That headline actually is true. I tracked down state Rep. Steve Kirby, D-Tacoma, after Associated Press reporter Curt Woodward told me this morning he saw Kirby in the wings of the House last night having a very long and seemingly pleasant conversation with Gov. Chris Gregoire.

Kirby confirmed the governor was very cordial, even though Kirby and other members of the Tacoma delegation and some Vancouver legislators are the fly in Gregoire's ointment when it comes to a renewable energy bill. They want some changes made that will make life better for Tacoma Power and Clark County PUD.

Kirby said he started feeling poorly after listening to Rep. John McCoy and realized that McCoy, the enviros, the Senate and the governor's office weren't going to budge.

So he just went home. Got their just in time to talk to the Tacoma police officer who was taking a burglary report from Kirby's wife, Beckie Summers. Burglary happened over night, he said.

Kirby said he truly was feeling poorly today, but he added, "I know I'd feel quite a bit better if McCoy would make some fixes to the bill (SB 5840) for Tacoma Power and Clark County, or if I heard from the Speaker that the bill is not going to come up for a vote."

Rep. Jeannie Darneille, D-Tacoma, said the House is in the midst of a meltdown over the bill, so who knows what will happen next.

Here's an earlier post for some background. And just for the record, Bob Mack says he was not "summoned" by Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown.

Now that I have your attention with an absolutely false headline, let me invite you to read the Labor Council's reaction to still another report that says, as David Groves put it, "We Suck!"

I just realized that headline could be taken two different ways (neither of them true.)

On the one hand, the Labor Council could keep the Boeing Co. in Washington state simply by leaving and thereby taking their demands with them.

On the other hand, the Labor Council could accompany the Boeing Co. when it pulls out of the state, just so they won't get lonely in Kansas, or Texas or the Carolinas or Taipei.

This "We Suck" echo chamber is getting tiresome
Another corporate consultant bashes state, touts Boeing legislative agenda

---------------------------------------------
By DAVID GROVES
WSLC Publications Director
---------------------------------------------

Scott Hamilton is Leeham Co., an aerospace consulting firm whose clients include Boeing customers and contractors. Yesterday he jumped on the bandwagon of Boeing Legislative Logrollers by giving the same "We Suck" speech we've been hearing for years from the business lobbyists in Olympia.

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If the Legislature goes into special session, you probably can blame the Tacoma delegation, the governor, House and Senate leaders, the enviros, private utilities, Tacoma Power and Clark County PUD.

Circumstances are forcing me to get up to speed on an issue that I thought I could just skip this session: Renewable energy and Initiative 937. (I was going to let Associated Press provide all the coverage. Now, I can't.)

Apparently, the legislative machine has several Tacoma lawmakers wrapped around its axles until they get some relief on Senate Bill 5840, a bill that would make Tacoma Power and Clark County Public Utility District buy more expensive wind and solar power. (Private utilities also would have to buy more power, but they're getting a trade-off, some tax breaks in another bill, SB 6170. But tax breaks do no good for public utilities.)

Reps. Steve Kirby, Steve Conway, Jeannie Darneille, as well as Tom Campbell and Jim Moeller, have teamed up and may be withholding their votes on a few things that House Speaker Frank Chopp wants unless he makes sure Tacoma and Clark utilities get some relief.

Here's the math: There are 62 Democrats. It takes 50 of them to pass touchy bills, such as raising fees for all kinds of things. But it takes 59 votes to pass a bond bill, a bill that authorizes the state to borrow money.

House Bill 2326 is such a bill. It would authorize the state to borrow $1.9 billion to push ahead with contruction of the Highway 520 bridge. So, if Chopp wants that bill, he needs all of his soldiers on board.

House Bill 2377 is another touchy bill. It only takes 50 votes to pass it, but some of Frank Chopp's House Democrats are freshmen, and he doesn't like to put them in a position of voting for tax hikes (and sometimes even putting a measure on the ballot can be characterized by an election opponent as a tax hike.)

