Eye on Olympia: How about a Yelling Eyman action figure?
For years, Republicans and conservative Democrats have been calling on the state to act more like a business, and now it might actually happen.
Every year, tens of thousands of schoolchildren and tourists troop through the state Capitol, posing for photos by the dome and peering down from the House and Senate galleries at the lawmakers harrumphing below.
They gawk at the Supreme Court building, peer up at the weight-of-a-Volkswagen chandelier in the rotunda and pose for photos beside the huge bronze bust of George Washington, whose nose gleams from being rubbed so much.
Nowhere in this grand tableau, however, is there a place to buy kid-type souvenirs. Sure, the Secretary of State’s office has a wide array of wine glasses, wine bags, cocktail glasses and a $75 liquor decanter – all with the state seal on them – but anyone wanting, say, an Olympia keychain/tiny spoon/magnet or even an Olympia postcard would be well advised to drive several miles away to the Fred Meyer store … in Lacey.
State Rep. Sam Hunt wants to change that. The Olympia Democrat has proposed House Bill 1896, which “finds that tourism is encouraged, providing a memorable experience and an opportunity for visitors to take something back home with them …” The bill would set up a gift shop in the Statehouse, selling souvenirs. The money would help pay for the furnishings in the Capitol, where some of the furniture dates to the 1920s.
Or maybe ‘Highway to Hell’
For years, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown has posted 33 rpm album covers in her office as an indicator of the legislative mood.
With an eye to the political arm-wrestling between Seattle and Olympia over how to replace the multibillion dollar Alaskan Way Viaduct (another elevated freeway? A tunnel? ‘Tunnel Lite?’), here’s Brown’s rewrite of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now”:
“I’ve looked at the Viaduct from both sides now,
From north and south,
But still somehow,
It’s the tunnel’s illusions that I recall,
But we really can’t afford it,
at all.”
Why it pays to watch TVW
Things got interesting Tuesday during a Senate hearing on several bills dealing with ballot measures. Among them: a bill that would – after decades – boost the filing fee for citizens initiatives from $5 to $100.
Proponents say the change would discourage the annual flurry of filings from people who have no intention of actually gathering the nearly quarter-million signatures it takes to then get their measure on the ballot. (Remember 2005’s Initiative 907, which would have required Seattleites “to refrain from heating at least one bedroom from October to February?”)
Boosting the fee, the thinking goes, would also tend to limit the repeated filings of very similar measures. That’s a tactic often used by Mukilteo initiative promoter Tim Eyman.
Here was a loud exchange between Eyman and Sen. Darlene Fairley, D-Seattle, at Tuesday’s hearing, as Fairley tried to cut Eyman off:
Eyman: “Madame Chairperson, this is so critically important.”
Fairley: “Excuse me, Mr. Eyman. First off, please use your indoor voice. Wow.”
Eyman: “Frankly, this is.”
Fairley: “And secondly, this is not (about) the bill.”
Eyman: “Oh, but it is. It’s so inextricably linked. Everything.”
Fairley: “Just … go sit down.”
Fairley (to other lawmakers): “Whew. I can only hear out of one ear, and that’s just ringing.”
Croaking frog
If a group of third-graders gets it way, the Pacific chorus frog would become the official state amphibian. Among the arguments in favor: They eat mosquitoes and their croaking makes “a beautiful sound.” The committee gave the bill unanimous support.