Next election, remember who screwed us on Transparency.

I goes without saying that any member of the Legislature who voted for this idiocy should never be allowed to hold office in that body again.  The "justifications" legislators used to excuse their votes are simply beyond the pale, and serve as yet another example of how the RINO clique and the democrats too often share an agenda which flies directly in the best interests of the people they, allegedly, are there to represent.

The way this insanity was handled and is being handled is absolutely inexcusable and unacceptable.

There were so many things they could have done instead.  And the across the board effort to provide cover for the communications to the special interests who own these people?

It's less like "representation" and more like "organized crime."
A bill requiring transparency would go a very long way to explain why, all of a sudden, Ann "Gas Tax" Rivers flipped on her pledge to oppose gas tax and tab fee increases.  It might provide a glimpse of the conversations… and likely quid pro quo... which resulted in fake Republican Rivers being hired by a DEMOCRAT campaign firm in the middle of the "negotiations" that resulted in $5.5 billion getting dumped down the WEA's black hole… and the massive property tax increases that most of us have suffered as a direct result.

Is it any wonder "Gas Tax" voted against this?  And remember: EVERY LEGISLATOR IN CLARK COUNTY VOTED FOR THIS BILL... save for Rep. Vicki Kraft... even though their votes weren't needed.  Remember that when you're sitting there... looking at your ballot.

In the Senate, on final passage:

Every senator voted for passage except Baumgartner, Carlyle, Fain, Milsocia, O'Ban, Ranker and Waggoner.

In the House, on final passage:

Every Representative voted for passage except Caldier, Fey, Graves, Harmsworth, Kilduff. Kraft, Muri, Orwall, Pellicciotti, Reeves, Sawyer, Stambaugh, Walsh and Young.

If you don't see your legislator's name on these two lists?

They're wrong.

The decision of those who would obviously vote against the interests of the people they represent shows an absolute unsuitability for elective office.

• Editorials

Time for Legislature to learn from public-records debacle

Originally published May 28, 2018 at 12:01 pm Updated May 25, 2018 at 3:49 pm

 

Mark Weber / Op-Art

Lawmakers must not delay in dissecting what went wrong earlier this year with their unpopular plan to exempt themselves from the state’s Public Records Act. They must not make the same mistakes again.

By Seattle Times editorial board
The Seattle Times

Washington lawmakers had to issue a collective mea culpa earlier this year after they obtusely jammed through a bill to exempt themselves from the state’s Public Records Act.

More than 20,000 angry citizens called and emailed Gov. Jay Inslee to urge him to veto the bill, which he did on March 1. Caught in the headwind of public opinion, legislators backed down and vowed to do better next time.

To help make amends, lawmakers agreed to form a task force that would, over the next nine months, develop recommendations about releasing legislative records.

Yet nearly three months after the state Capitol’s meltdown over Senate Bill 6617, lawmakers have yet to form this vitally important group. Instead, leaders of the Legislature’s four political caucuses are still internally negotiating what the task force should look like.

“I have not heard a thing from anybody,” said Toby Nixon, president of the Washington Coalition for Open Government. “It does concern me.”

The task force is supposed to include open-government advocates, as well as representatives of the media coalition that recently sued for access to lawmakers’ text messages, calendars and other working documents.

A Thurston County judge ruled in favor of the media coalition in January, saying the Legislature was breaking the law by withholding these public records. The Legislature is now appealing the decision in that case, which was brought by 10 news organizations, including The Associated Press and The Seattle Times.

But lawmakers must not delay in dissecting exactly what went wrong earlier this year. They should ensure this is not a sham of a public process, from which they emerge with the same faulty bill that prompted this year’s sharp public outcry.

And, in this legislative election year, voters should question their representatives about their role in this rush to secrecy — and gauge the values of their challengers.

Washington citizens not only were angered that lawmakers introduced and passed SB 6617 bill in a mere 48 hours. They were also upset that the legislation tried to circumvent January’s court ruling by cutting off access to all past legislative documents, including old emails, disciplinary records and investigations into lawmakers’ conduct. At the same time the #MeToo movement was revealing previously unreported accusations of sexual harassment at the Capitol, the Legislature was desperately trying to keep its past records secret.

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