More on the e-mail that caused angry lawmakers to kill the Worker Privacy Act:

"We regret the incident. It was a result of frustration with the legislature's failure to protect workers' rights in the workplace. Our job is to always protect workers' rights," Washington State Labor Council Rick Bender said in a written statement. "We do not believe that any law has been violated and we have no additional comments until we know where this will go."

Does that mean the e-mail came from the labor council? It's not saying.

"That's all I can say at this point. We're just regretting the incident," said spokeswoman Kathy Cummings.

A timeline of the incident shows that lawmakers initially reported the matter to Thurston County Sheriff Dan Kimball, who referred it to State Patrol Chief John Batiste. Batiste told the legislature and governor's office not to release the e-mail publicly while his agency investigates. (Timeline is posted at the link below.)

The timeline starts at nearly 4 p.m. Tuesday, when Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown showed it to House Speaker Frank Chopp in her office. Brown said she didn't get the e-mail.

It's normal for interest groups to lobby for an against any bill, Brown said. It's lawmakers' job to hear both sides, balance the arguments and decide what to do.

"But we have to draw the line between this normal proces and any attempt by any stakeholder to influence us on a given proposal by threatening to give or withhold contributions to our campaigns as political candidates," she said in a statement. She called the e-mail "a very serious ethical and legal concern."

Brown also said, however, that is was "a completely isolated incident" and shouldn't affect future legislation.

 

This is a timeline provided by the House of Representatives:

Timeline of activities
Tuesday, March 10
 
3:50 PM
                Speaker is shown the e-mail in Senate Majority Leader’s office
 
3:55 PM
                Speaker returns to office
·         Immediately seeks consultation with House Counsel on ethical and legal issues
·         Decision made to halt all consideration and communication on HB 1528
·         Canceled 4:00 meeting with stakeholder representatives
 
4:30 PM
Senior staff and House Counsel meet
·         Read e-mail and analyzed ethical and legal issues
·         Further staff consultation regarding appropriate authorities for reporting incident
 
6:45 PM
 Speaker meets with Leadership
·         Senior staff and House Counsel brief leadership on incident and initial analysis
·         Decision to immediately halt all consideration and communication on HB 1528 confirmed
·         Decision made to consult with Senate and Governor about House Leadership decision to refer matter to appropriate investigative authority
·         Set meeting with Governor and Senate Majority Leader
 
9:00 PM
 Speaker meets with Senate Majority Leader and Governor
·         Decision confirmed to immediately halt all consideration and communication on HB 1528 and SB 5446
·         Decision made to refer incident to the Thurston County Sheriff’s Department
·         Joint agreement to suspend all contact with stakeholder representatives on this matter
 
 
9:30 PM
                Counsel contacts investigative authority
o   Reported incident to Thurston County Sheriff Kimball
o   Sheriff Kimball refers matter  to Washington State Patrol Chief Batiste
 
9:45 PM
·         Incident reported to Chief Batiste
·         Chief  instructs  legislative and executive branches to not distribute the e-mail because  “the matter is under investigation”
 
10:00 PM
                Counsel contacts members listed on e-mail distribution list
 

---

---