Article by Erik Smith. Published on Wednesday, February 16, 2011 EST.
Former State Republican Chairman to Represent SEIU
Luke Esser, former state Republican chairman, is returning to Olympia as a lobbyist.
By Erik Smith
Staff writer/ Washington State Wire
OLYMPIA, Feb. 16.—Luke Esser, the former state Republican chairman who lost his position in an upset election last month, is back in Olympia as a lobbyist – and his new client may cause a few jaws to drop at the statehouse.
Esser will represent Service Employees International Union Local 775, the union local that represents some 40,000 home-care workers.
When you consider the way some Republicans view public-employee unions – and SEIU in particular – the whole thing may come as a bit of a shock. But Esser says there’s no better guy for the job than him.
“Republicans need to have better lines of communication with unions and organized labor,” he said. “Casting against type can be a good thing.”
It’s definitely a way to get attention. One of the most prominent Republicans in the state representing one of its most aggressive public-employee labor unions is the kind of thing that brings comment in Capitol hallways. Said one wag, “it’s the forces of darkness teaming up with the forces of darkness.” And others recall a certain president who once took a trip to China.
Esser says he’s happy to bring the spotlight to the union. He said he has been a longtime supporter of the union’s efforts to organize homecare workers.
Disparity in Health Benefits
Esser points out that he is one of those rare Republicans who has worked closely with SEIU. As a legislator he won the union’s endorsement in 2002 and 2006. “I’ll be working a set of issues I feel comfortable with and that I supported as a legislator,” he said.
The key one right now is a disparity in health benefits that has been proposed in the governor’s budget. Independent home care workers would get a substantially higher benefit than those who work under agencies. The difference amounts to about about $300 a month. The union argues for parity.
Esser also will be acting as a consultant to the Kalispel Tribe of Indians, which operates the Northern Quest casino in Airway Heights, Wash.
Big issue in that part of the world is whether the Spokane Tribe ought to be allowed to open a casino of its own in Airway Heights, virtually across the street from Fairchild Air Force Base.
Glad to be Back
Esser, 49, says he’s glad to be back on the hill. He’s been a lifelong political junkie, winning election as a precinct committee officer as a teenager in his hometown of Bellevue, Wash. As a student at the University of Washington, he wrote a well-read humor column for the campus newspaper, The Daily, in which he often took hilarious conservative political stands. He won election to the state House in 1998 and to the Senate in 2002, but was defeated for reelection in 2006 by then-Republican Rodney Tom.
Esser was elected state Republican chairman two months later, in Jan. 2007, and served two terms in that position until his ouster by former talk host Kirby Wilbur last month.
“Olympia is an exciting place during a legislative session,” Esser said. “I have a lot of friends down here, and I’m going to enjoy getting into the swing of things.”Your support matters.
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