The Political Junkie

In case you missed the whole Sen. Doug Ericksen breaking the rules to shut down Sen. Ranker story I posted on Friday, you should check it out and then wash it down with a parliamentary rant from local procedure aficionado Shane Roth over at Latte Republic, and a humorous picture from Dave Willingham. In case you are wondering, Ericksen’s office has yet to respond to my request for a comment.

Having written about that issue, imagine my surprise to receive this email from Sen. Ericksen mid-day that Friday.

Ericksen’s Legislative Update

There he is, promoting “working with my neighbor to the south, Sen. Kevin Ranker, on a package of bills.” This is less than twenty-four hours after breaking the rules to shut down Ranker for trying to move a bill to protect children from toxic toys. The Republican caucus echoed Ericksen’s mind-blowing bravado with this tweet sent out that day.

Really Doug?

As if that weren’t bad enough, it appears that Sen. Ericksen killed more than just the toxic toys bill. He singled out one of Sen. Ranker’s personal priorities for this year, a bill on Ocean Acidification (covered by NPR here) and deliberately killed it to send a message to Sen. Ranker, who took to Facebook to share the bad news.

I am sad to report that yesterday Sen. Doug Ericksen deliberately killed the Ocean Acidification bill – the only bill in Washington State Legislature to do anything about ocean acidification in our marine environment. This bipartisan sponsored bill would have implemented the recommendations of the Ocean Acidification Blue Ribbon Panel – ensuring that we address ocean acidification and protect the thousands of jobs that depend upon a healthy marine environment.

Worse however, is why he did it… Not because he did not support the bill, but out of spite as he knew it was important to me.

He actually said to me that I “should have given him more Democratic votes (on the bills that gutted Initiative 937 – our renewable energy portfolio) and he would have moved the bill out of committee.”

It is a very sad day in Olympia. It feels like DC.

It seems Sen. Ericksen is very intent on saying that he is bipartisan when his actions tell a far more destructive tale. If you would like to let Sen. Ericksen know how you feel about his behavior, please call his office at (360) 786-7682. Be polite but firm and let him know how you think his behavior reflects on the people of Whatcom County.