A bit thin-skinned

Warning: Parents should preview the following commentary before showing it to children who are too sensitive for exposure to harsh political language.

Such language as: “disingenuous” or “tax-and-spend liberals.”

Sorry, but those are some of the uncivil terms that the chief clerk of the Washington state House of Representatives says violate the House’s expectations for decorum. They are, therefore, not permitted in the state-funded press releases sent out by members or posted on their state-funded Web sites.

This ruling came to the attention of House Republicans this week when some of their news releases and Web postings were vetoed.

A word of explanation for those who do not eat, drink and breathe politics:

Democrats hold a 55-43 majority in the House. That puts them in control of the political process there. They have a majority of seats on all the committees and a majority of votes for all matters that come before the full body, such as the amendment or passage of bills. They set the agenda.

And, they get to choose the chief clerk, who, at present, is one Rich Nafziger.

Nafziger and his staff clamped down on House Republicans this week because, he said, they were impugning the Democrats who wrote the supplemental state budget now working its way through the legislative machinery. They were sending out messages alleging a “lack of truth in the majority’s message.” They were telling the public that, “It’s not truthful to say this money is being put into reserve.” They were accusing Democrats of a “lack of honesty with taxpayers.”

It’s against House rules, said Nafziger, to characterize the political opposition in pejorative terms. He also says – in a statement that impugns your intelligence by implying you might buy it – “It’s hard to argue that it’s partisan.”

Of course it’s partisan. If Republicans get mad at Nafziger, that’s their problem. If Democrats get mad at Nafziger, whom they can fire, it’s his problem. It’s called political patronage, and it’s inherently partisan.

There’s nothing wrong with encouraging civility in political debate, of course. The world needs more of it.

But Nafziger and his majority caucus bosses came across as thin-skinned control freaks, driven to censorship by a fear of criticism.

Indeed, Spokane freshman Rep. John Serben, one of the Republicans’ assistant whips, says Nafziger’s heavy-handedness impairs his ability to report to his constituents because he can’t call their budget a “shell game.”

Ordinarily, Serben’s frustration at being denied the use of shrill clichés and other tools of superficial discourse would stand out as whiney, but in this case it’s being overshadowed by the Democrats’ overreaction.

If nothing else, Chief Clerk Nafziger and the House majority have validated the Founding Fathers’ preference for an independent press over one controlled by government.