Bipartisan? Olympia? Democrats offer an olive branch

- by David Ammons, AP Political Writer

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -- After the strongest Democratic tide in years swept through Washington, Olympia is essentially a one-party operation these days. The donkey party could easily freeze out the Republicans, jam through a liberal agenda and go home.

But a center-hugging, cautious cadre of Democratic leaders, including Gov. Chris Gregoire, are reaching across the aisle and promising bipartisanship, invoking the spirit of the late Republican President Gerald Ford.

In the House, they’ve given committee posts to two Republicans, although one was declined this week, and Democratic leaders in both chambers are both publicly and privately soliciting GOP thought on key bills.

“Let’s take off our partisan hats,” the governor said before opening gavels fell last week.

Republicans, happy but skeptical at the hearts-and-flowers talk, say they’re prepared to help find solutions to some of Washington’s toughest problems, including education and health care. Thus far, they’ve held their own anti-Democratic rhetoric to low decibels, focusing most of their public comments to Democrats’ supposed spending proclivities.

“You can’t just run off in the corner and pout,” says House Republican Leader Richard DeBolt of Chehalis. “Just railing against everything isn’t going to work. It behooves us to have some checks and balances.”

He signals less bomb-throwing and more collaboration with the enemy.

Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, says Democrats clearly don’t have to cater to the GOP. In the Senate, for instance, their 15-seat advantage is almost as big as his entire caucus of 17, he says.

“I definitely think the jury is still out,” he says.

In Washington, D.C., divided government requires at least a modicum of bipartisanship, or else the Republican White House and newly Democratic Congress will achieve little but stalemate and nastygrams. In Olympia, making nice is optional. Democrats have some of their biggest majorities in modern times -- 32-17 in the Senate and 62-36 in the House -- and the party’s 22-year lock on the governor’s mansion continues.

With the exception of constitutional amendments and veto overrides, which take a two-thirds vote in both houses, the Democrats can run the show with only their own members.

In some areas, it still will be “to the victor goes the spoils.” Democrats run the committees, boss the staff, nab the best offices, and control the agenda and the schedule. Some signature bills, most notably the state operating budget, will be almost exclusively Democratic.

To an unusual extent, the majority party is pledging a bipartisan tone, if not shared government. Gregoire, who won her office by only 133 votes, said in an interview that some of the Legislature’s finest accomplishments in the past two years have come when both parties worked across the aisle to find workable compromises that should stand the test of time.

In her State of the State Address, she struck a conciliatory chord, saying legislators have roughly the same goals for their constituents regardless of party -- quality schools, health coverage, a good job, clean environment and safe streets.

Gregoire, who is trying to govern as a centrist, didn’t include a single line about the Democrats’ landslide victories in November and took no jabs at Republicans, some of whom gave her the cold shoulder at her 2005 inauguration and tried to block her installation. She said Olympia -- including the Republicans -- deserves credit for recent progress and repeatedly urged a bipartisan search for “common ground.”

House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, and Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, also held out the olive branch. Chopp noted that his catch-phrase “One Washington” not only refers to the sometimes antagonistic sides of the Cascades but also to political divides that should be bridged whenever possible.

“We’ve talked about building a constructive majority to deal with our issues, not just a political majority,” he says. “We really mean it.”

With a smile, he adds, “You avoid a lot of nonsense, frankly.”

Brown agrees with Gregoire’s view that minority voices help strengthen complicated and sticky legislation -- and can make the gains permanent.

“You could shut out the minority, but then the political pendulum can swing and they’ll be back in control and you risk them undoing everything you worked so hard to pass,” Brown says.

As one of only a few Democratic lawmakers from heavily Republican Eastern Washington, she says she has learned the value of dialogue. “It helps keep you centered and focused. If you listen, you can see the possibilities for common ground.”

Both she and Chopp have served in the minority and say they try to keep the memory fresh -- both to treat the opposition with respect and to keep the Democrats from overreaching and losing seats at the next election.

House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, who acts as den mother of the sometimes fractious House, says she hopes the civility level is improving.

“That’s certainly what the public wants, for us to work together,” she says.

The early days of the new session is more relaxed and less antagonistic, perhaps reflecting the presence of a $1.9 billion surplus and the lack of big crises to deal with. One newspaper banner headline called opening day “A cordial beginning.”

Just a year ago, heading into the election cycle that turned out to be a bloodbath for the Republicans, the GOP was cranky. On opening day, House Republicans tried to embarrass the Democrats by forcing an immediate up-or-down vote on a sex predator bill, rather than allowing the measure to take the normal course through committee. Various recorded votes came back to haunt Democrats on the campaign trail and Republicans sent out faux “community notification” postcards that made it sound like Democrats were soft on crime.

“They stabbed us between the shoulder blades. It was awful,” Kessler recalls.

This year, Republicans applauded warmly for the Democratic speakers and cheered the governor, even when she made a veiled reference to Democratic approval of last year’s gay-rights bill. They pledged bipartisan support whenever possible and agreed to a “no surprise” rule that will curb unexpected guerrilla theater.

“I find the place much more civil,” DeBolt says. “We accept our role and understand that they can do whatever they want. They hold the reins. And they are more relaxed, which you can afford to do when you have complete power.”

DOTS & DASHES...

--Feline friend: The AP Press House at the Capitol has a new mascot, a tabby that reporters first named “CopyCat” and then “The Lobbyist” because he skulks around looking for handouts. ...

--Boomtime: The state’s big revenue surplus still is looking solid. A new report out Thursday shows that tax collections are up $67 million since the November forecast was released. ...

--Hawk fan: Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., is a baseball nut, but also planned to travel to Chicago for the Seattle Seahawks playoff game with the Bears on Sunday. Her office said she is talking up the Seahawks on Capitol Hill “as they look forward to a win in Miami next month.” ...

--On the road again: Gregoire, who crisscrossed the state last summer to prepare for the new session and carried her budget rollout statewide, is back on the road. She has taken chunks of her State of the State Address and her 2007 agenda to audiences in Bellingham, Seattle (twice) and Spokane and more events are in the offing. She sent copies of her speech to community leaders and continues to reach out to newspaper editorial boards.

--Ribbit power: Youngsters at Boston Harbor Elementary School in Olympia are lobbying their bill to make the Pacific chorus frog the official state amphibian.