UPDATE No. 2 (1:54 p.m.)

Statement from Rick Bender, President of the Washington State Labor Council

We regret the incident. It was a result of frustration with the legislature’s failure to protect workers' rights in the workplace. Our job is to always protect workers' rights.

We do not believe that any law has been violated and we have no additional comments until we know where this will go.

Thank you very much.

So, I guess the Labor Council is admitting to something, but not to a crime. (Reminds me of the apology that Jason Giambi made a couple years ago, without ever saying he took steroids.)

UPDATE No. 1: House members have been briefed, but many of them are not happy about the sketchiness of the details that the House lawyer, Tim Sekerak, and Frank Chopp's lawyer, Cathy Maynard, are giving them, or not giving them.

According to someone at the briefing: Someone on the labor side of the Worker Privacy Act, possibly someone at the Washington State Labor Council itself, allegedly sent a threatening e-mail to two senators and two representative. It was something like, move the bill forward or you get no more contributions from us.

"We get stuff like that all the time -- 'if you don't do this, I'm never going to contribute to you again!'" one lawmaker said. "What's different in this e-mail?"

(All the stuff below is actually from my first postings on this topic.)

[More:]

They're not getting an answer, which makes many of them who favored the Worker Privacy Act very suspicious. It's a convenient excuse to kill the bill, they say.

"This may be more political than legal," is what some are saying.

We reporters still don't know exactly what is going on here yet because beyond the joint statement below, Gov. Chris Gregoire, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown and House Speaker Frank Chopp aren't saying anything.

Apparently, one side of the Worker Privacy issue has linked future campaign contributions to the outcome of that bill. Now, I didn't think there was anything wrong with that in the rough-and-tumble world of politics and lawmakers. But apparently, if someone makes a connection between any money and any particular bill, it could be consider a sort of bribery.

This is the bill that basically would let workers walk out of meetings that company management holds to bad-mouth unions, hit workers up for charitable contributions (such as giving to United Way) and other stuff.

I contacted Sgt. Freddy Williams at the Washington State Patrol and he said Capt. Jeff DeVere is looking into it and will get back to me.

UPDATE: Williams got back to me, but it's no help. Read beyond the "Read More" link.

Regardless of what happened, this allows the Democratic leaders to take off the table a terribly contentious issue. The labor supporters wanted the bill; Boeing and other businesses didn't.

Now, it's just going to go away. Pretty fortunate, huh?

But with threats like that out there, it would look bad if the Legislature advanced it, wouldn't it?

I understand that House members will be briefed on the issue pretty soon by their House counsel, Tim Sekerak.

These are the two bills: Senate Bill 5446 and House Bill 1528.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – May 20, 2008

Joint statement from Gov. Chris Gregoire, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown and Speaker of the House Frank Chopp on the Worker Privacy Act
“We are no longer considering action on House Bill 1528 and Senate Bill 5446, also known as the Worker Privacy Act.
“Immediately upon becoming aware of an email linking potential action on the bill to campaign contributions, bringing the bill forward was no longer an option.
“The email raises serious legal and ethical questions.
“The matter has been referred to the Washington State Patrol for investigation.”

Here's what the State Patrol had to say:

Worker Privacy Act
Potential Investigation by WSP
March 11, 2009
· The Washington State Patrol has received a request to look into potential criminal allegations surrounding communications pertaining to SB 5446 and HB 1528 – Worker Privacy Act.
· As with any on-going investigation, no evidence or further information will be released at this time.
· The WSP will be working hand in hand with prosecutors (We don’t know who may/may not have jurisdiction yet.) as we progress
· We just received the request and little in known at this time.
· The WSP is taking this very seriously as we do with any potential criminal allegations and will work closely with prosecutors to determine a course of action.

Freddy
Sgt. Freddy Williams
Public Information Officer
Government and Media Relations
Washington State Patrol

Here is what Melinda McCready, main spokeswoman for House Democrats, sent to us about the timetable. Most of this happened yesterday.

In response to your inquiry regarding HB 1528 – Worker Privacy Act:

Inappropriate communication was sent to legislators. Swift action was taken to uphold the ethical standards of the institution and to notify proper law enforcement authorities.

At the request of the Washington State Patrol, the communication in question cannot be released because it is under investigation. Additionally, House leadership has been asked not to discuss this matter at this time.

Below is the timeline of events that happened yesterday regarding immediate cessation of any further communication or deliberation on HB 1528 up to the point of referring the matter to the authorities.



Timeline of activities
Tuesday, March 10

3:50 PM
Speaker is shown the e-mail in Senate Majority Leader’s office

3:55 PM
Speaker returns to office
Immediately seeks consultation with House Counsel on ethical and legal issues
Decision made to halt all consideration and communication on HB 1528
Canceled 4:00 meeting with stakeholder representatives

4:30 PM
Senior staff and House Counsel meet
Read e-mail and analyzed ethical and legal issues
Further staff consultation regarding appropriate authorities for reporting incident

6:45 PM
Speaker meets with Leadership
Senior staff and House Counsel brief leadership on incident and initial analysis
Decision to immediately halt all consideration and communication on HB 1528 confirmed
Decision made to consult with Senate and Governor about House Leadership decision to refer matter to appropriate investigative authority
Set meeting with Governor and Senate Majority Leader

9:00 PM
Speaker meets with Senate Majority Leader and Governor
Decision confirmed to immediately halt all consideration and communication on HB 1528 and SB 5446
Decision made to refer incident to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Department
Joint agreement to suspend all contact with stakeholder representatives on this matter


9:30 PM
Counsel contacts investigative authority
Reported incident to Thurston County Sheriff Kimball
Sheriff Kimball refers matter to Washington State Patrol Chief Batiste

9:45 PM
Incident reported to Chief Batiste
Chief instructs legislative and executive branches to not distribute the e-mail because “the matter is under investigation”

10:00 PM
Counsel contacts members listed on e-mail distribution list