The recent midterm election held both good news and bad news, according to a panel of speakers at the 14th annual postelection analysis and fundraiser Nov. 15 for state senator and Queen Anne resident Jeanne Kohl-Welles.
The bad news at the event - which was held at the Hale's Ales Brewery and Pub in Ballard and also included a silent auction for the "Thundering" 36th District Democrats - was that less than half registered voters in the state went to the polls or sent mail-in ballots this year.
There was clearly a sense of uneasiness in the electorate, according to Kelly Evans, one of the panelists and a campaign consultant working with Gov. Chris Gregoire. "And turnout in this election, quite frankly, was pathetic," she said.
If just 3 percent more of voters in King County had turned out, Tim Eyman's latest tax-busting initiative would have gone down to defeat, Evans said of one example.
On the flipside, a ballot initiative that changed the approval rating for school levies from a supermajority to a simple majority did pass, noted panelist Dwight Pelz, chairman of the state's Democratic Party. "So that was a good thing," said the former King County Council member.
The election didn't turn out to be the taxpayer revolt many had expected, added panelist Dave Ross, liberal KIRO Radio talk-show host. Although Eyman's I-960 did pass, so did the school-funding proposition - even in historically conservative Spokane County, he said. "There's a glimmer of light in Eastern Washington, folks."
Panelist James Kelly, executive director of the Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle, described the passage of the school-levy measure as a victory. But he said there was an earlier one when the King County Superior Court ruled that the present funding mechanisms for schools were unconstitutional.
On a local level, the reason Democrat Bill Sherman lost to Republican Dan Satterberg was that the Republicans wanted to win the ostensibly nonpartisan race for King County Prosecutor more than the Democrats, said David Goldstein, the blogger who posts Horsesass.org. The Republicans spent $200,000 on TV ads for Satterberg, he added, "We could have responded."
Magnolian and longtime 36th District Rep. Helen Sommers said the voters came to some interesting decisions in the election. The school-funding measure was one of them, but one thing that hadn't been mentioned yet that night was how much power the State Supreme Court has, she said.
Sommers pointed to the court's overturning of an earlier Eyman initiative, I-747, that limited property tax increases to 1 percent a year as an example. "You know, that just wasn't realistic, but it sold," she said.
Kohl-Welles noted that some legislators in Olympia want to reinstate a cap on property tax increases. A thoughtful approach to the issue would be best, she said. "We should not just rush into it."
Republicans in Olympia want to hold a special session in the legislature to do something about sex abusers, Kohl-Welles added. "Again, we need to do something, but we need to do it thoughtfully so it doesn't get overturned by the courts," the senator said.
The upcoming governor's race between Dino Rossi and Chris Gregoire also came up for discussion, and judging from some of the comments, it promises to be a heated one.
Turnout will higher for next year's election, said Evans, Gregoire's consultant. "But we can't take anything for granted," she said, noting that Rossi lost by a razor-thin margin.
Democrats need to make sure people know who Rossi is, said Evans, who added that Rossi was able to define himself in the last election. "This time we will do it."
One man in the audience took the issue one step further, asking Evans how people could define Rossi as the (mild epithet) he is. Evans repeated the epithet so the rest of the audience could hear and characterized the Republican as an anti-choice conservative who's against Plan B, the emergency contraceptive. "They [voters] don't know who he is," she repeated.
The 2008 presidential election also came up for discussion at the event. "This is probably going to be the most important presidential election we've ever voted on," said Ron Reagan, a Magnolia resident and political commentator whose father was the late president, Ronald Reagan.
"So was the 2000 election; we just didn't know it," he said. "We should have known better in 2004," Reagan added, "but fear won the day." The 2008 election will be a critical one, he stressed.
Kohl-Welles agreed, saying she couldn't believe it when George W. Bush was reelected. "But I couldn't imagine how horrible it was going to be."
Responding to a question from the audience about the failure of roads-and-transit Proposition 1, Kohl-Welles wrapped up the evening by saying she'd voted for the Regional Transit Investment District (RTID) many years in a row in the legislature because it didn't do enough for mass transit.
But the senator said she changed her mind when mass transit was added to the mix a couple of years ago. "I expect it will be a big issue next [legislative] session," Kohl-Welles said. Still, she doubts anything can be done because the electorate has such mixed emotions about the issue.
Staff reporter Russ Zabel can be reached at rzabel@nwlink.com or 461-1309.
