Browsed by
Tag: Washington State Senate

Archives Spotlight: The Washington Senate Committee on Public Morals

Archives Spotlight: The Washington Senate Committee on Public Morals

Years ago, the Washington state legislature included a Senate Committee on Public Morals. According to Sine Die: A Guide to the Washington State Legislative Process, the committee lasted from “1909 through 1954,” but there’s evidence it was around in the 1890s. Perhaps there was a hiatus between the 1890s and 1909. It is unclear what the committee met about, since its files were not retained in the State Archives. Do any of you around the Legislature know some of the…

Read More Read More

After the session: The OSOS report on the 2018 Legislature

After the session: The OSOS report on the 2018 Legislature

Going into the 2018 session of the Washington State Legislature, Secretary of State Kim Wyman presented a list of proposed changes to state law to improve our state’s elections process. Now that the state House of Representatives and Senate have adjourned sine die, here’s a look at how proposals supported by Secretary Wyman fared. Presidential primary date change: Washington’s quadrennial (every four years) presidential primary would have moved from May to March under Senate bill 5333 and House bill 1469, which were…

Read More Read More

WA Legislature convenes with Senate drama

WA Legislature convenes with Senate drama

Secretary of State Wyman (left) and Supreme Court Justice Barbara Madsen smile as Sen. Pam Roach signals to her colleagues after being sworn in.   (Photos courtesy of Benjamin Helle) Washington’s 64th Legislature got off to a peaceful start in the House and some unexpected fireworks in the Senate. Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, newly re-elected after a bruising challenge from a fellow Republican in the General Election, caught her GOP caucus off-guard by teaming with 23 minority Democrats and fellow…

Read More Read More

Mr. Fairweather Goes to Olympia

Mr. Fairweather Goes to Olympia

From the desk of Steve Willis, Central Library Services Program Manager of the Washington State Library: Although the word “snarky” wasn’t really used in 1889, the concept was there– as we shall see. In this case study we should start with the 1889 Constitutional Convention held in Olympia, where delegates from across Washington Territory met in order to hammer out a guiding document. When I read through the WSL copy of The Journal of the Washington State Constitutional Convention, 1889, I…

Read More Read More

GOP-led coalition grabs power in WA Senate

GOP-led coalition grabs power in WA Senate

It had been whispered for weeks, but on Monday a coalition of the 23 minority Republicans and two Democrats seized control of the Washington State Senate. Rodney Tom of Medina and Tim Sheldon of Potlatch, both fiscally conservative Democrats who have voted with Republicans on some issues in the past, announced that they had agreed to partner with the Republicans to operate the Senate.  Tom, who began his political  career as a moderate Republican, will be majority leader and Sheldon…

Read More Read More

“Library Jewel” # 3: Political business cards

“Library Jewel” # 3: Political business cards

Washington State’s Primary Election is nearly upon us, occuring next Tuesday, August 7.  In honor of the upcoming Primary, we are featuring two rare political business cards as our third “Library Jewel” for July, located within the Rare Publicans section of the Washington State Library. These political business cards, featured below in the picture, belonged to candidates who were running for separate elections in 1908.  The card on the left belonged to Republican Party candidate Theodore Mentzer, a lumberjack from Tenino,…

Read More Read More