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.