Article by Erik Smith. Published on Wednesday, June 15, 2011 EST.
Suburban Cities Association Panel Discussion too Stacked With Dems, Roach Complains
State Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn.
By Erik Smith
Staff writer/ Washington State Wire
OLYMPIA, June 15.—When the Suburban Cities Association holds its big annual dinner tonight in Tukwila, you can be pretty sure state Sen. Pam Roach won’t be in the room.
The Auburn Republican lost her appetite when she saw the program – a panel of legislators who will talk about what happened in the last legislative session. Nothing really out of the ordinary about that. Just about every civic-minded group in the state holds something like it whenever a session wraps. But five out of the six legislators on this panel are Democrats, and the lonely Republican at the head table has only been in office since December.
Now what does that say about the organization? Roach asks. Haven’t they heard that Republicans have been making big gains in the “suburban crescent” – the ring of small cities surrounding Seattle?
“I think it is significant that the Suburban Cities Association would be so politically biased, especially when we had this feel-good bipartisan Legislature,” Roach says. An organization clearly indicates its preference when it issues invitations, she said.
Just in case you haven’t heard of the group before, the Suburban Cities Association represents 37 cities in King County with 150,000 or fewer people. It’s a non-partisan advocacy group, just like dozens of other governmental associations that lobby the Legislature every year. Executive Director Karen Gorski says no partisan statement was intended.
More Interested in Leaders
The group just wanted to hear from the top dogs. “We invited legislative leadership to serve on the panel to provide a leadership perspective,” she said. “It just happens that all the leadership and committee chairs are not Republicans.”
True enough. That’s what happens when the Democrats hold majorities in the House and the Senate. It’s not as if they give anything away to the other team. But it’s just as true that the Rs picked up plenty of seats in the King County suburban districts last year. In the Senate, they knocked out three sitting Democrats. It’s why the Democrats had to pay attention to Republicans this year.
The Dems on the panel are:
n Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D- Bothell, chairwoman of the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee.
n Sen. Jim Kastama, D-Puyallup, chairman of the Economic Development, Trade and Innovation Committee.
n Rep. Ruth Kagi, D-Lake Forest Park, chairwoman of the House Early Learning and Human Services committee.
n Rep. Dave Upthegrove, D-Des Moines, chairman of the House Environment Committee.
n Rep. Larry Springer, D-Kirkland, House Deputy Majority Leader.
The lone Republican is Katrina Asay, R-Milton, a former mayor and a member of the association’s board of directors.
Will Stay Home
Nobody asked Roach to speak. The group sent her an invite to eat, but that one she can skip. About all she’d get out of it is prime rib. “If you’re a legislator and you just went through the session, why would you want to live through that again?” she said.
Heck, she was there last session. “I already know what happened.”
And besides, she said, the gang will just spend the night patting themselves on the back. “It would not be anything but a self-congratulatory message on how well they’ve done.”
Whether that would be any different with more Republicans at the table is an open question. But it hasn’t killed attendance any. Gorski said about 100 are coming. That makes the dinner a sellout.
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