3.1.18 

Suggested lead:  At the state Capitol in Olympia Thursday, lawmakers from both parties admitted a mistake and asked the governor to use his veto pen on a bill most of them had voted for a few days earlier.  Dan Frizzell has more.

Wrap (:78 total):

FITZGIBBON: “It’s very unusual for us to ask for a veto for something that we supported, but in this case, on an issue of this magnitude, we felt like it was important to listen to our constituents and ask for another shot at getting this right.” [:10]

By “unusual,” state Representative Joe Fitzgibbon means no one remembers the last time it might have happened.  Senate Bill 6617 would have opened up thousands of legislative emails, letters and text messages, as well as lawmakers’ calendars, to public scrutiny.  But whatever was good in the bill was overshadowed by the fact that it was rushed to a vote in 48 hours without much in the way of public input and review. It was a textbook case of bad optics, and lawmakers asked for and received the governor’s veto late Thursday night.

FITZGIBBON: “I think there were some really positive steps forward for transparency in the bill, but it was very hard for us to convey that to our constituents.  I heard from hundreds of my constituents, and we decided that the right thing to do was to hit the reset button and to ask the governor for a veto so that we can start this process over and do a better job of listening to our constituents this time around.” [:20]

With the original bill retired, West Seattle Democrat Fitzgibbon says the next step is to work with the news media, open-government advocates, the governor and the attorney general to craft a new bill for 2019, one that shines a bright light on the inner workings of the Washington Legislature. In Olympia, I’m Dan Frizzell.