“Everyone asks me how you play Calvinball. It’s pretty simple: you make up the rules as you go.”
– Bill Watterson, Creator of “Calvin & Hobbes”
To Our Defenders!
In the next few weeks, FPIW will be publishing our annual ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly’ bulletin. That bulletin will be a comprehensive review of bills we followed throughout Session, and detail for you what turned out to be perhaps the most extreme Left-wing Session in Washington State history.
Here in this bulletin we want to share some of the tactics used by Democrats in order to get a bill passed. Virtually nothing was off limits. Nothing was unfair. Nothing would hinder them.
Like in the comic strip “Calvin & Hobbes,” when the game is not going as Calvin wants it to go, Calvin suddenly changes the rules of the game to suit his own interest to win. It’s called Calvinball. (The analogy comes from Rep. Jim Walsh.)
So, too, with the Democrats this Session. The goal of Calvinball by the Democrats is to silence us. Let me provide you a few examples of how Democrats limit debate on issues important to them.
• Closing Debate. On Day 15 of the Session, Democrats in the House voted to repeal a cornerstone of procedure enacted in 1893 to guarantee unhindered and transparent debate. They reduced the supermajority requirement of two-thirds to a simple majority in order to close debate, thereby giving Democrats immense power to silence Republicans. That simple move was a subversive act overturning 132 years of precedent, and locking in Democratic power.
And they used this new rule to silence the opposition on parental rights. The Republicans were shut out and silenced.
• Limited Time To Testify. As a delay tactic, Democrats routinely spent an inordinate amount of public hearing testimony time on staff reporting, questions of the bill sponsor, and committee discussion, and then informed participants that testimony would be reduced to 60 to 90 seconds due to a lack of time. This again is a brass-knuckled, “silence the opposition” move.
• Cherry Picking Who Testifies. During public hearings, I witnessed first-hand many times when Democrats limited conservative experts from testifying. Many of these individuals drove to Olympia from far distances in order to speak on bills, but were passed over for remote testimony from those with a liberal perspective.
On the Property Tax debate, for instance, more than 43,000 people registered CON, which was a new record. But during the public hearing, the majority of the people called on to testify were PRO. The Democrats cherry picked to their own advantage.
• Limited Hearing Notices. All bills, including fiscal bills, should go through the customary channels and abide by the normal cut-off dates. The one exception is bills labeled “NTIB” (necessary to implement the budget). These specific bills may technically be introduced at any time during Session. NTIB bills should be a rare exception.
But not for Democrats.
They introduced more than 30 bills after the final bill cut-off date to limit the public’s exposure to the legislation. On multiple occasions the bill was dropped and a public hearing was scheduled a day or two later. This is like a procedural “sucker punch” to catch the opposition off guard, and without time to rally public outcry. Again, it’s a silencing tactic.
• Unnecessary Emergency Clause. Finally, many bills by Democrats inserted an “emergency clause” so that if signed, the bill would become law immediately, rather than the customary 90-day period. None of these issues were emergencies, as if a major earthquake just took place, or as if there were a volcanic eruption.
No, the real reason for this is so that a referendum could not be filed, which again is another way to try and silence us. A referendum allows public input, and requires dramatically fewer signatures than an initiative. Tim Eyman exposes this “emergency clause” tactic in his testimony video below:
We hope these examples help illustrate the “procedural warfare” and even “dirty tricks” used against us. Regardless, we will never be silenced on issues that impact the family.
Such unfair tactics were used to advance the Democrats’ agenda this year. In our final recap bulletin, ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,’ we also will show you specifically how Democrats routinely: do not consider life sacred; do not place their concern for victims above criminals; do not value your hard-earned money; and do not honor parental rights.
But we also have some very good news to report, too. Until then!
Defending the family,
Brad Payne, President
FPIW Action
