State Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, wants to bring home the bacon — or at least some kind of pork.
Dunshee is working to get funding for a gymnasium for the Lake Stevens Boys and Girls Club. But he’s in a fight to get it.
So he’s called on fellow 44th District legislator Sen. Dave Schmidt, R-Bothell, to put the heat on his friends.
"Schmidt’s really got to put his foot down over there," Dunshee said of the Senate.
Schmidt, who calls the gym desperately needed, reminded party leaders about the lack of money his district has received over the years.
"In my 10 years in the Legislature, I have only had one budget project that was not for the public at large," Schmidt said.
He added that Dunshee requested no pork for his district last year as an example that he doesn’t abuse his position as chairman of the House Capital Budget Committee.
"It’s about time some of this pork comes to the 44th," Schmidt said. "It’s only a quarter of a million" dollars.
But Dunshee is butting heads with Sen. Mike Hewitt, chairman of the Senate Capital Budget Committee. While Dunshee has put funding for the gym in his budget, released Tuesday, Hewitt has said he will not include money in his budget, which is due today.
Hewitt said he would rather give money to higher-education projects that have matching federal dollars.
"I have $300 million in requests," Hewitt said. "How can I do onesies and twosies here, and open the door for everything else?"
Dunshee’s pork-barrel request has disturbed some fellow Democratic legislators.
Sen. Darlene Fairley, D-Lake Forest Park, the ranking minority member of the Senate Budget Committee, said Dunshee has gone back on his word by trying to get funding for the gym.
"We had a verbal agreement with Hans that we would not put any member projects in the capital budget," Fairley said.
Fairley pointed to $100,000 to establish the William E. O’Neil Jr. Wildlife Area in Snohomish County as an example of pork in the House budget. "That $100,000 is not an agency request," she said. "It sounds like it’s for Hans Dunshee."
Dunshee said Hewitt and other Senate Republicans are using the request as leverage for negotiations with the House Capital Budget.
"It comes down to, ‘You want yours, I want mine, let’s agree on them both,’ " Dunshee said.
But his strategy may backfire, Fairley said. "The trouble is, we don’t have any member projects in ours, so what do we have to give?" she said.
The Lake Stevens Boys and Girls Club has raised $825,000 for its projects and has a $1 a year, 30-year lease on the building, with a 10-year option to renew. Bill Tsoukalas, executive director of Snohomish County Boys and Girls Clubs, said even if the Legislature approves the $350,000, the Lake Stevens facility will open in September without a gym because of the construction schedule.
Still, Dunshee is not giving up.
"I’ll get it," he said. "I’ll just have to insist. If it’s justified, if it’s fair, it oughta happen."
Herald writer Cathy Logg contributed to this article.
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