Lobbyists’ Power Called Unhealthy

Democrats stung by the success of insurance lobbyists this session blasted away at them with both rhetorical barrels Friday.

Sen. Kevin Quigley, D-Lake Stevens, and Rep. Eileen Cody, D-Seattle, called a news conference to say insurance lobbyists were to blame for the death or watering down of every consumer-friendly insurance bill introduced this session.

They passed out fliers listing the “Seven Deadly Sins” perpetrated by the lobbyists, linked to seven bills that died or limped away for the legislative process mere shadows of their former selves.

The list included a bill that would have required insurers to pay for post-delivery hospital care for new mothers.

An amendment passed the House Friday that deleted any specified minimum hospital stay.

Also on the list was a bill to cut rates for people buying insurance as individuals, instead of through groups or employers. It’s dead.

Insurance lobbyists called the criticism “whining,” and “irresponsible.” Rep. Phil Dyer, R-Issaquah, chairman of the House Health Committee, said the bills died because they drive up costs, not because lawmakers are in insurers’ pockets.

Terms of endearment

Rep. Marlin Appelwick has one of the safest seats in the Legislature. So he figures he’s the guy to bring up scary subjects. Like term limits.

Appelwick, D-Seattle, is working to drum up support for a bill to change the state’s term limit law to allow members of the Legislature to serve 12 years in a single chamber.

The bill would be retroactive to four years ago, when voters adopted the state’s term limits law.

The law restricts lawmakers to serving six years in the House and eight years in the Senate.

It doesn’t affect statewide office holders, while Appelwick’s bill would apply an eight-year limit to those offices too.

Results of a poll released last week by Elway Research shows 60 percent of Washington voters agree with letting lawmakers serve 12 years during one stretch per chamber.

Thirty percent of voters disagreed. The poll was conducted last month, asking the question of 405 voters statewide. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.

Aiming for advancement

Sen. Jim West, R-Spokane, is already making the rounds to candidates’ forums to launch his bid for lieutenant governor.

At a recent event in Ellensburg, West said he held forth on everything from his qualifications for lieutenant governor to his marksmanship.

He urged voters at the forum to take a careful look at candidates for lieutenant governor. After all, they could end up governor, “by accident or design,” West told the crowd.

Which prompted Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, a candidate for governor to ask: “Just how good a shot are you anyway, Jim?”

Anti-gay groups disband

Two West Side anti-gay rights groups formed to limit the rights of gay people have gone out of business.

Sam Woodard, head of the Citizens Alliance of Washington, stepped down as chairman of the group, which disbanded this week.

Woodard cited health problems, including four hospitalizations for heart disease in the past two years.

The CAW was formed in 1993 to get an initiative on the ballot outlawing civil rights protections for gay people. Woodard failed to get enough signatures to put the measure on the ballot.

The Committee for Equal Rights, Not Special Rights, has also moved on to other issues. The group pushed without success to put a measure on the ballot this year to outlaw civil rights protections for gay people.

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