Drinking Liberally with Ed Murray
On Tuesday, state Representative Ed Murray joined us at Drinking Liberally in Montlake. The event was reasonably well-attended, with the usual mix of young and old, smelly hippy and uppity professional. All agree on politics, though, so it's good stuff. I'd say the total attendance was around 15 people, including Goldy from Horse's Ass. We watched some All-star baseball before the main event started (insider info: Nick, the organizer of DL, is a National League fan and possibly a Braves fan. So A: he likes stupid baseball and B: he likes teams that can win their division 48 times in a row but can't win a freakin' world series).
Ed showed up, and after getting his beer in hand, started talking a bit about HB 1515, the Anderson-Murray Anti-Discrimination bill. I won't reveal too much about the conversation for three reasons: 1: I left early 2: some of it is strategy related and 3: I frankly couldn't hear all of it. But I'll cover what I can.
So 1515 is a bill that was first introduced around 30 years ago, he's not sure what year it was first introduced. Late '70's is all we know for sure. All the bill does is add the words "sexual discrimination" to our anti-discrimination statutes, so you can't be denied housing or a job because of your sexual orientation. Religious organizations, of course, retain their waiver on this matter, as they should. The bill was finally brought to a vote in the state Senate this year and lost by only one vote.
There were moderate Republicans who supported the bill, but couldn't vote for it without cover (chickenshits). This year, he wants to get them that cover. He thinks Tim Sheldon, if he keeps his seat, may be persuadable with the right pressure, and I think he's right on this. He knew about Microsoft's withdrawal of support long before it became public, but wanted to keep it quiet lest other businesses withdraw their support for fear of going it alone. The Stranger kiboshed that plan, but it all worked out for the best. Microsoft took their spanking with aplomb, and I think they're better off for it.
He isn't sure about using Jim West in the discussions in the upcoming session, because it's too incendiary. He's right - we don't know which side the fire would land on, but it'll bludgeon whoever gets on the wrong side of the issue. The West fiasco is just an ugly matter of bad personal behavior, although I think a strong point could be made that he still has his job because of the laws in Spokane. Dunno how helpful that is, though.
Not long after this, I gave up and left. In addition to being difficult to hear, it became the Goldy show, with Goldy making the unfortunate decision to talk over others (including our guest!) and generally dominate conversation. Hey, Goldy: you've got a blog that you can dominate! Let other folks get in a word in real space. Sheez.
I think this bill has a real chance. We've got to pressure FinkBeiner and Esser to suck it up and provide cover for each other, and we've got to hit Tim Sheldon super hard to bring him over to the side of good, even if it's just for this one issue. *sigh*
Later, I write on Rove. Or maybe the flag, I can't decide.
Ed showed up, and after getting his beer in hand, started talking a bit about HB 1515, the Anderson-Murray Anti-Discrimination bill. I won't reveal too much about the conversation for three reasons: 1: I left early 2: some of it is strategy related and 3: I frankly couldn't hear all of it. But I'll cover what I can.
So 1515 is a bill that was first introduced around 30 years ago, he's not sure what year it was first introduced. Late '70's is all we know for sure. All the bill does is add the words "sexual discrimination" to our anti-discrimination statutes, so you can't be denied housing or a job because of your sexual orientation. Religious organizations, of course, retain their waiver on this matter, as they should. The bill was finally brought to a vote in the state Senate this year and lost by only one vote.
There were moderate Republicans who supported the bill, but couldn't vote for it without cover (chickenshits). This year, he wants to get them that cover. He thinks Tim Sheldon, if he keeps his seat, may be persuadable with the right pressure, and I think he's right on this. He knew about Microsoft's withdrawal of support long before it became public, but wanted to keep it quiet lest other businesses withdraw their support for fear of going it alone. The Stranger kiboshed that plan, but it all worked out for the best. Microsoft took their spanking with aplomb, and I think they're better off for it.
He isn't sure about using Jim West in the discussions in the upcoming session, because it's too incendiary. He's right - we don't know which side the fire would land on, but it'll bludgeon whoever gets on the wrong side of the issue. The West fiasco is just an ugly matter of bad personal behavior, although I think a strong point could be made that he still has his job because of the laws in Spokane. Dunno how helpful that is, though.
Not long after this, I gave up and left. In addition to being difficult to hear, it became the Goldy show, with Goldy making the unfortunate decision to talk over others (including our guest!) and generally dominate conversation. Hey, Goldy: you've got a blog that you can dominate! Let other folks get in a word in real space. Sheez.
I think this bill has a real chance. We've got to pressure FinkBeiner and Esser to suck it up and provide cover for each other, and we've got to hit Tim Sheldon super hard to bring him over to the side of good, even if it's just for this one issue. *sigh*
Later, I write on Rove. Or maybe the flag, I can't decide.
posted by switzerblog at
1:37 PM
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