Wonder why those bills haven't come up for votes yet? (Tacoma's delegation has not yet gotten what it wants from the House-Senate conference committee that is supposed to be working out a final version of the renewable energy bill.)

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I've been trying to get to this all week, and I finally have a o moment.

Lobbyist Melanie Stewart told me this event raises money for those extra kinds of things that government programs can't do for foster kids -- a prom dress, stuff like that.

The late-June Leonard was a longtime legislator who had an abiding interest in the welfare of foster kids, hence the event is named for her.

Todd Myers was kind enough to put together all the information for me.

Legislators and Public Play Mini-Golf in the Capitol
for Kids in Foster Care
Fourth Annual June Leonard Memorial Mini-Golf Tournament Raises More than $60,000 for Programs that Support Foster Kids in Washington

On Monday, April 13, hundreds of legislators, staff and members of the public put their putting skills to the test in the Capitol building in Olympia to raise money for children in foster care. The Fourth Annual June Leonard Memorial Mini-Golf Tournament raised more than $60,000 for non-profit organizations across Washington State that provide vital services to foster children. Treehouse, the state’s leading and largest non-profit serving children in foster care, produced the event and will distribute the proceeds.

“This is a fun way to raise money for education and enrichment programs that make a difference in the lives of foster children,” said Treehouse Executive Director Janis Avery. “The money raised helps provide services that fulfill key material needs, helps foster kids learn and helps give them a real childhood and hope for the future.”

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The Washington Association of Prosecuting Attorneys and Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs is objecting to proposals to let inmates out of prison early, and to close McNeil Island prison.

In a letter to legislators, the two groups argue instead in favor of reducing some -- but not all -- supervision of inmates after their release from prison. That will save money and pose less of a threat to public safety, they say.

They don't want to shut down the McNeil Island prison until there is space in another prison. Prosecutors for years have argued that the state should build more prisons because the one sure way to make sure criminals are not committing more crimes is to keep them locked up.

In recent years, the Legislature has moved more toward early release coupled with varying degrees of post-prison supervision.

"All of the proposed budget cuts to the criminal justice system will have an adverse impact on community safety," the letter says. "We are writing to urge you to direct the cuts in the least damaging way possible."

This is largely a response to Sen. Jim Hargrove's proposal to cut 30 to 60 days off the sentences of thousands of inmates. That would free up space in other prisons and allow the Department of Corrections to transfer the 1,300 inmates at McNeil Island to other prisons and shut down McNeil. Here's a link to that story.

Hargrove said the governor "is warming to the idea."

Here is the letter the two groups sent to House and Senate members last week.

That's what is in the works down here, although nothing has yet been decided.

The figures I got from Adam Glickman, spokesman for the Service Employees International Union, which represents about 26,000-plus home care workers.

Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown told reporters the 3/10th figure is "just an idea out there" right now. That would boost the sales tax from 6.5 percent to 6.8 percent. Glickman and Brown both said it would be for only two years.

Brown said the money would be used to restore cuts to the Basic Health Plan, a subsidized health care program for the working poor. Enrollment in that plan might be in for a big cut, from 106,000 today to about 60,000 to 65,000. Money also would be used to restore state funding for nursing homes, hospitals and clinics that take care of poor patients for the state.

Brown said there is no plan yet from the Legislature. Others say the measure would be on the November ballot.

She said a proposal to increase the sales tax, even one that would be put to voters, would not win approval from the Senate unless it also is paired with a tax break for poor. That's the Working Families Tax Credit that was approved, but not funded, last year.

More in tomorrow's paper.

Here is a link to what Austin Jenkins at National Public Radio put on his blog a few hours ago.

And here is what I posted this morning about the TV ad campaign by the same group that will be pushing the tax increase.

Washington State Labor Council leaders met the trio -- Gregoire, Chopp, Brown -- who killed the Worker Privacy Act before it could pass the House, and left dissatisfied.

“This entire incident has severely strained labor’s relationship with Democratic leaders,” said WSLC President Rick Bender.

