OHH!

The start of the Legislative session is one of the few occasions for pomp and circumstance in Olympia’s marble halls – it is more likely to be the site of hushed phone calls and assemblies of children than of honor guards and formal presentations.

New members of the Legislature were sworn in today. Most were taking over open seats, after the incumbent retired. But there were a few who defeated sitting members.

The Senate had only one “giant killer” -- Senator Randi Becker (R-Second District), from South Pierce County, who defeated 22-year veteran Marilyn Rasmussen.

On the House side, there were musical chairs in Spokane’s swing Sixth District. John Driscoll (D-6th District) is replacing the doorbelling dynamo Republican John Ahern. In the same Sixth District, coffee entrepreneur Kevin Parker replaced the incumbent Democrat, Don Barlow.

In SW Washington, the legislative embarrassment known as Jim Dunn was defeated in the primary by Joseph James, who in turn was defeated by Democrat Tim Probst in the general. In Snohomish County, Republican Mike Hope defeated Liz Loomis.

There were other hard fought contests, but these races that defeat incumbents are the most essential for a healthy democracy. Most incumbents lose not because they have stuck their necks out on a matter of principle -- but because they have aged, grown tired, or distanced from the community that elected them. The survivors -- tough old dogs like Sen. Bob McCaslin and Mary Margaret Haugen -- stay in touch with their districts and work hard.

The House Republicans had not gained a seat since 1994, so there were plenty of smiles to go around today as they added one new member.

Gregoire gave her Second Inaugural address today, and although pleasant, it was lacking in detail. Lincoln's Second Inaugural sets a high standard:

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds

Gregoire's rhetoric did not scale these heights, but she was clearly happy to have won this past election, with no recounts marring her speech. She called for generosity and courage in facing a rapidly deteriorating economy.
The P-I noted her speech was a call for bipartisan action:

Despite a bleak financial outlook, Gregoire said this is a time to seize the "huge opportunity" also at hand.
"More than ever, the people of Washington do not want partisan politics. They want us to work together to build a better state for them and their children," she said. "So I will challenge all of us today -- and throughout the session -- to join together. Let's use this crisis. Let's summon the courage to make the hard decisions."

Republicans were happy to hear her say that there should be no more "sacred cows" in budgeting and Democrats were heartened by her pledge to expand unemployment benefits and to create a jobs program. But, the short speech was lacking in the specifics legislators need to form a judgment. The expression "the devil is in the details" might have been coined to describe legislation, where one word can reverse the effect of a 200-page law.