This Washington
Gay Marriage: "Currently the Votes Aren't There in the Senate."
PubliCola just sat down with a pair of state senate Democratic leaders—senate majority leader Sen. Lisa Brown (D-3, Spokane) and ways and means chair, Sen. Ed Murray (D-43, Seattle).
The interview went for over an hour—the budget, tax reform, the tunnel, the pending transportation package, the Roadkill Caucus, gay marriage, Gov. Chris Gregoire, Jay Inslee, Rob McKenna, and oh, is Brown running for Lt. Governor?
"I haven't decided yet," Brown says. "But I do feel like the position of Lt. Governor could have a more ambitious statewide agenda than it's had on the things I care about—early learning, access to higher education. The question is what could I do? What could I get done that I can't get done as majority leader? I have to think about that. I've never been about just stepping to a higher office. It's about what I can get done."
We'll mine the tape for Monday's Morning Fizz, stay tuned, but here are a couple of quick outtakes.
On a gay marriage bill:
Sen. Murray, who pushed through the gay civil rights bill as a state rep in 2006 and has moved a series of domestic partner bills in the senate the last four sessions, says he's still strategizing on a move for gay marriage. (Murray is one of six out gay legislators in Olympia.)
"Currently the votes aren't there in the senate," he said referring to both Democrats and Republicans. "That doesn't mean we can't get there."
"We may go to leadership and say this is the year we want to to push it through even it fails," concluding "We will not be able to pass a marriage equality bill without a bipartisan vote without Republicans. We also know that we'll face a ballot initiative. We want to win at the ballot. So that's going to play into what we decide to do legislatively."
"Maybe we can get there," Brown added.
On Rob McKenna:
Murray: 'He goes to the AIDS walk and then he files lawsuits against healthcare reform that absolutely people with HIV/AIDS need.'
Brown: 'The health care reform bill. Sen. Cantwell and other worked really hard on so that what we've already built in Washington state [the Basic Health Plan] could be acknowledged by the federal government, so we could get some federal match for that. And I don't believe it's in the interest of our public to have filed that suit and there was no consultation with the client. I think the consultation was with the national Republican Party.'
Murray: "He said recently that he supports domestic partnership. Well he didn't. As attorney general he did nothing. He was silent. When we were passing the anti-bullying bill, the former attorney general Christine Gregoire was very active in pushing that legislation. So for him to say he's for it, when he actually wasn't for it, is kind of disingenuous."
On Jay Inslee:
PubliCola: Are you guys excited about Inslee? The potential for Inslee as governor?
Murray: Yeah. I am. He has to define his opponent early, and that'll be really exciting.
PubliCola: But are you excited about Jay Inslee. Not just in terms of beating Rob McKenna. I'm talking about: Is he the right guy to lead? Are you excited that he could be the Democrat to step in and lead?
Murray: Well certainly he can win the burbs. The burbs is where we have to win if we're going to hold the governor's office. He has that profile. I've always found him to be very accessible. He's gone out of his way—and not a lot of our federal delegation does this—he's one of the people who's gone out of his way over the years to work with [state] legislators on various issues. So, that seems to me to be somebody who could step in and be a strong Democratic governor.
The interview went for over an hour—the budget, tax reform, the tunnel, the pending transportation package, the Roadkill Caucus, gay marriage, Gov. Chris Gregoire, Jay Inslee, Rob McKenna, and oh, is Brown running for Lt. Governor?
"I haven't decided yet," Brown says. "But I do feel like the position of Lt. Governor could have a more ambitious statewide agenda than it's had on the things I care about—early learning, access to higher education. The question is what could I do? What could I get done that I can't get done as majority leader? I have to think about that. I've never been about just stepping to a higher office. It's about what I can get done."
We'll mine the tape for Monday's Morning Fizz, stay tuned, but here are a couple of quick outtakes.
On a gay marriage bill:
Sen. Murray, who pushed through the gay civil rights bill as a state rep in 2006 and has moved a series of domestic partner bills in the senate the last four sessions, says he's still strategizing on a move for gay marriage. (Murray is one of six out gay legislators in Olympia.)
"Currently the votes aren't there in the senate," he said referring to both Democrats and Republicans. "That doesn't mean we can't get there."
"We may go to leadership and say this is the year we want to to push it through even it fails," concluding "We will not be able to pass a marriage equality bill without a bipartisan vote without Republicans. We also know that we'll face a ballot initiative. We want to win at the ballot. So that's going to play into what we decide to do legislatively."
"Maybe we can get there," Brown added.
On Rob McKenna:
Murray: 'He goes to the AIDS walk and then he files lawsuits against healthcare reform that absolutely people with HIV/AIDS need.'
Brown: 'The health care reform bill. Sen. Cantwell and other worked really hard on so that what we've already built in Washington state [the Basic Health Plan] could be acknowledged by the federal government, so we could get some federal match for that. And I don't believe it's in the interest of our public to have filed that suit and there was no consultation with the client. I think the consultation was with the national Republican Party.'
Murray: "He said recently that he supports domestic partnership. Well he didn't. As attorney general he did nothing. He was silent. When we were passing the anti-bullying bill, the former attorney general Christine Gregoire was very active in pushing that legislation. So for him to say he's for it, when he actually wasn't for it, is kind of disingenuous."
On Jay Inslee:
PubliCola: Are you guys excited about Inslee? The potential for Inslee as governor?
Murray: Yeah. I am. He has to define his opponent early, and that'll be really exciting.
PubliCola: But are you excited about Jay Inslee. Not just in terms of beating Rob McKenna. I'm talking about: Is he the right guy to lead? Are you excited that he could be the Democrat to step in and lead?
Murray: Well certainly he can win the burbs. The burbs is where we have to win if we're going to hold the governor's office. He has that profile. I've always found him to be very accessible. He's gone out of his way—and not a lot of our federal delegation does this—he's one of the people who's gone out of his way over the years to work with [state] legislators on various issues. So, that seems to me to be somebody who could step in and be a strong Democratic governor.
