Eight to watch

New Democrats bring fresh energy, perspectives to Senate

When Democrats lead the Senate this year, they’ll do so with the biggest majority in 30 years. Six seats changed parties in the fall election, transforming a slim 26-23 margin to a commanding 32-17 Democratic majority full of fresh perspectives. What’s more, the election of two other members to seats that were already held by Democrats brings the number of newcomers to eight and further varies the caucus’ blend of backgrounds and experience.

Half of the freshmen bring experience from the House of Representatives.

Sen. Ed Murray of Seattle, a House member for 11 years and chairman of its transportation committee, has been tabbed as one of two vice chairs on the Senate Transportation Committee. No stranger to the running debates over the Alaskan Way Viaduct and the 520 Bridge, both of which run through his district, Murray said the state has “the opportunity to finally build these structures right, as well as the potential to damage neighborhoods if we don’t do it right.” Murray will be the sole freshman on the Senate Rules Committee and will also serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Labor, Commerce, Research & Development Committee.

Murray said his focus will be “to improve the quality of life for our citizens by improving the education system for our kids, improving the health care system for all Washingtonians, and by continuing to show that Washington is a place that treats everyone fairly, by showing gay and lesbian men and women, people of color, that ours is a state where the rules are the same for everyone.”

Sen. Derek Kilmer of Gig Harbor, a rising star in the House in just one term, will be vice chair of the Senate International Trade, Economic Development & Management Committee and hopes “the bread and butter issues that matter to my district, things like getting a fair transportation deal for our area, improving our schools and working for local jobs.”

Kilmer will also be the vice chair of the Senate Higher Education Committee and serve on the Senate Consumer Protection & Housing Committee and the Senate Transportation Committee.

“I have the old-fashioned notion that you run for office to do something, and we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Kilmer said, citing the need for “more jobs here in Washington state” first and foremost. “I hope to have an impact on the key issues that matter to my area. I’m already working on helping out small businesses; the area I represent is very reliant on the success of our small businesses.”

Sen. Rodney Tom of Medina brings a particularly distinctive perspective to the caucus after serving two terms in the House as a moderate Republican. Decrying that party’s increasingly rightward shift, Tom left the party to run as a Democrat earlier this year and unseated the incumbent GOP senator in the 48th District.

Tom said his aim in running for the Senate was “to continue my work on education and transportation in representing the district. This is a critical point in our state’s history; we can really put education on a track so that we have world class education here in Washington.”

In Washington Learns, the Senate has the opportunity to create “a blueprint for education that we can further develop over the next ten years,” Tom said.

Tom will be vice chair of both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee, and will also serve on the Senate Ways & Means Committee and the Senate Consumer Protection & Housing Committee.

Sen. Brian Hatfield of Raymond, a past House member for 10 years in the 19th District and more recently the legislative liaison for Lt. Gov. Brad Owen for eight years, replaces departing Sen. Mark Doumit. He intends to continue his longtime focus on rural economic development as vice chair of the Senate Agriculture & Rural Economic Development Committee.

“I’m happy to do everything I can to realize economic recovery and stimulus,” Hatfield said. “We’re still kind of two Washingtons, even though a lot of people don’t like to say that, and we continue to need voices to say we need to do everything we can for jobs in rural Washington as well as the Puget Sound area.” Hatfield will also serve on the Senate Ways & Means Committee and the Senate Financial Institutions & Insurance Committee.

Hatfield will bring to the Senate what he calls “the uniqueness of being 40 years old but still struggling.”

“I’m like most Washingtonians, working month to month to pay the bills, two kids in schools, one’s a senior and one’s in third grade, so that gives me a pretty good perspective on what most folks are going through — having to pay the bills each month, set money aside, worrying about health care — I’ve kind of got that uniqueness of being 40 years old but still struggling.”

