A partisan rift exposed Tuesday could mean state senators will begin the 2011 legislative session debating whether to let Democrat Nick Harper of Everett take office.
Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said Harper, the runaway winner in the 38th District, should be sworn in Jan. 10 and to not do so would deprive voters of their chosen representative.
“He’s not accused of any wrongdoing,” said Brown, who laid out her view on her blog Tuesday. “After all the talk (this election) about respecting the will of the people, I would certainly hope one of the Senate’s first actions is not ignoring the will of the voters in the 38th District.”
But Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, contends Harper should not take office until legal clouds hovering above those who helped him win are cleared away by the courts.
While Hewitt could challenge Harper’s seating on the first day of session, he said Tuesday he won’t decide whether to go forward until he consults members of his caucus. He said he did not have the votes to do it and is not going to look for them though he would not rule out trying anyway.
And on Monday, the Republican leader made an interesting offer to Brown if she would defer the swearing in: Hewitt said he’d not vote on some matters.
“I realize that leaving this seat vacant will result in a 48-member Senate in the meantime, and I realize that this likely deprives your caucus of another member,” he wrote. “In this unique situation, I would be happy to recuse myself from voting on a specific matter if you thought that the absence of your 38th District vote would make a difference in the outcome on a specific issue.”
Harper is the presumptive victor in the Nov. 2 election to serve Everett, Tulalip and part of Marysville. He’s received 60 percent of the vote to 40 percent collected by conservative Rod Rieger.
But Harper’s success has been overshadowed by a Seattle political consultant’s actions in the primary aimed at helping him beat incumbent Sen. Jean Berkey, D-Everett.
Berkey insists the consultant’s behavior deceived enough voters to alter the outcome and caused her defeat. She is pushing for Harper to be kept out of the Senate while she fights for a do-over election.
“I think Sen. Mike Hewitt made a very generous proposal and it should be considered,” Berkey said Tuesday. “It would give the attorney general time to investigate this and the courts an opportunity to make a decision on some very significant violations of the law.”
In the primary, Moxie Media owner Lisa MacLean ran an independent campaign boosting Harper and opposing Berkey financed by the political left. In the final days, she conducted an attack on Berkey from the political right with mailers and phone calls urging voters to back Rieger.
MacLean did not disclose who paid for that effort and, as e-mails show, acted to conceal the identity of the donors, which turned out to be unions and trial lawyers.
Attorney General Rob McKenna has sued MacLean and a judge will meet with attorneys in the case for the first time in late January.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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