Agencies, not legislature, rule in Olyimpia

OLYMPIA - “You never get a second chance at a first impression,” goes the old saying. Likewise, a freshman legislator never gets a second chance at his first session.

Now that I am wrapping up my first session as your new legislator, I thought I would offer some insights on what I learned.

“What is the one thing about Olympia that surprises you the most?” is the question I get most often. My answer is simple and blunt. The agencies run Olympia, not the Legislature.

When I started attending committee hearings several months ago, I was shocked at how the Legislature defers to the bureaucracies. More often than not, the Legislature asks for permission from Labor and Industries, the Department of Ecology and the Department of Fish and Wildlife before they legislate. If an agency head does not like a bill, consider it dead.

On a positive note, Olympia and the legislative process is far more polite than is portrayed in the media. We often hear about the toxic environment of politics and how no one gets along.

My experience has not reflected that conventional wisdom. Partisanship exists, but it does not poison the water.

Almost all the bills I passed and amendments I drafted were done with active Democratic support. And in turn, I worked with many Democrats to make their legislation less harmful to eastern Washington.

We have our differences, but at the end of the day, we all work together.

Many people I talk to want to know about the power of lobbyists. They want to know who calls me, who writes me and who comes by my office.

I can tell you it is an eclectic group, but there are clearly dominant players. In general, friends I met on the campaign trail call my office, everyone else writes emails.

Of all the emails I get, more than half are from teachers. Some teachers take the time to write me an individualized letter, but many send form letters drafted by the Washington Education Association.

I will be honest. I read the letters that are personally written, but take less seriously the form letter.

One set of letters caught me off guard. Each week a lady whose name I will keep private, writes me a prayer.

She never asks for anything. She simply prays that God will watch over me and help me make wise decisions. I never got letters like that before, and I look forward to the new one each week.

The last question I get asked is “what have you enjoyed the most?” That one is easy. I love stopping bad bills.

This year we stopped an abortion mandate on insurance providers, new gun control laws, new and higher taxes, and a bill that would have made it illegal to be an independent contractor.

Each time I help stop legislation that limits your freedom or expands the power of government, I am glad I am here in Olympia. We do not stop all the bad bills, but this year we have had more successes than failures.

So thank you for giving me the honor of representing you in the State Legislature and I am looking forward to coming home.