FOLLOWUP: Governor vetoes public-records bill – by request of legislators who approved it

9:24 PM: We and many others reported earlier this week on the uproar over 6617, the public-records-access bill approved overwhelmingly and mega-quickly by state legislators. Gov. Inslee was urged to veto it, despite it being seemingly veto-proof – and he just did, saying that he did so by request of legislators. Among those signing letters requesting the veto, two local reps who voted for the bill.

9:55 PM: The governor’s veto message is here; the House Democrats’ letter (signed by 34th District Reps. Eileen Cody and Joe Fitzgibbon) is here. The heart of it, from the latter letter, is a promise to “start again” with a collaborative “public process” over the next 9 months to “make recommendations to the 2019 Legislature.”

Alki President March 2, 2018 (12:10 am)

I was hoping the bill sailed through, you guys. No way is that scumbag Inslee getting my vote now. My gift to our kids has always been “secret emails from State senators”, printed on the backside of the EXPENSIVE wrapping paper from Rite Aid. The expensive stuff from the WEST SEATTLE Rite Aid guys. Now I’m just the same as any other dad. This is a major blow you guys. INSLEE DOES NOT REPRESENT ME you guys. Secrets protect surprises, and surprises provide the only structure of Christmas. Jay Inslee ruins Christmas and ruins my family. Vote no on Inslee in 2019 or whenever a election is I don’t know when. I never vote you guys.

billreidtv@hotmail.com March 2, 2018 (10:09 am)

What does this even mean?
RickE March 2, 2018 (12:09 pm)

I think this is an attempt at sarcasm, but unfortunately doesn’t work on any level.

Peter March 2, 2018 (6:50 am)

I have to wonder what the *real* driver for the disclosure exemption was, in the first place. Ironic, that they could get this done so quickly when so many other pressing needs languish for months, if not years. Even the veto by Inslee is largely symbolic so he can say he opposed the bill. He must’ve known this was afoot. Why didn’t he object then?

pw March 2, 2018 (7:57 am)

Clearly, the representatives that signed this letter were under overwhelming, immense public pressure with the fast track passage of this bill. I have no doubts they just assumed none of the voting public would raise much of a fuss and just accept it. Much of the voting public does not seem to look deep into what is happening in local politics/politicians actions. Hopefully, with the backlash that is apparent with the ST3 costs, and now this bill, that will change. I do not think any of those reps that voted yes on 6617 have a single bit of guilt over how they voted. They are now simply in panic mode. Too much sneaky back door politics in this area and now they are closer to being exposed for the shenanigans that occur. Please keep this in mind when deciding who to vote for at the next election cycle.

Anthony Canta March 2, 2018 (10:30 pm)

“Too much sneaky back door politics in this area and now they are closer to being exposed for the shenanigans that occur. Please keep this in mind when deciding who to vote for at the next election cycle.” Hitting the nail on the head. Thanks, PW.

Hilde Nichols March 2, 2018 (8:25 am)

I’m glad that this quick push for secrecy in Olympia was stopped – by news agencies like the West Seattle Blog and the Seattle Times, who kept explaining to the public the outrageousness of it all. I’m also glad I wrote Inslee a message about this, and I’m grateful to everybody else who took some form of action. But we’ll need to stay vigilant. The way it looks, legislators aren’t done with the idea.

Blinkyjoe March 2, 2018 (8:53 am)

The bill makes sense, and there are plenty of other venues for public records requests. The speed and secrecy with which is was drafted and passed is what seems untoward.

they March 2, 2018 (10:28 am)

This was about media access, me and you are just the people that pay the bills…

RickE March 2, 2018 (12:21 pm)

To BlinkyJoe and others who think as he does: Who works for whom? Should the boss be able to examine what the employee is working on?

If PII is involved that could be used to harass or otherwise harm a constituent, I’m cool with redacting it.

But it is time for our legislators to operate completely in the open with regard to lobbyists, contributors and any person or organization trying to influence them with regard to laws on the books or being proposed.

If our Representative Democracy is not open to inspection and questioning, we are in as bad a spot as I can imagine in terms of controlling our destiny.

KT March 2, 2018 (12:38 pm)

So Inslee only vetoed it because the legislators asked him to and not because it was a incredibly disgusting piece of legislative work in the first place? Wow.

Anthony Canta March 2, 2018 (10:23 pm)

Don’t want to belabor this legislative debacle of a bill, ESB6617, but feel obligated to do so in defense of the true meaning and practice of a democratic process which these lawmakers are supposed to represent. They utterly failed to respect democracy and their constituents by hurriedly passing this debacle in the twilight hours while Gov. Inslee was out of town attending a meeting with Pres. Trump. They even went as far as to try to make it veto proof. This sounds like an attempt by a bunch of lawless pirates trying to rob us of our U.S. Constitutional rights to be heard. DAMN THEM!

In the first paragraph of 34th District Reps. Eileen Cody and Joe Fitzgibbon letter to Gov. Inslee they only admitted their support of this piece of crap legislation because we, the interested public, were determined to find out if our so-called representatives voted to support it, or not. SHAME ON THEM. They continue on in the first paragraph to defend their support of this bill by presenting a bogus rationale that is stupid. They don’t want us to know what lobbyist they kiss up to, what immoral acts and deeds they are being held accountable for, and what they think and how they vote on issues important to us. In fact the last sentence of paragraph one their argument is that they should have the same rights of privacy protections as constituents. WRONG! You are a public figure that must be held accountable for the job of representing us the constituents that have hired you to do your job. The two so-called “politicians” that wrote this silly letter to Gov. Inslee will not be getting this voters support in the upcoming election unless they show a lot more responsibility in representing us and including us. Do I sound upset? You bet I am and I am going to stay that way until we have HONEST PEOPLE representing us.

In the second and third paragraphs, I am not very encouraged that your next attempt to come up with something better will be realized. I hope I am wrong. You admit that your failure plan is to “go through a full public hearing process”. Are you not intelligent enough to figure out that once you were caught hijacking democracy that there would be public outrage? Next, in your letter, you go on to kiss up to our governor asking him to veto this bill. Do you really think you had to ask him? You’re lucky I’m not the governor. I would probably have kept my mouth shut and proceeded quietly with litigation to remove the whole bunch of you from office. As you give your future plan of action to reconfigure, or redraft, this bill you better kiss up to the public, your constituents, because you have severely damaged any trust they had in you. So sad. Do your job correctly and HONESTLY. We don’t have to vote for you. We put you into office, and we can take you out of office.

Sincerely Disappointed,

A. J. Canta

Anthony Canta March 2, 2018 (10:41 pm)

Third paragraph, third line down, the word “failure” should read “future”. Thanks.

Lance Rasmussen March 2, 2018 (11:32 pm)

Sharon Nelson is the Senator that represents us and one of the primary backers that sponsored this bill. While I question my future votes for the house reps who have did an about face, Senator Nelson has not, leading me to most likely choose her opponent in the next election.

Sorry, comment time is over.