WSLC Statement on Worker Privacy Meeting with Governor Gregoire and Democratic Leadership

The Washington State Labor Council (WSLC) and labor leaders from affiliated unions met Wednesday with Governor Chris Gregoire, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown and House Speaker Frank Chopp to discuss the Worker Privacy Act legislation. The meeting was requested by the WSLC to discuss the fate of the bill and the criminal investigation instigated by the Democratic leadership against the WSLC and a staff member after an internal email, which was inadvertently sent to a few legislators who co-sponsored the bill, was forwarded to the three leaders.

The meeting revealed a deep division between Democratic leadership and the labor community in Washington state. Even after the meeting, the fate of the Worker Privacy legislation remains unclear.

“This entire incident has severely strained labor’s relationship with Democratic leaders,” said WSLC President Rick Bender.

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The state Labor Council says now that they've been cleared of any criminal wrong-doing, Democratic leaders in the Legislature should bring the Worker Privacy Act up for a vote. (See several earlier posts on this issue below, and read the entire infamous e-mail yourself here).

And Rep. Geoff Simpson, D-Covington, said after reading the e-mail in which a Boeing lobbyist gives the governor's office a list of representatives who plan to vote "yes" and "no" on the bill, suggests that Democratic leadership has too much power over what the caucus votes on.

"We should have a caucus discussion about this," Simpson wrote in an e-mail to his 61 fellow House Democrats. "I propose that vote counts no longer be confidential and privy only to leadership and am open to other ways to strengthen our democracy – here in Olympia, where it should matter the most."

Here are the latest chapters in the Neverending Saga. First Labor; then Simpson.

We ask for a moment of truth

Gregoire, Chopp and Brown:
Allow a vote on the Worker Privacy Act

OLYMPIA -- Last week, Gov. Chris Gregoire, House Speaker Frank Chopp and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown made a choice.

The state's three most powerful Democratic lawmakers decided to suspend consideration of the Worker Privacy Act (SB 5446 and HB 1528), organized labor's top priority legislation for 2009. Their decision prevented the people of Washington from knowing where their elected representatives stand on this important workers' rights legislation.

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The Worker Privacy saga continues....

I frankly don't know what to make of this. Clearly, Rep. Brendan Williams, D-Olympia, who I believe is not seeking reelection in 2010, is taking a shot across the bow of The Boeing Co. How much is jest and how much is real is what I can't figure out.

Responding to recently publicized concerns about the undue influence of lobbying upon legislative decision-making, Representative Brendan Williams (D., Olympia) has introduced House Bill 2316 (placing restrictions on lobbying) – which would add to existing legal limitations upon lobbyists clear direction that a forbidden practice would be to “[t]hreaten any legislator, or any government official, with the relocation of manufacturing jobs, including, but not limited to, jobs involving commercial airplane manufacturing, based upon the outcome of any pending or proposed legislation.”

Stated Williams: “We must clarify the rules. The recurring subtext to the recent debate over worker privacy was whether a major manufacturer would relocate jobs if not permitted to browbeat workers in captive audience meetings about their political and religious views. Let’s keep debate over bills strictly on the merits.”

Rep. Brendan W. Williams
22nd Legislative District

A follow-up from Williams: He said the bill is still in Code Reviser, so copies are not yet available, and he added,

If it’s evidently forbidden for labor unions to state that they will not contribute to those opposing labor priorities – a decision entirely within the First Amendment discretion of those unions – surely it should be expressly forbidden to actually threaten, as a means of influencing legislative outcomes, the relocation of taxpayer-subsidized manufacturing jobs.

First, I have to acknowledge the valuable contribution by Curt Woodward, Associated Press reporter, who requested the exchange of e-mails between the governor's office and others about the Worker Privacy bill, which was killed by Gov. Chris Gregoire, House Speaker Frank Chopp and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown.

The rest of the press corps merely piggybacked on Curt's request. I singled out this particular e-mail because the Boeing lobbyist was telling the governor's main Boeing liaison that the Worker Privacy Bill, which was being pushed by Labor, was on the verge of winning approval by the Legislature. That was gonna be bad news for Boeing.

