On April 11, the Washington state legislature adjourned for the year, after experiencing severe partisan wrangling over the budget. The normal session of the legislature adjourned on March 8, but the legislature was unable to agree on a budget during the regular session. A special session was called for thirty more days, which ran from March 12 through April 10. But even that didn’t result in a budget. The Governor then called a one-day second special session, which took place on April 11 and did result in a budget.
The regular session was characterized by a rare procedural move in the Senate on March 3, in which the Republican minority, aided by three Democrats, passed the Republican budget proposal off the Senate floor early one Saturday morning. See this story.
Preceding the Senate maneuver, the Republicans in the State Senate had voted to rescind a 2010 decision that had ejected Senator Pam Roach, elected as a Republican, from the Republican caucus. See this story about that from the April 7 New York Times.
Proponents of top-two systems in California and Arizona have long argued that a top-two system will elect moderate state legislators who will cooperate with each other and eschew partisanship. Washington state has been using the top-two system ever since the 2008 election. All Washington state legislators now in office were elected in a top-two system. Thanks to Rob Richie for the link to the March story about the budget maneuver.
Each New Age gerrymander district winner acts like a LUNATIC Dark Age monarch [see EVIL Kaiser Bill of WW I infamy]
— as if he/she/it got 100 percent of the votes in each rigged gerrymander district by the will of Heaven (i.e. Hell).
The top 2 primary is EVIL worthless.
—-
P.R. and nonpartisan App.V. — before it is too late and the EVIL gerrymander lunatics start Civil WAR II.
Greatest Parliamentary Fights of Taiwan;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ-hNVfTZqw&feature=autofb
I don’t think it is an indication of hyper-partisanship when members of the majority party join with the minority party to approve a budget.
Rodney Tom was elected to the House as a Republican in 2002 under the blanket primary; re-elected in 2004 in the first use of the infamous Pick-A-Party primary. In 2006 he ran for senate as a Democrat and defeated Luke Esser, who was later the chairman of the Washington Republican Party during much of the litigation (2007-2011). Esser was defeated in 2011 by someone who wanted to focus more on pocketbook issues. Tom was reelected in 2010 in a Top 2 election. His district, east of Lake Washington is definitely a swing district.
Jim Kastama was elected to the House in 1996, reelected in 1998, and switched to the Senate in 2000 (blanket), and has been re-elected in 2004 (pick-a-party), and 2008 (Top 2). His district southeast of Tacoma is also competitive, sometimes electing split delegations (it currently has a Democratic senator (Kastama) and two Republican representatives.
Tim Sheldon was elected to the House in 1990, and switched to the senate in 1998, and was re-elected in 2002, 2006, and 2010. While his district is solidly Democratic (sometimes there were no Republican opponents), his background as a Mason County (rural) commissioner, and owner of a family business involved in tree farming, gravel, and oystering suggests a more balanced approach than a trial lawyer or union member from an urban area. He parts his hair just slightly to the side of the middle.
It really sounds like the 3 Democrats who supported the Republican budget in the senate are the perfect type of candidate for a Top 2 system.