In the rough and tumble of this year’s elections, state Sen. Steve Hobbs got roughed up more than most.
The Lake Stevens Democrat won election by overcoming bruising challenges from both the political left of his party and the establishment of the GOP.
He triumphed amid a hail of fire from unions of teachers, health care workers and state employees who targeted him for defeat because of his centrist views and snarky demeanor.
Yet in victory he may have lost ground within the Senate Democratic caucus, given the committee assignments he drew.
He will be chairman of the Financial Institutions, Housing and Insurance Committee — just as he requested.
That’s no surprise as Hobbs had been vice-chair and is the panel’s only returning Democratic member.
He’s moving onto the transportation and agricultural panels. That’s because he’s getting removed from two higher profile committees — Early Learning &K-12 Education, and Ways and Means — where not so coincidentally he’s been a pain in the neck for labor leaders and liberal Democrats.
While on the education panel he pushed for reforms against the wishes of the Washington Education Association. On Ways and Means, he voted earlier this year against the Democrat-drafted tax bill and final budget, to the frustration of union and party leadership alike.
When the assignments came out Dec. 6, Hobbs’ friends felt Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown had coyly delivered a political victory to those who couldn’t beat the incumbent at the polls.
“That’s completely false. There’s no basis for it,” Brown said. “Sen. Hobbs was treated fairly well.”
Assigning people to committees is an iterative process, she explained, and won’t be completed until the 2011 session begins Jan. 10.
Senate Republican leaders want several committees enlarged, including education. Brown said that would mean adding more of her members to sustain Democrat majorities. Hobbs might still wind up back on the schools panel, for example.
Perception, to this point, is creating its own reality among Capitol insiders who are comparing her treatment of Hobbs to that of Sen.-elect Nick Harper of Everett, the union-backed Democrat who unseated Sen. Jean Berkey, D-Everett.
Harper campaigned hard. Yet there’s no question he received tremendous benefit from an independent effort to oust Berkey, which was funded by an assortment of labor unions, progressive groups and trial lawyer associations.
Arguably, members of that alliance can claim credit for taking Berkey out in the primary with their roughly $250,000 effort to tear her down and build Harper up in the minds of voters.
So, on which committees did Harper land? Ones of high value for alliance members.
He will be vice chairman of the education committee, vice chairman of the judiciary panel and a member of the Human Services and Corrections committee. He also is going to be on the Senate Rules Committee where the fate of nearly every piece of legislation is decided.
“There’s no special treatment going on here,” Brown said.
As true as that may be, Harper may feel some pressure to prove his independence from the interest groups who backed him. It won’t be politically pain-free if he veers too far off course.
Just ask Hobbs about that.
Political reporter Jerry Cornfield’s blog, The Petri Dish, is at www.heraldnet.com. Contact him at 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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