New Committee Steering Clear Of Good Sense

After spending more than $300,000 to re-invent government, some lawmakers want to try again.

Sen. Nita Rinehart, D-Seattle, proposes creating the Legislative Committee on Performance Review. It would replace the Washington Performance Partnership.

Never heard of it? No surprise.

The steering committee of the partnership hasn’t met in more than a year.

Rinehart, who’s seeking her party’s gubernatorial nomination, said the partnership was a good investment that laid the groundwork for further improvement in the way government runs.

Sen. Bob McCaslin, R-Spokane Valley, found that a bit thin for the $388,683 spent on the partnership so far. “This stuff just sits on a shelf somewhere. What are the concrete results?”

Lawmakers launched the partnership back in 1994 with great fanfare.

Gov. Mike Lowry and the leaders of all four legislative caucuses convened a press conference to announce they were going to set up a process to study what government does and how to do it better.

At the time, Rinehart cautioned skeptical reporters that change would take time.

Now, less than two years later, she is leading the charge to get rid of it and try something else.

The Legislative Committee on Performance Review would be charged with re-thinking the programs and functions of state government.

Never mind that the Legislature already has several entities on the government accountability beat.

There is the Legislative Budget Committee. The Legislative Evaluation and Accountability Program Committee. The State Auditor’s Office.

Each has a different mission. Apparently none is quite enough for those who want to create yet another body to examine government.

Sen. James West, R-Spokane, says that if the new venture works, it could save big bucks.

Rather than look at existing programs and determine if they work, the proposed Legislative Committee on Performance Review would ask if the programs are needed at all.

He promises it would have the independence and ability to make the tough calls the others haven’t.

Really.

Still undecided

Speaking of West, he’s being coy about whether he’ll run for lieutenant governor. But he’s got a stash of jazzy Jim West for Lt. Governor buttons in the office he passes out to visitors.

Just for fun? It’s too soon to tell.

Seasonal bills

Election year is known as the silly season in Olympia, and for that there are many reasons, most of them in the form of legislation.

Bills are introduced that have no hope of passage. Or that couldn’t possibly be implemented because the state has no jurisdiction over the matter.

But those bills sure sound good to the folks back home, lawmakers must be thinking.

Take a slew of gambling bills introduced by Sen. Dwight Pelz, D-Seattle, last week.

One would outlaw casino gambling by tribes off reservation land. Never mind that gambling on tribal trust land is a matter between the tribes and the feds.

Then there’s the other Pelz bill that would require candidates to disclose campaign contributions from gambling interests.

Of course, contributors already are required by state law to report not only the amount of their contribution, but their occupation.

East Side rules

East Siders can remain secure in their knowledge that they are superior to those West Side wimps when it comes to cold.

The mercury dipped to the 20s this week in Olympia, but Spokane home builders and Realtors

visiting Rep. Duane Sommers, R-Spokane, said they practically felt like they were in Hawaii.

One way to tell the East Siders from the West at a glance: They were the ones darting around outside without a coat.

, DataTimes