Ed Murray is replacing Lisa Brown as leader of the majority Senate Democrats.
OLYMPIA, Nov. 13.—Senate Democrats elected Ed Murray their majority leader Tuesday, but a push from two centrist Democratic senators for an unusual power-sharing arrangement with Republicans looms over next year’s legislative session.
As Democrats met to elect new leaders Tuesday at Sea-Tac, ballots were being counted in Clark County in a race that could determine whether senators Rodney Tom and Tim Sheldon will occupy the power position in the state Senate next year. Tom, D-Bellevue, and Sheldon, D-Potlatch, say they intend to seek a rule change that would require leaders and committee chairmen to be elected by a vote of the full Senate. That could nullify the decisions made by the Senate Democrats at their meeting Tuesday, and would open the door to the appointment of Republican senators to committee chairmanships, if not the majority leader position itself.
It all hinges on a tight Senate race that has yet to be decided in Vancouver’s 17th Legislative District. Following last week’s elections Democrats right now have a two-vote advantage over the Republicans, 25-23, but the outcome of the final race remains in doubt and it is unlikely that a winner will be named for weeks. The ballot-counting Tuesday gave Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, a narrow lead over Democratic challenger Tim Probst, a member of the state House. At 5 p.m. Clark County elections officials said their latest count gives Benton a slim 65-vote lead over Probst out of 53,003 votes counted so far.
A two-vote advantage for the Democrats gives Tom and Sheldon the power to force changes in the rules. But should the lead shift to Probst in the race, Democrats will have a three-vote advantage and a rule change becomes far less likely. Because the race is so tight, a recount is all but assured when all the ballots are counted. State law requires a recount at public expense when the margin of victory is less than one-half of one percent, and right now Benton’s advantage is a mere six one-hundreths of a percent. Counties face a deadline of Nov. 27 to certify election results.
Bipartisanship Called Good Government
State sens.Tim Sheldon, D-Potlatch, and Rodney Tom, D-Bellevue.
Sheldon said Tuesday that he presented his idea for power-sharing to the caucus during its closed-door meeting, and the reaction was “pretty negative.” But he said some sort of arrangement with the Republicans is going to be necessary because Democrats by themselves will not be able to get the 25 votes needed in order to pass a budget. There is too much disagreement between the party’s left and middle-of-the-road flanks, particularly when it comes to tax increases.
“I think there is a realization that we need to be all working closely together,” Sheldon said. It’s not just a matter of forging a compromise from the center, he said. It’s also a matter of good government and achieving transparency in legislative affairs. Decisions about leadership shouldn’t be made in private, he said.
“I hope we can change the rules. It needs to be a more open organization. I tell people in the caucus that as a [Mason] County commissioner I am subject to the Open Public Meetings Act. It is just a very different atmosphere. When you go to executive session, you can only go there for three things – real estate, labor negotiations and personnel issues. So it is very different in the Legislature – it is sort of a throwback compared to what people are used to. I would like to see that brought into the discussion – how do we have more transparency?”
Centrist Approach Called Inevitable
Of course, the other 24 Democrats might beg to differ. The Legislature makes its own rules, and awarding leadership positions and committee chairmanships to the majority party is the way of the statehouse. Formal power-sharing typically occurs only when there are ties. That sometimes happens in the House, where the membership is an even number, but not in the Senate, where the number of members is odd. It might be noted that the divisiveness within the Senate Democratic Caucus has already forced a bit of power-sharing out of political necessity, but not in a formal way. In 2011, Republicans sat at the table at the invitation of the majority Democrats and together they wrote a bipartisan budget. Last session, when that cooperation broke down, three Democrats – Tom, Sheldon, and the now-gone Jim Kastama, D-Puyallup — voted for a Republican budget and forced the two parties to negotiate a compromise.
State Sen. Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, a member of the centrist “Roadkill Caucus” who voted with his party’s leaders during last year’s warfare, said bipartisanship is the likely outcome of next year’s session with or without a rule change, and no matter who wins in Vancouver. That’s simply because it is going to be hard to get the Democratic caucus to reach consensus on anything. “I think you’re going to get the same results because the makeup of the Senate as a whole will force out bipartisan centrist policy, without having to completely rearrange or rewrite the rules. Even if you have 26 or 27 [Democrats], think about how many moderate Democrats are out there. Some of them are really fiscally conservative, some socially conservative, I mean there is no way you’re going to get stuff of the Senate in a way that either the far left or the far right is going to want. You don’t really need a new system to get what you want because it is going to happen anyway.”
No Contest for Murray
State Sen. Ed Murray worked side-by-side with former majority leader Lisa Brown as chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
Murray, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, was elected majority leader by acclamation. He replaces Sen. Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, who stepped down this year. Murray is the first openly gay caucus leader in state history and the only openly gay Senate leader currently serving in the nation. He held a position of prominence during the last legislative session as the prime sponsor of this year’s landmark gay-marriage legislation, which was upheld by Washington voters last week in Referendum 74.
“We have work to do in Olympia,” he said in a statement released after the election. “Prioritizing education, creating jobs for the middle class, and ensuring Washingtonians have the health care they need. And one of our challenges in a closely divided chamber is to ensure that the Senate is able to fulfill its obligations to govern the state, in tandem with Gov.-elect Jay Inslee and the House. These are not simple challenges, but they are solvable. We can find solutions that work for all of Washington.”
Murray achieved prominence on the legislative scene in the early ‘90s as an advocate for gay rights. He was elected to the state House from the 43rd Legislative District in 1995. As chairman of the Ways and Means Committee he worked closely with Brown, who offered a statement of support. “I have congratulated Sen. Murray on his election as majority leader and offered my assistance,” she said. “He has done a fantastic job during the course of his 17 years in Olympia, and we have accomplished a great deal together.”
Also Tuesday, the Senate Democrats named 11 of their members to the Committee on Committees, the panel that will decide committee chairmanships and the membership of each committee. Along with Murray and Hobbs, other members are Karen Fraser of Olympia, Tracey Eide of Kent, Brian Hatfield of Raymond, Kevin Ranker of Orcas Island, Jeanne Kohl-Welles of Seattle, Sharon Nelson of Maury Island, Jim Hargrove of Hoquiam, David Frockt of Seattle, and Andy Billig of Spokane.
Your support matters.
Public service journalism is important today as ever. If you get something from our coverage, please consider making a donation to support our work. Thanks for reading our stuff.