UPDATE: A reader suggests that I point out what could have happened if Brown and Chopp had NOT killed the bill. If they passed it and the Labor Council e-mail came out later, they would have been open to criticism that they caved in to threats from Labor and they just passed the bill to keep the campaign contributions flowing from Labor into Democratic political action committees warchests. Consequently, they were justified in killing it because THAT would have looked bad. (Fair enough?)

This e-mail shows part of the head count that Boeing had done. Some of the "yes" votes were reluctant, according to Boeing. He's also saying the governor has to get off her butt and do something.

"The Governor cannot sit by and wait for this stuff to go away on it's
own. It will not," Boeing lobbyist Trent House said.

Lucky for House, a copy of a Labor Council strategy e-mail was CC'ed to four legislators and that provided the cover for Brown, Chopp and Gregoire to kill the bill.

Here is cast of characters:
The part of the Boeing lobbyist is played by Trent House.
The governor's advisor on all things Boeing: Bill McSherry

Two more notes: The bill would have let employees walk out of management meetings that bad-mouthed labor unions or hit workers up for United Way contributions, etc.

All the last names listed in House's head count are state Representatives.

-----Original Message-----
From: House, Trent M .M.House@boeing.com>
To: Bill McSherry
Sent: Fri Mar 06 23:29:15 2009
Subject: Vote count on HB 1528 - Worker Privacy

Bill,

I have been counting votes and the reality is grim.

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State Rep. Brendan Williams, D-Olympia, is looking at the state law which the state Public Disclosure Commission will be looking at after the State Patrol forcibly handed off the whole "e-mail" case to the elections watchdog agency.

If you'll recall, the State Patrol announced yesterday it couldn't find a state law that was violated by the e-mail the was CC'ed to four legislators, an e-mail in which the Labor Council laid out its strategy for lobbying the Worker Privacy Bill.

I'm posting Williams' e-mail because he cites the same civil statute that PDC executive director Vicki Rippie mentioned yesterday when I asked her if the PDC had requested the material from the WSP. (It did not, she said, contrary to what the State Patrol said.)

As Williams notes, that statutes prohibits lobbyists from exercising "any undue influence, extortion, or unlawful retaliation upon any legislator by reason of such legislator's position with respect to, or his vote upon, any pending or proposed legislation."

You be the judge. I'm not gonna repeat the whole story here, especially when I can just provide a link to past coverage.

From: Williams, Rep. Brendan [mailto:Williams.Brendan@leg.wa.gov]
Sent: Tue 3/17/2009 6:04 PM
To: Turner, Joe - Tacoma
Subject: E-mail-gate

The only arguably relevant provision of state law I can find is chapter 42.17.230(2)(e), which prohibits lobbyists from exercising "any undue influence, extortion, or unlawful retaliation upon any legislator by reason of such legislator's position with respect to, or his vote upon, any pending or proposed legislation." I'm not aware of this ambiguous statement - surely the most violated, at least in spirit, provision of state law (read any edition of BIAW's Building Insight) - being tested in court.

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Karen Cooper has been in charge of NARAL forever. (No offense, Karen.) But in the following e-mail news release, she introduces her successor, Lauren B. Simonds.

Simonds will take over in May.

Cooper actually has been NARAL's executive director for 15 years, which passes as "forever" in this rapidly changing world.

I would like to give you an update on my upcoming retirement and our successful search for a new executive director. We are also making a formal announcement today, but I wanted to let you know personally that NARAL has found and hired an outstanding person to take over when I leave in May.

I am pleased to inform you that our Board of Directors has selected Lauren B. Simonds, M.S.W. (pictured) to replace me as NARAL Pro-Choice Washington's executive director. Lauren is currently the executive director of the Seattle Section of the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), a position she has held since 2003.

She has a strong history of leadership and involvement in reproductive rights; NCJW is a key participant in the Washington Alliance for Reproductive Choice, and prior to her work there she served as a clinic manager at Planned Parenthood of Western Washington and at Cedar River Clinics.

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