Then there are the four freshmen with no House experience — but plentiful experience in other venues — such as Sen. Chris Marr of Spokane, selected as a vice chair on the Senate Transportation Committee. As president of the Foothills Auto Group, which operates Lincoln Mercury, Mazda, Acura and Honda dealerships in the Spokane Area, Marr earned the Washington Environmental Council's 2005 Backyard Hero Award for his leadership in helping pass state clean car legislation. He has chaired the Washington State Transportation Commission (the governing board of the Washington State Department of Transportation) and serves on the board of regents of Washington State University and on the board of governors of the Washington State University Foundation. He chairs the Board of Empire Health Services and Inland Northwest Health Services.

“With kids in college, I had to ask what type of future are we handing them, what’s going to keep them in Spokane and in Washington state after they graduate, and I saw there was a lot of work to do,” Marr said. He promises to bring “another voice from Eastern Washington, someone with 30 years of business experience, 20 as a CEO of a large company, and someone who has actual hospital board experience and higher ed experience.”

Marr will also serve on the Senate Health & Long-Term Care Committee, the Senate Human Services & Corrections Committee and the Senate Water, Energy & Environment Committee.

“I’ve already found a very collegial atmosphere (in the Senate), where you’re encouraged to share your opinions and there’s respect for everyone’s views,” Marr said. “I hope to find people who are willing to share their experiences with me as I move forward and start on my learning curve.”

In the 47th District, Sen. Claudia Kauffman of Kent approaches elective office with the values under which she was raised — taking care of children, respect and dignity for elders, and honoring the sacrifice of veterans. Named vice chair of the Senate Consumer Protection & Housing Committee, Kauffman will also serve on the Senate International Trade, Economic Development & Management Committee, the Senate Transportation Committee, and the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee.

“My top priority has been education,” she said. “I’m a working mom; I have kids in public schools, I have been involved in education on the local level.” Her efforts now will target education funding, passing simple-majority legislation for school measures, and investing in early learning.”

In the 45th District, Sen. Eric Oemig of Kirkland hopes to put skills that worked well in private industry to work in government as vice chair of the Senate Government Operations & Elections Committee. “I want to invest our money smarter,” said Oemig, a performance engineer with a reputation for measuring and improving systems.

Oemig will also serve on the Senate Ways & Means Committee, the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee, and the Senate Water, Energy & Environment Committee.

“I would like to improve the efficiency of our budget and improve the tools with which we’re measuring across all areas of government,” Oemig said.

Sen. Steve Hobbs of Lake Stevens sees the Senate as more or less an extension of his public service in the active-duty Army. "After nine years in the Army, it was time to come back home and give time back to my family,” Hobbs said, “and I realized that service comes in many forms, not just wearing a uniform. And having three children, I wanted a better future for them.”

As vice chair on the Senate Financial Institutions Committee, Hobbs’ priorities are health care and “finding ways to fund our education system and keep our strong economy by passing yet another sound, stable budget.”

Hobbs will also serve on the Senate Ways & Means Committee and the Senate Early Learning & K-12 Education Committee.

“I’m hoping to find that the Senate as an institution is everything I’ve heard that it is,” Hobbs said. “A deliberative body that will weigh the important issues of the people in this state.”

Before they can do anything, though, all the new senators except Hatfield, who was appointed to fill the seat, need to be sworn in — an event to which Kauffman has invited family members from across the country.

Even veteran hands are assuming their Senate seats with at least some butterflies. “You’d be surprised, having been in the Legislature for 11 years, I’m kind of nervous,” Murray said. “The Senate is a bit of a mystery to me. Hopefully I’ll find friends and people who want to get to work and get things done.”

Others, meanwhile, expect little in the way of surprises.

“Quite frankly, I really don’t view them as that different,” Tom said. “I think working in the Senate in the majority is going to be very beneficial to my district.”

Added Kilmer: “I spent a fair amount of time on that side of the Capitol last year, coming from the House, and I imagine I’ll find what we found last year – a group of people who are focused on getting things done for the people of Washington state. That’s what excites me.”