Fred Jarrett should have gone with the age-old break-up line.
“It’s not you, it’s me,” he could have told his Republican colleagues. No hard feelings. It’s just not working out.
But he elaborated. When the three-term Republican state representative from Mercer Island announced last week that he would run for the state Senate as a Democrat, he said he hadn’t changed, the party had.
“I have … remained true to Republican values of investment in education and transportation, civil rights, environmental protection and well managed and effective government,” he wrote his constituents.
Then this: “…the Republican Party has evolved in different directions.”
There must be something in the party-switchers handbook requiring a profession of steadfast personal consistency accompanied by a sad acknowledgment of the party’s drift. Whether drawled by life-long Southern Democrats or crisply articulated by suburban Republicans, the story’s the same. “The party has forsaken its principles. I have not.” Perhaps not coincidentally, the reluctant decision to change parties typically leads the convert to the promised land of majority status.
Naturally, political parties change over time. Once-prominent issues recede as others take their place. Beyond the high-level discussion of values and issues, however, the struggles in the state capitol involve the nitty-gritty of legislative strategies. Most lawmakers in both parties care about Jarrett’s agenda. They disagree sharply on how best to achieve shared objectives.
Jarrett’s an effective and thoughtful legislator, fond of citing his business background to underscore his pragmatic approach to problem solving. A former mayor and council member, he — like many nonpartisan office-holders — seems uncomfortable with partisan politics.
Often, he was an outlier in the more conservative House Republican caucus. Nonetheless, party leaders gave him freedom and prominence. He served as the ranking member on the influential Transportation Committee and played a leading role in education policy. House Minority Leader Richard DeBolt understandably says that Jarrett has let down a lot of his friends.
Until a few weeks ago, he’d considered running for the Senate as a Republican, possibly facing a tough race against incumbent Democratic Sen. Brian Weinstein. Then Weinstein opted out. Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown promised Jarrett Democratic support if he crossed over. From contest to cakewalk, the deal was done.
Chris Vance, a former GOP chair turned independent public affairs consultant sees it as a smart move for Jarrett and “good, old-fashioned back room politics” by the Democrats. “Most of the time when party switchers switch, it is out of ambition or convenience,” he says. Now, barring the unlikely emergence of a strong Republican challenger, Jarrett will not only be in the Senate, but he’ll be there as a member of the majority party.
Neither he nor the party changed much. But the politics of his district has. Jarrett’s decision further strengthens Democratic control of the pivotal suburban districts surrounding Seattle.
“If we can’t win the suburbs, we can’t win statewide,” says Vance. Republican legislative candidates have a dismal record in recent suburban elections.
Republicans Dino Rossi and Attorney General Rob McKenna carried the suburbs in 2004. And they did it without tacking left. Successful candidates don’t have to become pro-choice, climate change activists. But, Vance says, they must “speak cul-de-sac.”
Suburban voters tend to be well-educated independents, economically conservative and responsive to traditional GOP tax and spending issues. They resemble the group Joel Kotkin and Fred Siegel call “gentry liberals,” in their recent Los Angeles Times commentary. With their “green tint” and progressive social values, these affluent voters increasingly dominate metro area politics. When Vance speaks of “secular suburban moderates,” he’s talking about them.
To win their allegiance, Vance says, Republicans must show they care about transportation, education and the environment. That does not require lockstep agreement with liberal activists, but it does demand a practical understanding of these voters’ concerns. Many current suburban legislators earned their credibility by serving first in local government. To nonpartisan voters, resumes matter more than issues. With more such credentialed candidates, Republicans would again be competitive.
The Democrats played their hand astutely. And Jarrett should be treated well by his new party. But if he wants to stay friends with those he left behind, he needs to work on his break-up lines.
Richard S. Davis, vice president-communications of the Association of Washington Business, writes every other Wednesday. His columns do not necessarily reflect the views of AWB. Write Davis at richardd@awb.org or Association of Washington Business, P.O. Box 658, 1414 Cherry Street SE, Olympia, WA 98507-0658.
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