Camden: Native Americans deserve a holiday all on its own

Seattle’s Italian-Americans rightly point out that indigenous people in Washington and throughout the country already had another day set aside as Native American Heritage Day. It was recognized with legislation passed this spring and was signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee, with members of local tribes attending in traditional dress.

Native American Heritage Day, for those like the council, too busy to catch the signing on TVW, is the fourth Friday of November, which is to say the day after Thanksgiving. That’s another holiday that rubs some Native Americans the wrong way, considering the Pilgrims and the folks who followed them to North America exhibited behavior that seemed less than thankful for the help of the Wampanoags in 1621.

But this all begs the question: Don’t Native Americans deserve a holiday all on its own, one that isn’t somehow tied to another holiday that commemorates things they’d rather forget?

Say what, part one

Last week’s debate between U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Spokane, and Democratic challenger Joe Pakootas veered briefly into immigration policy, with both candidates being asked to address the topic in the context of the need for farm labor and secure borders.

Pakootas tossed off a line that would have passed as an overworked cliché for most people, but it got him a laugh. “We are a nation of immigrants,” the former chairman of the Colville Confederated Tribes deadpanned, then added: “Most of us, anyway.”

Say what, part two

Keeping track of legislative committees can be a chore for the public during the session, because some panels string several topics together and because the House and Senate have come up with different titles for groups with the same purview. Between sessions, even legislators have trouble. Take last week, when two House committees held a joint session over problems with the state’s new legal marijuana businesses obtaining bank services.

Rep. Steve Kirby, chairman of the Business and Financial Services Committee, opened the first half of the session and noted he’d turn the gavel over to Rep. Chris Hurst, chairman of the other committee, about halfway through. But he couldn’t remember its name.

“I’ve never known the name. It’s a weird name and I don’t even worry about it,” Kirby said.

“You’re on the committee,” Hurst said. True, said Kirby, but he still doesn’t know the name.

For the record, it’s the Government Accountability and Oversight Committee. We sometimes call it the sin committee because it has jurisdiction over booze, pot and gambling.