Olympia Connection What Kind Of Representation Is The Valley’s Fourth District Getting In The Legislature This Year?

Politics is like pea soup. It’s messy. Murky. Sometimes distasteful.

It’s often criticized — but it also has its enthusiasts.

The same goes for state legislators.

Here in the Valley, three men have been entrusted with protecting our interests in Olympia. It’s their job to swallow the pea soup so we can slurp on chocolate shakes back home, and go about our daily business.

Old-timers, business leaders and educators in the Valley all praise the 4th District’s Republican delegation for several positive attributes: They respect differing opinions. They’re good listeners. They’re always accessible.

But, do we really know how they’re representing us?

How have Sen. Bob McCaslin, Rep. Mark Sterk and Rep. Larry Crouse spent their time in Olympia? How have they chosen to use the power with which we’ve entrusted them?

Accurately evaluating a legislator is as difficult as accurately evaluating a student. Even within the 4th District, constituents have differing interests and goals. They have differing expectations of their lawmakers.

Take Sen. McCaslin.

Sal Jackson, a longtime Valley resident and Democratic Party leader, criticizes the Republican lawmaker for going 17 years without introducing a major piece of new legislation. But many McCaslin supporters appreciate that fact. They say they elected him because he wouldn’t expand government or add expensive new programs.

Opinion can be hard to separate from truth in the political world. Still, there are some facts we do know:

After 17 years in Olympia, McCaslin, 71, said this week that he plans to retire when his term ends in 2001. He said he will move to Mukilteo, to live with his new wife, Linda Medeiros Callahan, a King County deputy prosecutor. He might step down earlier, if he is able to land a job in Western Washington. He says he’s interested in being appointed to the state Tax Appeals Board, and at one time had his hat in the ring for a spot on the Liquor Control Board.

Crouse, 53, now in his fourth year in the state House of Representatives, is up for re-election this fall. He says he will run for the state Senate when McCaslin retires.

Sterk, 46, now in his third year in the House, has already announced that he will resign from the Legislature next month so he can campaign for the job of Spokane County sheriff.

Those are the facts, buy how should we interpret them?

McCaslin supporters say the loss of his expertise and clout in Olympia will be a harsh blow to the Valley.

“He knows how to work the system,” said Norma Ventris, a long-time businesswoman and West Valley School District board member. “He has garnered a great deal of respect.”

But critics aren’t shedding any tears. They say McCaslin is just a back-slapping good old boy who spends much of his time golfing and cracking jokes on the floor of the Senate.

“He’s a good guy,” said Jackson, a former lobbyist who said she likes the senator on a personal level but doesn’t feel he’s used his seniority to improve the Valley’s quality of life.

Supporters say Crouse is a thoughtful, hard-working legislator who has thrown himself into the complicated issue of energy deregulation. They believe he’ll make an effective senator someday.

Critics call him a cautious party lackey who promises a lot but accomplishes little.

Supporters of Sterk say his expertise as a Spokane city police sergeant will be missed in Olympia, and that his numerous get-tough-on-crime bills will make the Valley a safer place to live.

Critics say he cares more about pushing his conservative moral agenda and winning votes for his sheriff’s campaign than about the bread-and-butter concerns of Valley residents.

Whether you like them or not, the current Valley delegation has a distinct advantage - one constituents don’t always take advantage of, said former state Rep. George Orr.

“Our delegation’s strength is in being in the majority,” said Orr, a Democrat who lost his seat in the House to Crouse in 1994 then lost to McCaslin in the 1996 Senate race. “They’re going to set the tone, so we’d better tell them what we want, and put their feet to the fire.

“They’ve got no alibi for not getting stuff done,” Orr said.

The problem, some Valley leaders say, is that not enough constituents make their wishes known. Even when they do, no legislator can fill every request, especially when those requests conflict.

Still, certain issues strike a chord among constituents, allowing them to speak with a louder and clearer voice than is typical. In recent years, Republicans and Democrats, the prominent and the poor, all have asked 4th District legislators for traffic relief.

Valley business leaders have pressed McCaslin, Sterk and Crouse to find a long-term funding source for transportation projects. They made it clear, at public forums and in private meetings, that fixing the Valley’s transportation problems is more important than tax cuts or social programs. They said they wanted all options considered, including a gas tax.

Has the delegation delivered on this one issue of consensus?

Not really, say those who have been following the issue in Olympia. Even those who support the delegation have been disappointed.

McCaslin, Sterk and Crouse have all supported or signed on to the current transportation proposal, a short-term funding plan crafted this session by Republican leaders. It requires approval by voters and won’t provide money for roads for at least another year.

