to the state's financial crisis. He body-slammed big business interests to protect our kids
and the economic recovery of our state.
Jolly Green Jobs Giant: to Hans Dunshee, for almost single-handedly moving the "Healthy Schools Act" through the legislative process. His referendum to voters funds construction and repair projects that increase energy efficiency in schools, create 38,000 jobs, and save districts money on energy bills. You won't find a legislator who is bigger or jollier and no one has done more to create green jobs in this state.
Rookie of the Year: to Sen. Randy Gordon for hitting home runs on funding for schools and healthcare, and sporting one of the best batting averages in the Senate when it came time to stand up for progressive values during his first year in the legislature.
Knight in Shining Armor: to lobbyist Nick Federici for leading an unprecedented coalition of public interest lobbyists in a successful campaign to protect the public structures and systems that are the foundation of our future prosperity and quality of life. He has been protecting social justice and the common good in Olympia for 20 years.
The Fizzles...
Supreme Injustice: to Supreme Court (In)justice Jim Johnson, for completely thrashing any notion of fair and impartial. He sided with his former employer, the ultra conservative Building and Industry Association of Washington (BIAW), 16 of the 17 times they filed a brief before the State Supreme Court. That's 94% of the time. Of course that's exactly what the BIAW and its allies were paying for when they provided 60% of the contributions to his campaigns. Before the BIAW's money elected him to the Supreme Court, he also served as an attorney for Tim Eyman and the far-right Evergreen Freedom Foundation.
Rent a Senator Award: to "Big Business Berkey" (aka Sen. Jean Berkey) for consistently "delivering" to her big business contributors while ignoring the needs of our communities, families, and citizens. Ninety percent of her campaign contributions have come from corporate special interests. She took tens of thousands of dollars from BP and big polluters, Wall Street banks and insurance companies - while working to block predatory lending reforms and protect tax breaks for big, out-of-state corporations. At the same time she voted to end unemployment benefits for struggling families and cut funding for public education and health care.
Cynic of the Year: to Congressman Dave Reichert for extraordinary shamelessness. What he says and how he votes have never met each other. His explanation to local Republicans about why he occasionally votes for the environment (leaked to HorsesAss.org) is an insult to anyone in the 8th District who cares about the environment.1 His vote against repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell while claiming he supports gays in the military is an insult to anyone in the 8th District who cares about equal rights.2His vote against financial reforms to rein in big Wall Street banks is an insult to... you get our point.
Rogue: to Rob McKenna for abandoning his responsibilities as Attorney General for the State to pursue a right wing agenda. Just weeks after "going rogue" by joining a partisan lawsuit to block health insurance reform, McKenna went AWOL on the Department of Natural Resources and refused to defend them against a utility's efforts to condemn environmentally sensitive trust lands. The Lands Commissioner is now suing him for an attorney.
1 http://horsesass.org/?p=27103
2 http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/trying-to-have-it-both-ways-on-the-gays/Content?oid=4180403
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.
The Sizzles
"The Boss" - Senator Lisa Brown
"True Patriot" - Senator Craig Pridemore
"Cool Leadership" - Governor Chris Gregoire & Senator Chris Marr
"Intercontinental Smackdown Champion" - Representative Mary Lou Dickerson
"Favorite Gunslinger" - Senator Brian Weinstein
"The Collaborator" - Representative Skip Priest
"Spotlight on the Shadows" - Chris McGann
The Fizzles
"Biggest Embarrassment" - Representative Jim Dunn
"Off Her Rocker" - Senator Pam Roach
"The Mapquest Award" - Representatives Deb Eddy & Sharon Tomiko Santos
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).
1The True Patriot award is based on and inspired by The True Patriot, an excellent book by Eric Liu and Nick Hanauer that we strongly recommend.