It doesn’t have a snowball’s chance at Sun Lakes State Park on a July day. A move in the state Senate to split Washington in two is kaput – this year.
Today is the deadline for policy bills to win committee approval or be tossed in the trash. With this issue, that trash can is likely a recycle bin.
We surely haven’t heard the last of it. The idea of creating another Washington – not the other Washington, gussied up by D.C., but another state altogether – never dies.
As someone with a foot on each side of the Cascades, I feel torn when I hear talk of carving up The Evergreen State. Like the whole of Washington, I embody those cornball Osmond lyrics, “I’m a little bit country, I’m a little bit rock ‘n’ roll.”
To those who carp that Eastern Washington has nothing in common with the west side, I have a plain-spoken reply: So what? We are one wonderful state, Steptoe Butte to Neah Bay. If you know nothing of those places, shame on you.
Our regions were shaped by geography, ancestry and industry. We ought not let a few lawmakers convince us that because of such differences, we don’t belong together.
State Sen. Bob Morton, who represents a vast area of northeast Washington, vehemently disagrees. The Republican sponsored Senate Joint Memorial 8009 with 10 other lawmakers, all but one a Republican.
“We don’t have the clout to even make amendments to issues brought before the Legislature,” Morton said. The “one shoe fits all” approach “is too tight for Eastern Washington, it pinches too much,” he said, listing key issues including the economy and government regulation.
Of nine state Supreme Court justices, none are from Eastern Washington, he said. Neither U.S. senator is from the east side.
“Look at our customs and our culture. Look at our family finances and personal income. It’s entirely different,” Morton said. “We’re pioneer spirits. If the western part feels we’re an albatross, let us go.”
The proposal calls for Congress to “consent to the formation of a new state whose western boundary follows the crest of the Cascade mountains.”
In California, Los Angeles shares a state with tiny towns in Siskiyou County far to the north. Do folks in Chautauqua County, N.Y., live like occupants of a Manhattan high-rise? If we split, why shouldn’t other states? How many states do we want in these United States? If 50 is too few, is 150 too many?
The proposal had a public hearing Feb. 22 in the Government Operations and Elections Committee. Sen. Jim Kastama, D-Tacoma and chairman of the committee, said it will go no further this session. “We wanted to allow people to have their say. The airing of these discussions was a positive thing,” he said Tuesday.
In Eastern Washington, the discussion isn’t over. Morton said county commissioners are forming a coalition of governments. His vision remains, along with the great divide.
I won’t ever forget showing up as a fresh-out-of-Spokane freshman at the University of Washington. It didn’t take long to figure out that my penny loafers were out of place on the Seattle campus filled with Birkenstock sandals.
I can almost hear some farmer grumbling, “Lady, it ain’t about sandals.” Then I remember that my 82-year-old father, who lives in Spokane, a former wheat farmer who votes Republican, goes around the house in his well-worn Birkenstocks – and I don’t own a pair.
So much for the vast cultural divide.
Dan Bushnell, vice principal at North Lake Middle School in Lake Stevens, sees value in finding out what’s on the other side. He developed a travel curriculum that fulfills the state history requirement for high school graduation. Students can start in seventh grade and take several years to visit Walla Walla, Chewelah, Omak, Vancouver, Forks and other historical sites.
“When people at least travel over there, they end up realizing that people in those areas are affected by whatever decisions are made,” said Bushnell, who recalled the dire economic effects that spotted owl protection had on the Olympic Peninsula.
While Bushnell is no fan of a new state, he’d like those of us in Western Washington to expand our horizons. “At least travel over there. It’s about walking a mile in their shoes,” he said.
Instead of vacationing in Maui, he suggested a fossil dig in Republic.
Hmm. I love Eastern Washington, I was born and raised under those sunny skies. But Republic rather than Maui? That, my friends, would be a tough sell – tougher even than a 51st state.
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