GOP leaders refused early in the session to even consider a gas tax increase as a piece of the proposal, something that has bothered local business leaders.

“The message, as a chamber, that we’ve sent out is that we think all of the funding options ought to be on the table,” said Robert Henry, chairman of the Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce. “It’s unfortunate that this has fallen along party lines.”

Although Valley legislators have assured their constituents that they’re working hard on transportation issues, supporters such as Henry have few concrete examples of that assiduity.

Pressed for examples, Henry could point only to one letter, addressed to Karen Schmidt, the chairman of the House Transportation Committee. In it, Crouse, Sterk and other Spokane-area representatives reminded Schmidt of their past discussion about Spokane County road projects and listed the projects by priority level.

Despite their claims to be working diligently on the issue, a Republican colleague said Crouse and Sterk rarely speak out on transportation issues during caucus sessions.

“I think they’re engaged, but I don’t think they feel the great necessity to carry on or blather on all over the place,” said Rep. Brian Thomas, R-Renton, who serves on the House Energy and Utilities Committee with Crouse and shares a desk with Sterk on the floor of the House.

Valley residents such as businesswoman Sandy McCauley are disappointed, but patient.

“This is not a speed boat,” said McCauley, who owns a quilting shop on the North Side. “It’s a tanker that turns very slowly.”

Transportation aside, Valley legislators have spent their time in Olympia on issues such as crime, utility deregulation and government operations.

McCaslin, the chairman of the Senate Government Operations Committee, has proposed several bills that tweak existing laws and, he believes, would make government run more efficiently and less intrusively.

He has introduced 74 proposals this session and last, many of them calling for small changes to existing law.

Sterk also has been tweaking numerous existing laws, primarily those involving crime. He’s introduced 39 proposals this session and last, including those designed to get tough drunken drivers, domestic abusers and other law-breakers.

Sterk’s Republican colleagues say he’s become a leader on crime and social issues. Considered a social conservative, he was the driving force behind a proposal to ban partial-birth abortions. The House passed the proposal last week. The Senate is expected to do the same.

Crouse’s time this biennium has been soaked up primarily by a complicated energy deregulation bill. Those who have worked with him on the proposal, Democrats included, call him fair, deliberative and cautious. The Democrats appreciate his thoroughness, in part because it has slowed down the deregulation process - a process they’re fighting.

Crouse is known as less socially conservative than Sterk. Because of his work on utility deregulation, he has introduced just 14 bills this session and last.

With the end of this short session less than two weeks away, Valley residents are now waiting to see the end result - of the transportation plan, the crime plans, and the many other proposals. But they’re also planning for the future.

“Probably what we need to do is change how we work with our delegation,” said Frank Tombari, a vice president of Farmers and Merchants Bank, and member of the Valley Chamber.

Within the next few years, all three of the Valley’s legislative seats could have new occupants. It’s a time of uncertainty, but also of new opportunities.

When Sterk resigns, the Valley will lose its only seat on a transportation committee. It has no one currently working on the Trade and Economic Development or Commerce and Labor committees. That’s a concern to Valley business leaders.

In the future, those leaders plan to spend even more time immersed in the pea soup of Olympia politics. They plan to study the Legislature’s committee structure, so they can let our new lawmakers know what positions are most crucial to their constituents.

The Valley, Tombari said, needs legislators who are working actively on transportation, trade and economic development.

Accessibility is great, he said, but it’s just a start. , DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 photos (1 color)

MEMO: These sidebars appeared with the story: OFF AND RUNNING State Rep. Mark Sterk will resign from the Legislature next month to run for sheriff. Or is he already running? See story on page A1 of today’s newspaper.

WHO THEY ARE Sen. Bob McCaslin Party: Republican Served: Since 1980 Phone numbers: (Olympia) (360) 786-7606 (Spokane) 928-4000 E-mail: mccaslin-bo@leg.wa.gov Olympia address: 112 Institutions Building, Olympia, WA 98504 Committees: Government Operations (chair); Law and Justice

Rep. Mark Sterk Party: Republican Served: Since 1995 Phone numbers: (Olympia) (360) 786-7984 (Spokane) 921-0757 E-mail: sterk-ma@leg.wa.gov Olympia address: 419 John L. O’Brien Building, Olympia, WA 98504 Committees: Law and Justice (vice chair); Education; Transportation Policy and Budget

Rep. Larry Crouse Party: Republican Served: Since 1994 Phone numbers: (Olympia) (360) 786-7820 (Spokane) 924-6029 E-mail: crouse-la@leg.wa.gov Olympia address: 331 John L. O’Brien Building, Olympia, WA 98504 Committees: Energy and Utilities (chair); Appropriations