OLYMPIA— A state senator stays a member of his or her caucus until a successor is sworn in. Thus, Jean Berkey and Chris Marr and some others defeated in the 2010 elections remained on the Senate Democratic Caucus roster yesterday morning, and up to that point Senator-elect Nick Harper was not listed.

That explanation  comes from Jeff Reading of the Senate Democratic Caucus, in response to yesterday's post that noted Harper was on the Senate roster for the legislative Web page, but not on the caucus web site.

So clearly it was not, as Spin Control jokingly suggested, a case of the caucus staff being so busy with other stuff that they hadn't had time to change the website.

OLYMPIA — The winner of a disputed Senate election in Snohomish County should take his seat despite questions over how he won the primary, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown said today.

Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt suggested Monday that Democrat Nick Harper not be seated until a court case over the primary is resolved, and offered not to vote as long as Harper was on the sidelines.

But that’s not fair to Harper, who wasn’t involved in the independent campaign fined by the state Public Disclosure Commission, or the voters of his district, Brown said. She wants the Legislature to consider changes to campaign financing laws that could head off such tactics in the future.

Read more about the controversy inside the blog…