Slog
News & ArtsMonday, March 5, 2012
Olympia Murray Says Republican Budget Coup Leaders Must Compromise, "Or we're going to be here a long time."
Posted by Eli Sanders on Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 1:27 PM
- Ed Murray, D-43.
When I spoke to State Senator Ed Murray (D-43) by phone this morning, he didn't sound like he was in any hurry to cave to the "extremist" budget demands that Republicans—plus three "Democratic" collaborators—are trying to impose now that they've staged their budget coup.
“It was an obvious abuse of power, what happened on Friday," Murray told me. "No transparency, no opportunity for us to even caucus so we could go over the budget. And I believe they did that because if there had been time to go over it, some of their own members might not have even voted for it.
A different source in Olympia told me this morning that Rob McKenna's campaign manager was seen watching from the wings during Friday's coup, and Murray offered his sense that this is "the first Rob McKenna budget that we’ve seen.”
What about the three Democratic turncoats—Rodney Tom, Tim Sheldon, and Jim Kastama—who enabled this budget?
“As far as the swing members," Murray replied, "there are two things I can say. One is they told me they would work with me on the proposal I put forward, and obviously they did not keep their word. Two, obviously, they are not philosophically Democrats on fiscal issues. But obviously, on issues like marriage equality they are Democrats, because without their votes we would not have gotten marriage equality.”
So what's the mood like in Olympia now?
“I think the idea of bipartisanship is pretty dead," Murray said. "I think the trust level is gone and it makes it very difficult to work across party lines." He described himself as "extremely angry" at how the three Democrats who sided with the Republicans "dealt with us," and said “it will have ramifications for years to come in this institution.”
But, he added: "We’re all professionals."
So what's the next step? Murray pointed out that the senate Republican leadership would need to find 50 swing votes in the house to get their budget approved—which is not going to happen—while Murray only needs to peel off one vote to pass his preferred budget.
"Either they have to be willing to compromise some—which they were not willing to do before—or we’re going to be here a very long time," Murray said. “I will not agree to a budget that eliminates the Basic Health plan, that eliminates the Disability Lifeline, that eliminates food assistance to immigrants—those are just non-negotiable items.”
This is the language of a guy who sees time as being on his side.
And it does seem that time, at this point in the budget war, is with the Democrats. Without control of the house or the governor's mansion, Republican coup leaders in the senate have no realistic way of getting their preferred budget approved, and a protracted stalemate probably doesn't strengthen their hand. According to a source in Olympia, the cost of the special session that these Republicans are about to force is $20,000 a day—a significant cost to our cash-strapped state that these Republicans will surely be blamed for creating.
Plus, the longer their "secret" budget proposal hangs out there, the less secret it becomes. And a budget that cuts education funding and state support for poor children (among many other things) isn't likely to age well with the public.
1
Is McKenna's campaign manager waiting in the wings because he can't raise any money while the Legislature is in session? House D's have him over a barrel, don't they?
2
I keep waiting for Inslee to do SOMETHING to earn our votes. He has yet to really start his campaign. There are so many opportunities for him to show us how much better he would be as a governor than McKenna. But the longer he remains silent, the weaker he looks. This is a golden opportunity for him. Fucking handed to him on a plate, with a side dish of "welcome to it". Get on it man!
5
@4, then the media has been studiously ignoring him. I don't see his name in the papers, or on the news hardly at all.
6
@5:
Bingo!
The Blethens endorsed McKenna long ago, by allow^H^H^H^H^H strongly encouraging reportage only about their guy.
Now that the P-I is gone, I don't know of any daily dead-trees "news" source that's likely to back Inslee on its editorial page. Most of the newspapers in the state are are even more conservative than the Bothell Times.
Bingo!
The Blethens endorsed McKenna long ago, by allow^H^H^H^H^H strongly encouraging reportage only about their guy.
Now that the P-I is gone, I don't know of any daily dead-trees "news" source that's likely to back Inslee on its editorial page. Most of the newspapers in the state are are even more conservative than the Bothell Times.
8
Washington State gave a party and now one showed up.
Seattle never turned into a "real cities".
Urbist condos fell, some were destroyed.
People continued to move to low density suburbs.
At this point we need to cut everything and clean up the mess.
9
Hmm.. it sounds to me like the language of someone who just got kicked in the balls, and is now saying that his attackers better kick him in the balls a little softer next time.
Seriously, "compromise some"? He might as well be begging them for some more gruel.
Either they have to be willing to compromise some...
This is the language of a guy who sees time as being on his side.
Hmm.. it sounds to me like the language of someone who just got kicked in the balls, and is now saying that his attackers better kick him in the balls a little softer next time.
Seriously, "compromise some"? He might as well be begging them for some more gruel.
12
PPP Polling polled the Governors race on Feb 22, showing Inslee even with McKenna. The poll results were not reported by the Seattle Times or PI though the Times reported a PPP Poll two days later showing Cantwell with a huge lead over the announced GOP candidate as well as Bill Bryant, who is toying with running against her. This was the first poll to show Inslee not way behind, but there was no mention in the press, not even in Slog.
13
Gah, I'm just catching up on this bullshit. You know what this feels like? Wisconsin. I live here now, and this kind of shit is the same kind of thing. Oh, we're in power now? WELL FUCK YOU ALL.
And now we all hate each other. It felt like a betrayal. Good luck to you, Washington.
And now we all hate each other. It felt like a betrayal. Good luck to you, Washington.
14
Actually, one of the turncoats (Tim Sheldon) was actually useless in both the budget fiasco and the marriage equality vote (for which he voted "NO".
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