Protesters `welcome' lawmakers

Richard Roesler Staff writer Staff writer Cynthia Jones contributed

State lawmakers arrived at their posts Monday to find a host of issues likely to dog them for the entire 105-day session.

Hours before the House and Senate convened, some 200 placard- waving state workers were marching outside the Capitol, demanding more pay and fewer program cuts.

On the second floor, initiative architect Tim Eyman slapped down $5 to register his latest proposal: an initiative to ban any local tax increases without voter approval.

Upstairs, Spokane Republican Sen. Jim West tried some procedural fancy footwork, clashing with his Democratic counterpart in a losing bid to add more Republicans to three key committees.

"Good God, it's the first day," said Rep. Alex Wood, a Spokane Democrat. "We're off and running - there's no doubt about that."

Shortly before 10 a.m., state workers began lining up outside the Capitol.

"All together, yes, yes, yes!" they chanted. "Shout it from the rooftops: `We're underpaid!'"

They were upset that cost-of-living increases proposed for them by Gov. Gary Locke are less than the raises that Initiative 732 granted to state teachers.

Historically, the increases have been the same. Now, Locke wants to give the workers 2.2 percent increases in 2002, and 2.5 percent the following year. The initiative gives teachers 3.7 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.

Several of the marchers work at Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake and nearby Lakeland Village, a home for mentally disabled adults.

"At Lakeland right now, we cannot retain a nurse," said Gordon Wallace, a counselor who's president of a local chapter of the Washington Federation of State Employees. "They can go to the community for better pay."

Psychiatric security nurse Greg Davis, who works with the criminally insane at Eastern State Hospital, said he's well aware of critics' stereotype of state workers.

"Lazy, overpaid, don't have to work ..." he said as workers marched in the rain. "If they want to come out and do what I do for what I make, they're welcome."

State workers are also upset about $267 million in cuts that Locke has proposed. Some $163 million of those are to the state Department of Social and Health Services. So far, targeted programs include adult dental care and mental health programs, including services for patients at Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake.

The ones most likely to lose their homes, said Davis, are old patients with advanced mental illness that makes them "assaultive."

"We'd be moving about 60 very old, severely mentally impaired patients out - someplace - in the community," he said.

Meanwhile, on the Capitol's second floor, Eyman filed his latest initiative in the glare of television lights.

"I've been pushing to get a frequent filer discount, but they won't allow it," the Mukilteo, Wash., businessman joked, his 2-year- old son balanced on one hip. Eyman was the force behind Initiative 695, which voters approved in 1999 and led to a drastic cut in vehicle registration fees.

The new initiative, which has yet to be numbered, would force local governments to go to the voters for approval of any tax increases. It specifically exempts small items, like overdue library book fines, utility rates and tolls. It also contains a clause to allow six-month tax hikes in an emergency.

But "anything that walks like a tax and talks like a tax should be approved by voters," Eyman said.

A similar measure in Oregon, Measure 93, failed by a wide margin in November. Critics said it would have cost the state millions of dollars for additional elections and crowded the ballot with hundreds of items.

Eyman pooh-poohed such objections. Government would simply be forced to prioritize the desired tax hikes, he said.

"We have reached an excessively high level of state, federal and local taxes," he said. "We want them to exhaust all other options first, only coming to taxpayers as a last resort."

But some critics say such initiatives are like doing surgery with an axe. For example, voters have generally supported tax-cutting proposals, but recently approved two initiatives that will funnel more money into education. Lawmakers will struggle this year to reconcile the apparently conflicting orders.

"Government is extremely complex, and oftentimes we don't think of the impact of two different initiatives," said Michael Buckley, assistant professor of government at Eastern Washington University.

He said taxing limits like those Eyman has proposed tend to have a profound impact on small towns or areas with lower property values, like Spokane.

"We get mad at the potholes in Spokane and the lack of plowing," he said. "Well, there's a reason for that: We don't want to pay for it."

Even though this initiative wouldn't affect state government - Eyman promises a state version next year - the anti-tax campaign will hang over lawmakers' heads.

"It's on the minds of the legislators already," said Wood.

A host of other initiatives were filed, including a state Grange proposal that would continue the state's popular "open primary" election, in which everyone can vote for candidates of either party. An Olympia man, Kurt Weinreich, filed no less than 16 initiatives, covering topics as diverse as trees, the Internal Revenue Service, and a repeal of all marijuana laws.

Finally, the pomp and ceremony of Monday's opening moments gave way by mid-afternoon to a tussle by Republican senators intent on eroding some of the Democrats' numerical advantage on committees.

Unlike in the House, where the two parties are split 49-49, Senate Democrats hold a one-vote majority, 25-24. As the majority party, the Democrats chair Senate committees. And in several key committees, they've appointed a couple more Democrats than Republicans, further strengthening their control.

"We need that extra vote lots of times if we have a member absent," said veteran Democratic Sen. Sid Snyder, the majority leader.

They were short one Monday. Sen. Ken Jacobsen, a Seattle Democrat, was out. Until he returns, the Senate is also at a Republican/ Democrat tie.

With that tactical advantage, West tried to win back some committee seats for his party. He wanted only a one-person Democratic majority, not two or three, on the committees.

"How does that foster working together?" he said. "That clearly is the tyranny of the majority."

West's gambit failed by a single vote, 23 to 22. Both he and Snyder downplayed their differences afterward.

"I don't consider this any big falling out on the first day," said Snyder. "This is just a skirmish, and we'll have many skirmishes before it's over."

This sidebar appeared with the story:

AT A GLANCE

Washington's new legislative session

LENGTH: Regular session limited to 105 days; one or more 30-day special sessions likely.

POLITICS: Democratic Gov. Gary Locke faces a divided Legislature. Democrats have a one-seat edge in the Senate. Republicans hold a temporary one-seat advantage in the House pending selection of a Democrat to replace Rep. Patricia Scott, D-Everett, who died Sunday.

HOT ISSUES: State budget, transportation projects and funding, state primary, energy crisis, telecommunications, health care, education, shorelines regulations, higher education, water policy and permits, property taxes, salmon restoration, housing, social services, and rural economic development.

UPCOMING: Locke and other statewide elected officials are inaugurated on Wednesday.

KEEP IN TOUCH: Toll-free hotline is 1-800-562-6000, operating 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday. Web site for Legislature is www.leg.wa.gov. Governor Locke's web site is www.governor.wa.gov.

Associated Press

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