Reporters managed to stop Sens. Linda Evans Parlette and Ed Murray on their way out of the three-hour afternoon meeting in the governor's office. Neither had anything to say.
UPDATE, 12 p.m. April 9.–Legislative leaders departed the governor’s office again after an evening of closed-door talks. Again, no news.
OLYMPIA, April 9.—Here’s the official word from the top dogs in the Legislature.
There is no word.
Legislative leaders strolled out of the governor’s office at 3:30 p.m. Monday, just hours away from the Tuesday deadline by which they must wrap up their business, and none of them had anything to say.
“The governor made us promise not to say anything,” said Linda Evans Parlette, R-Wenatchee, the Senate Republican Caucus chair.
And that was the gist of it – the answer from all of the legislative leaders who breezed through the waiting room as the meeting broke up. But they did say they’ll be returning later Monday afternoon and evening for more talks.
It’s that time again in the Legislature – when the deadline is nigh and no deal has been reached, and lawmakers must decide whether to give it the old college try and dash to the finish, or admit there really is no chance whatever. This is the 29th day of a 30-day special session, and enormous differences remain to be settled. It would take hallucinogens to believe that agreement can be reached on everything by midnight Tuesday. Yet there was no official admission of defeat late Monday afternoon. That is customary as well. The concession usually comes on the final day, long after the outcome is inevitable. It would be most astonishing if lawmakers emerge from their late-night negotiating session tonight and say otherwise.
Nothing Happens – and That Tells You Something
The fact that lawmaking came to a standstill on the penultimate day offered as good a clue as any that on-time adjournment is an impossible dream. The House Ways and Means Committee was scheduled to take up two big bills that had been passed by the Senate on Saturday. Those bills would have sent a balanced-budget constitutional amendment to the ballot in November, and attempted to establish parity between all classes of school-district employees in their health-insurance premiums, rather than giving politically-powerful teachers’ groups the best deal. Meanwhile, the full Senate was scheduled to deal with a bill ending early retirement incentives for public employees.
The coalition of 22 Republicans and three Democrats that have taken control of the Senate appear to be insisting on those three bills before they allow a budget to pass.
And here’s the telling point: By dinnertime Monday, neither chamber had done a thing.
Stakeout is Excruciating
For reporters, the stakeout in the governor’s office was every bit as excruciating as a root canal operation and even approached the level of a National Public Radio pledge break. It was three hours before the solons streamed out of the governor’s office. And when they finally emerged, they did their best to avoid cameras, microphones and reporters armed with notepads and pens – a most unusual situation indeed.
Flabbergasted reporters did a double-take and ran after state Sen. Joe Zarelli, catching him in the hallway. “I have no comment,” declared the Senate Republican budget-writer. Then he escaped.
Next came Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, the House minority leader, and Gary Alexander, R-Olympia, the House Republican budget lead. They slipped past the crowd at the door, though DeBolt, as he climbed the stairs to his office, said over his shoulder, “I can’t say anything.”
Reporters learned they needed to stand directly in front of the exit in order to have a chance. Ed Murray, the Senate Democratic budget-writer, said the governor had presented a few proposals “on a wide range of topics,” and that lawmakers would take them back to their respective staffs for analysis.
Not that his comment gave anything away.
But Parlette told him to shush anyway. “We’ve said more than we are supposed to,” she said.
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