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Camden: Budget process has state lawmakers counting coup

By Jim Camden

Published: April 5, 2017, 6:01am

It’s a rare budget debate that passes without a lawmaker reminding colleagues a budget “is a statement of values” — or something close.

If values can be measured by making them valuable in dollars and cents, that’s demonstrably true. But what budget debates become, frequently, are political opportunities for counting coup.

For those unfamiliar with the term, it stems from the Plains Indian tradition of going up to your enemy and touching him with your coup stick. One did not kill or even injure the enemy to count coup. It was enough to come as close as possible to show your bravery, tap with the stick and get away. Your deed could be celebrated around the fires for years to come.

There seemed to be a significant amount of coup counting last week as House Democrats brought their 2017-19 operating budget up for debate. It is a principle of Legislating 101 that no majority party brings up a budget unless it has the votes to pass it, so the scheduling meant it was going to pass, however horrible the Republicans might be convinced it was.

As is typical for the party in the minority, that didn’t keep Republicans from filing a slew of amendments, which is another principle of Legislating 101. When combined with a slightly smaller boatload of changes various Democrats wanted, the lineup of amendments spanned almost the width of the House rostrum as though a Las Vegas dealer had spread them like a giant deck of cards. There were, in fact, 63, requiring debate to be spread over two days.

Some were relatively minor adjustments in spending, like $2 million a year to help county fairs. While that’s a nice chunk of change to most readers, in a $44.9 billion budget, $4 million isn’t even a rounding error. Yet lawmakers seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time praising the values of county fairs. During debate we learned many of them have happy memories of county fairs and that Rep. Mary Dye, R-Pomeroy, has been in charge of poultry and rabbit competition at her county fair, while Rep. Liz Pike, R-Camas, swore that the best milkshakes in the world are served at the Clark County Dairy Women’s Booth at that fair.

Some Democrats also had fond fair memories, but not enough to cough up $4 mil. Notice to any Democrat running in a rural district next year: Thy name shall be fair killer.

Debate over taxes

Most of the coup counting was over taxes. Rep. Matt Manweller, R-Ellensburg, asked the House to add a “Truth in Budgeting” section that would require a budget solely based on existing revenue projections as well as one based on taxes that are proposed but not yet approved. The governor is required to do that, he said, and the House should, too.

House Appropriations Chairman Timm Ormsby, D-Spokane, said Democrats will show Republicans the money this week when they begin hearings on the tax package. And even though the governor produces such a budget, called Book 1, it is generally ignored, he noted.

“Nobody’s talked about the governor’s Book 1 budget because it sucks,” Ormsby opined, drawing chuckles from lawmakers of both parties, but no disagreement.

Among the most inventive was an amendment by Rep. Vincent Buys, R-Lynden, seeking to ding Seattle (by which he meant liberal Democrats) with the failure of a major treatment facility that has dumped sewage into Puget Sound. Last year, the House approved an amendment that forbade travel by state employees to Victoria, B.C., until that city stopped dumping sewage in the Sound. State employees should be similarly barred from travel to Seattle until the West Point treatment center is operating, he said.

Eventually, Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, D-Burien, felt forced to remind Republicans: “In contrast to Victoria, B.C., Seattle is a part of Washington state. Sometimes I think that escapes us here.”

Buys’ amendment also failed, but when House Republicans next gather he may get a notch for his coup stick.

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