Article by Erik Smith. Published on Tuesday, October 28, 2011 EST.

One of First Acts of New Department of Enterprise Services

 
By Erik Smith

Staff writer/ Washington State Wire

OLYMPIA, Oct. 25.—There’s a big stink at the statehouse right now, and it starts at the Senate Republican offices.

            You can get a whiff of it every time you pass the rear entrance of the Irv Newhouse Building, where state workers are scrambling to replace crumbling sewer pipes before the Legislature’s special session begins Nov. 28. The office building, a “temporary” structure built in 1937 that has endured longer than just about every member of the Legislature, is home to most Republicans in the state Senate.

            During routine repairs a couple of years ago, state workers discovered the old clay drainage pipes were shot through with roots and were in what they call imminent danger of failure. It’s the same sort of problem every owner of an old home faces every few years, and usually manages to survive. But where the Legislature is concerned, a backed-up sewer pipe in the middle of session, when thousands come to visit, could be ghastly indeed.

            There is no truth to the rumor sweeping the Capitol that something was hooked up improperly when nearby Water Street was trenched last year and new pipes were laid. That’s the word from Nathaniel Jones of the Department of Enterprise Services, which absorbed the old Department of General Administration at the beginning of the month. Repairs already were planned at the time that work was done. It’s just that when crews went in to do them this last June, they found that the pipes were in worse shape than anyone thought. There’s probably no need to describe what was coming out of the Newhouse Building, but there was a lot of it.

            Jones promises “full flushability” by the time the Legislature is back in session.

            And the whole thing would be pretty routine, if it wasn’t for one thing. It appears that one of the first official acts of the new Department of Enterprise Services was to create two new Republican seats for the state Senate.

            You can find them out back, in the parking lot.

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