Sound Politics: State House Committee Appointments

December 05, 2006

State House Committee Appointments

Speaker Chopp announced his new committee chairs yesterday.

Some insider scuttlebutt:

Former Finance chair Jim McIntire replaced by Ross Hunter. Rumor has it that McIntire was told by the Speaker that he would be removed as chair if he came out with an income tax, which he did.

Far-left Hans Dunshee as Appropriations Vice-chair, making him a likely heir to septuagenarian Helen Sommers.

Bill Fromhold passed over for Transportation, in favor of Viaduct tunnel foe, Judy Clibborn.

Phyllis Kenney removed from Higher Ed, to many sighs of relief.

Sam Hunt gets "State Government and Tribal Affairs". (Formerly "State Government Operations and Accountability"). Fitting that the man known here as the "High Priest of Rotten Government" would drop Accountability from his committee title. This committee oversees elections. And the only "reforms" Hunt seems to favor are those that facilitate fraud.

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at December 05, 2006 10:24 AM | Email This

Comments

1. Just as I suspected, no one is going to stand idly by while some politician tries to implement a state income tax. Not even the Dem's.

Posted by: Cato on December 5, 2006 11:08 AM

2. For now (on the income tax).

They've dropped a couple of committees (Criminal Justice & Corrections and Juvenile Justice & Family Law) and replaced them with two new ones: Human Resources (Mary Lou Dickerson, chair) and Public Safety & Emergency Preparedness (Al O'Brien, chair). Human Resouces will probably deal with problems in typical compassionate Democrat style, focusing on feelings and self esteem; PS&EP may actually do some good.

Posted by: Joe Waldron on December 5, 2006 11:47 AM

Dunshee isn't as far left as you're making him out to be.

Posted by: me on December 5, 2006 12:13 PM

4. me @ 3:

You're kidding, right? Everybody's "far left" to these wack jobs. Stefan and his cult are in this state's rear view mirror, and shrinking fast. All he has for cites are entries from his own blog (Sam Hunt is for rotten government because I said he was once).

Posted by: ivan on December 5, 2006 12:57 PM

5. Hans Dunshee isn't as far left as the majority of the caucus, so "me" is accurate. If there are labels and comparisons to be made, Dunshee doesn't qualify as far left ... but admittedly, it's a left-leaning scale to start with.

Ivan. Planning on coming down to Olympia to testify in Conway's committee?

Posted by: jimg on December 5, 2006 01:16 PM

6. I would say the new House committee chair lineup looks a little more moderate and a little more suburban than the one from the current session. Probably because the Democrats gained about six or seven seats in suburban districts with moderate candidates. So it isn't surprising that the new committee chairs reflect the makeup of the House Democrats caucus.

I definitely don't think Hans Dunshee is "far left". After all, he did get elected to Val Stevens' old seat in the state House in 1996 in the old 39th district. And if his record had really been "far left", just maybe he would have been defeated at some point in time?

Posted by: Richard Pope on December 5, 2006 03:22 PM

7. Isn't Jim Hunt a friend of Stefan's family or something? I remember some e-mail from Hunt about Stefan's bar mitzvah.

Posted by: Richard Pope on December 5, 2006 03:23 PM

8. Richard (#7): Sam Hunt and my father have a mutual friend. You're thinking of this post

Posted by: Stefan Sharkansky on December 5, 2006 03:41 PM

9. Richard Pope, I hope you have more info than what you gave concerning your analysis of Dunshee's politics. He is far, far, far left of left.

He was the one pushing for a tax rebate to every citizen a few years ago instead of giving the money back to the businesses who funded one program or another.

And you could be wrong on the politics of his district. He can be very genial, looks like a gentle giant and politicked by knocking on just about every door in his district the first time out. While he isn't in my district, I saw him out there at 6 in the morning waving a sign on my way in from farm country.

But, that helps his electibility, it doesn't show his true leftist agenda. He was the one who coined the phrase, "you don't own your property, you just are leasing it from the State". That, my friend, is what I mean by leftist.

Posted by: swatter on December 5, 2006 04:09 PM

10. If I am leasing it from the state, then why the H can't the state come mow it, maintain it, and pay the massive property tax hikes on it?

I have a few apples on the ground I would love for them to clean up.

I also have a highly recommended place for them to put those apples if they dare wander onto MY property and ask.

Posted by: gs on December 5, 2006 08:56 PM

11. I definitely don't think Hans Dunshee is "far left". After all, he did get elected to Val Stevens' old seat in the state House in 1996 in the old 39th district. And if his record had really been "far left", just maybe he would have been defeated at some point in time?

Posted by Richard Pope

He was. He was defeated in 1994. Then elected again in 1996. Always best to check facts before posting.

Posted by: stu on December 5, 2006 09:47 PM

12. what is all this caca on the telly about Washington being 42nd in education funding in the us? has anyone questioned what the twits are doing, other than showing their incompetence, with all the money we now pay in taxes??? give us charter schools and the students WILL pass the WASL in spite of WEA and their stupidity!!!

Posted by: mustang on December 5, 2006 11:20 PM

13. Maybe if they fired just ONE classified staff member per school (look at the ratioof classified staff to teachers at public schools versus private), they'd have enough money to buy construction paper.

As for the great "racial" debate about school assignments... thanks to the WASL, we can identify those overachieving teachers (the ones whose students pass the WASL with flying colors). Maybe we should transfer THE TEACHERS into underachieving schools to help raise scores. THAT should elicit a howl from the WEA!

Posted by: Joe Waldron on December 6, 2006 06:02 AM

14. The last legislator from the 41st District to chair a transportation committee was Jim Horn. He promptly renamed it the Highway Committee. And then Jim Horn, despite his considerable skills, lost the next election to an unknown upstart. It was the beginning of the end for the GOP in districts surrounding Lake Washington and elsewhere.

Jim Horn is still pushing his mega highway schemes, bashing light rail, and slamming most anyone who supports a more balanced approach to transportation from an obscure and shrinking outpost of the just-highways crowd on the Eastside.

And there's only one GOP legislator from a district anywhere near Lake Washington - who happens to be a long-time foe on Horn's on transportation subjects.

Seems there's a story in this the GOP could benefit from. The democrats have. And that's one big reason why Judy Clibborn is Chairing the House Transportation Committee now.

Posted by: thor on December 6, 2006 07:01 AM

15. Swatter makes Dunshee out to be a far leftie. Hans is best known for his relentless advocacy for parks and recreation. That must be one of those other things (like education and transportation) that most people in Washington care about and which conservatives have prevented the GOP from addressing in recent years.

Posted by: Tacoma on December 7, 2006 11:04 AM