Democratic legislative aides and staffers in Olympia picked a "Legislator of the Year" this week, honoring Rep. Sharon Nelson (D-34, West Seattle, Vashon, Maury Island). 

The humble and classy Rep. Nelson is definitely an impressive one. And she's come up a ton in our Oly coverage this year: Nelson sponsored the "Transit Oriented Development" legislation we were obsessed with at the beginning of the session; she passed a pay day loans bill out of the House; and she's one of the leaders in the guerrilla Blue/Green coalition we've been writing about. 

Admittedly, neither the transit legislation (which got iced in the House) nor the unprecedented pay day regulations (which got gutted in the Senate) stuck. To Rep. Nelson's credit, though, after the pay day bill got gutted in the Senate last week, she quickly stood up for her historic bill and got her House colleagues to refuse to concur with the Senate version. (We'll see how that plays out.)

Of course, the award isn't simply based on number of bills passed. Other criteria included things about how well she plays with others and standing up for "Democratic values."  Check plus on Rep. Nelson.

Coincidentally, I'd been asking around campus lately who would people nominate for "Republican Legislator of the Year." And I don't mean a Republican that works well with Democrats. I mean, despite the Democrats near-super-majority 31-18 advantage in the Senate and  62-36 advantage in the House, a Republican who has been able to stick to GOP values to pass some Republican legislation and/or been noticeably effective at stymying Democratic legislation.

(Ha. One lefty lobbyist nominated Democratic Speaker of the House Rep. Frank Chopp.)

Here's the email I sent to Washington State Republican Chair Luke Esser last week:

From: Josh Feit

To: [email protected]

Date: Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 2:05 PM

Subject: Republican Legislator of the Year

I'd like to profile a Republican legislator in Oly that has actually been effective this session despite the huge D numbers. A Republican that has passed a strong GOP bill, thwarted a D bill—i.e., a Republican legislator where you can document that they've done the best they could do down here. 

Anyone come to mind?

Esser never responded. Although, Sen. Janea Holmquist's (R-13, Moses Lake) office told me they were going to write something up and send it to me making the case that Holmquist fits the bill. 

What do you guys think? Who's the Republican Legislator of the Year in Olympia?