Hard-Liners Won’t Deal On Budget New Gop House Members Vow To Cut, Not Negotiate

Newly elected budget hawks who came here to cut spending say they have little use for the legislative lubricant that keeps Olympia moving: compromise.

Tell these hard-core GOP lawmakers the state will run out of money July 1 if a state budget isn’t passed and it only encourages them.

“I think we win on July 1 when agencies don’t have any money,” said Rep. Mike Sherstad, R-Bothell.

“I’m not here to spend. I’m here to cut, to streamline, and run government more like a business,” said Rep. Scott Smith, R-Graham.

“We are a different House. Half of our Republican members are new. My feeling is I wasn’t sent here to compromise. I’m not here to negotiate.”

These hard-line House lawmakers - by most estimates, there are as many as 15 - could pose problems for legislators trying to find common ground on the proposed state budget.

The House and Senate have passed budgets that are more than $600 million and an ideological gulf apart. It’s up to a six-member conference committee to come up with an agreement likely to pass both houses.

Budget conferees never have an easy time of it. Every budgetwriting session goes into overtime. Lawmakers make grim remarks about fighting it out until July when the biennium ends.

But the strict budget-cutters are adding a new wrinkle to the debate: a fundamental dislike for compromise itself.

House leaders sense difficulty ahead. The legislative session is supposed to end Friday, but no one sees even a possibility of that.

“I pray daily for wisdom,” said House Speaker Clyde Ballard, R-East Wenatchee, as he figured the distance between principle and pragmatism.

Ditto for Rep. Todd Mielke of Spokane, leader of the House Republican caucus. He said he doesn’t see any benefit in a legislative stalemate the public could read as gridlock as usual. But neither does Mielke want to sell out the GOP faithful many of whom he helped recruit.

“As the leader of our caucus, my job is to orchestrate victory on behalf of our cause,” Mielke said. “But if we get to a point at which everyone refuses to blink and we just wait it out, I don’t think the public will approve.”

But hard-line lawmakers see victory in holding the line. Take Rep. Larry Crouse, R-Spokane Valley, newly elected and sticking to his guns.

“At $17.3 billion, the House plan is a plenty-fat budget,” Crouse said, pointing out that’s a $1 billion increase over current spending.

“This budget is worth fighting for,” he said. “Say we go four months past the Fourth of July. Look how much we are saving: We don’t give any state employee raises; we are spending hundreds of millions of dollars less. When you think about it, I am in no hurry to go home. I think we have the hammer.”

Other freshmen GOP lawmakers said the sacrifice of serving in Olympia isn’t worth it if they can’t vote for their beliefs.

“I don’t need this job, and in all honesty, I don’t even really want it,” said Rep. Barney Beeksma, R-Oak Harbor, a banker who never considered running for office until last November. He’s dead set against higher spending.

“I came here on a mission to change the direction we’re going in. I’m a fiscal conservative, with strong traditional family values. If in two years the voters decide that’s not what they want, that’s OK.”

Said Rep. Smith, an insurance agent, “I lose money being here. I give up income to come here and do the right thing, and if I am not allowed to do it, then I would rather not be here.”

While some Republicans shrink from the “far right” label, a few new freshmen consider it a badge of honor.

“I’m an ultra far right-wing conservative,” said Rep. Gene Goldsmith, R-Ferndale. “Our leadership doesn’t believe what we believe. There are a lot of liberals in our caucus who believe that government can and is responsible for solving problems. But it can’t.”

Goldsmith, who favors a return to the gold standard, said he doesn’t even like the state taking on so much debt, through bonds, to pay for its capital budget.

And, he said, if the budget is higher than $17.3 billion, he won’t vote for it. “I’ll stay till we shut it down. I have no problem with that. It’s what the people want.”

The new faithful have joined forces with conservative

GOP veterans glad to see the fresh troops.

“The budget is the No. 1 issue for us,” said Rep. Steve Fuhrman, R-Kettle Falls, a staunch fiscal conservative. “We wanted a budget that was $1 billion lower than it is. We have already compromised; we have come more than halfway. If Senate Democrats can’t recognize that, I am willing to shut state government down July 1.

“Last year, we compromised. This year, we are at the table. Now we’re truly part of the decisions.”