Senator Throws Verbal Punches At Fellow Republican

Sen. Jim West had a bad-mouth week.

First West, R-Spokane, called for impeachment of Gov. Mike Lowry, only to find his call met with resounding silence. Then he concluded, in print, that the reason House leaders didn’t join him was because “they aren’t red meat eaters.”

“Now I guess I better send them a box of steaks. You know, those expensive Omaha things marbled with fat.”

Then West, the same guy taking Lowry to task for his behavior, went on a verbal rampage against Sen. John Moyer of Spokane, a fellow Republican.

West said he was angry Moyer distributed a letter to Senate colleagues asking their support for adding $2 million to the state capital budget for the Cheney Cowles Museum.

West didn’t sign the letter, which Moyer distributed with his signature line blank - a stark contrast to support expressed by lawmakers from around the East Side of the state.

“I almost punched him out,” West said of Moyer, 73. “I threw him out of my office. I swore at him. I said some bad words. I was so mad I could feel myself clenching my fist. Luckily it was on the doorknob.”

West also verbally abused Moyer’s staff, yelling at them so loudly that staff down the hall inquired as to whether anything was wrong.

Moyer’s staff tracked him down at a hearing to tell them West had gone into a tirade at them, even kicking the office door.

“I left the hearing to come back and find out what was going on,” Moyer said. “Then he got into it with me. It was very inappropriate behavior. It was hard for me that someone would treat my staff that way.

“I like Jim and think he’s a very bright guy, but that is no way to handle problems.

“That kind of response can be damaging to your reputation. When you create that kind of situation it takes a long time to repair the harm.”

West sent flowers to Moyer’s staff Friday, which they still were too upset to accept.

West was contrite Friday when discussing the incident. “I was wrong. Nothing excuses what I did.”

Maybe it’s time for some of those anger management classes West loves to ridicule.

Senator insists I-164 lacking votes

Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, is sticking by her position that the votes aren’t there to bring I-164, the property-rights initiative, out of committee.

The measure is an initiative to the Legislature that would require taxpayers to compensate property owners for restrictions on property rights for public benefit. More than 200 people turned out for a spirited hearing on the measure last week.

If the Senate lets the measure die in committee as expected, voters will face it on the November ballot. The campaign promises to be a battle royale between developers, builders, and timber companies that bankrolled the initiative signature campaign and environmentalists, who oppose it.

Newspapers put the squeeze on Lowry

Lowry may have felt vindicated by the conclusion of investigator Mary Alice Theiler that his behavior toward a former press aide, Susanne Albright, did not sink to what could legally be defined as sexual harassment.

But he was skewered by editorials and cartoons in newspapers around the state this week for his conduct after Theiler’s long-awaited report was released.

The criticism was remarkably blunt, considering it was aimed at a sitting governor with nearly two years left to go in his term.

Consider this, from the Aberdeen Daily World - which endorsed Lowry for governor in 1992:

“If Lowry is oblivious to the implications of his appalling behavior, he is too stupid to be governor. And if he understood all along, and is now playing dumb, he lacks the character to be governor.

“If he seeks re-election we believe he will suffer a crushing defeat. So, too, his party if it makes the mistake of renominating a man who can’t or won’t face the truth.”

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