This Washington
Move to Block Harper Fails
There are seven newly elected members of the state senate:
Michael Baumgartner (R-3, Spokane)
Maralyn Chase (D-32, Edmonds, Shoreline)
Steve Conway (D-29, S. Tacoma)
Doug Ericksen (R-42, Western Whatcom)
Joe Fain (R-47, Covington)
*Nick Harper (D-38 Everett)
Andy Hill (R-45, Kirkland, Woodinville, Redmond)
and
Steve Litzow (R-41, Mercer Island)
The four Republicans are all pickups for the GOP, shrinking the Democratic majority from 31-18, to 27-22.
And while the first order of business today was a humdrum parade of new members being sworn in (all the returning members who won elections themselves were also sworn in), there was a bit of drama. And that's where the asterisk by Nick Harper's name comes in.
*Harper, as we've noted, is the subject of some controversy today—his election was marred by suspect campaign machinations; namely, a fake campaign committee that was set up to shield campaign contributions. The independent committee, created by Democratic campaign consultant Moxie Media, is currently the subject of a lawsuit in Thurston County court. And, doing the bidding of the GOP, Democratic Sen. Jim Kastama (D-25, Puyallup), a conservative Democrat and close pal of Jean Berkey, the Democratic incumbent that Harper ousted, asked the senate to consider a resolution to prevent Harper from being sworn in.
The vote to consider the resolution was voted down 23-18, with three Democrats—Kastama, Steve Hobbs, and Tim Sheldon—voting for it, and two Republicans—Litzow and Pam Roach—voting against it.
One theory about why Litzow broke with his party: He was a beneficiary of AFPW money. As such, he has good reason to want to avoid "opening Pandora's box," as Sen. Tracey Eide (D-30) put it this morning, referring to the possibility that Democrats would challenge the seating of Republicans like Litzow.
Michael Baumgartner (R-3, Spokane)
Maralyn Chase (D-32, Edmonds, Shoreline)
Steve Conway (D-29, S. Tacoma)
Doug Ericksen (R-42, Western Whatcom)
Joe Fain (R-47, Covington)
*Nick Harper (D-38 Everett)
Andy Hill (R-45, Kirkland, Woodinville, Redmond)
and
Steve Litzow (R-41, Mercer Island)
The four Republicans are all pickups for the GOP, shrinking the Democratic majority from 31-18, to 27-22.
And while the first order of business today was a humdrum parade of new members being sworn in (all the returning members who won elections themselves were also sworn in), there was a bit of drama. And that's where the asterisk by Nick Harper's name comes in.
*Harper, as we've noted, is the subject of some controversy today—his election was marred by suspect campaign machinations; namely, a fake campaign committee that was set up to shield campaign contributions. The independent committee, created by Democratic campaign consultant Moxie Media, is currently the subject of a lawsuit in Thurston County court. And, doing the bidding of the GOP, Democratic Sen. Jim Kastama (D-25, Puyallup), a conservative Democrat and close pal of Jean Berkey, the Democratic incumbent that Harper ousted, asked the senate to consider a resolution to prevent Harper from being sworn in.
The vote to consider the resolution was voted down 23-18, with three Democrats—Kastama, Steve Hobbs, and Tim Sheldon—voting for it, and two Republicans—Litzow and Pam Roach—voting against it.
One theory about why Litzow broke with his party: He was a beneficiary of AFPW money. As such, he has good reason to want to avoid "opening Pandora's box," as Sen. Tracey Eide (D-30) put it this morning, referring to the possibility that Democrats would challenge the seating of Republicans like Litzow.
litzow broke with the r's to seat harper yes he's new he was a beneficiary of americans for prosperity wa if they had ended up tossing harper the d's might end up focusing on tried to reopen that can of worms eide “a pandora's box” as sne eide threatened
