Floridians had them and Oklahomans did too.
Now state Rep. Mike Hope, R-Lake Stevens, says it’s time to find them in Washington.
They are ideas on how to improve the governing of this state from those who know it well – the governed.
On Wednesday, Hope will formally launc
h a search for the best 100 ideas from the public. He intends to deliver them to lawmakers for consideration in the 2012 session.
Hope said he is establishing a nonprofit and assembling a bipartisan advisory group to vet the hundreds and maybe thousands of suggestions collected in public meetings and via a web site. The web site is set to go live Wednesday.
King County Councilman Reagan Dunn, former Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and state Rep. Kevin Parker, R-Spokane, are among those on the advisory panel.
Hope said he began working on this initiative after speaking with former Oklahoma House Speaker Lance Cargill, who did this in his state in 2008.
In Oklahoma, the effort guided by Cargill, a Republican, produced the book “100 Ideas” which can be downloaded for free here.
Oklahoma mimicked Florida and what U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.,did as a member of the state Legislature Republican lawmakers put together “100 Innovative Ideas for Florida’s Future” that became a blueprint for Rubio’s leadership when he became House Speaker.
About now, you might be thinking, didn’t Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire do essentially this with her Transforming Washington’s Budget web site? That site lists 1,951 ideas.
“We’re not going to do what the governor did. That was crap. We’re going to make it real,” Hope said. “When the governor puts it on her web site, that’s politically driven.”
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