In special session, big send-off for Lovick
Published 10:22 pm Thursday, November 29, 2007
OLYMPIA — Snohomish County’s sheriff-elect John Lovick didn’t figure to ever wield a gavel again in the chamber of the House of Representatives.
And neither he nor Rep. Brian Sullivan, D-Mukilteo, ever counted on casting another vote as a legislator.
Yet there they were Thursday morning, recalled for duty one last time before each assumes a new post in Snohomish County government.
Lovick, in his role as House Speaker Pro Tem, launched the special session with a tap of the gavel at 8 a.m. and the declaration “The House will be in order.”
Hours later, he would use a much larger one — roughly 3 feet end to end — to mark the end of the session. “Today, I feel like this is it for me,” said Lovick, D-Mill Creek. “It’s kind of emotional. You look at a place like this; I’ve been here nine years and five years as pro tem and presided over so many bills.”
Sullivan delivered the session’s opening prayer. In it, he thanked legislative staff for their efforts and urged members to do their best to serve their constituents well.
Then, under Lovick’s direction, debate proceeded for two hours on House Bill 2416 to restore a 1 percent cap on annual property tax increases. The House passed it 86-8.
Sullivan, who becomes a Snohomish County councilman in January, said he was “very excited about taking this last vote. It’s a good way to end a good run.”
After the vote, legislators surprised Lovick with a resolution honoring his service.
“You have just been an amazing, amazing role model for us,” said House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam.
She brought Lovick to tears recounting a story he told members upon his arrival in the Legislature in 1999. The tale was of how he, as a child, saw his grandmother go into a voting booth only to tell him later she could not cast a ballot because she could not afford the poll tax.
House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt, R-Chehalis, praised Lovick’s statesmanship in giving the outnumbered Republicans a fair shake during tense debates.
“I’ve seen you give us the look. I’ve seen you give the look over there,” he said referring to Lovick’s gaze before gaveling down a lawmaker who drifts off course from the subject of a debate.
Representatives gave Lovick a loud and extended standing ovation which he quieted with a pounding of the 3-foot wooden gavel that Cascade High School students gave him to use for the special session.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been speechless,” he said. “I am so amazed every time I walk into this building. I so respect the institution.”
He invited members to visit him.
“If you come to Snohomish, obey the law,” he said, igniting laughter.
Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfieldheraldnet.com.
