Bring homeowner protections to a vote

While Googling around a bit to follow up on the dust-up involving the "Homeowners' Bill of Rights," the BIAW and Frank Chopp, I stumbled upon this wonderful little story that is fairly illustrative of the kinds of tactics used by the BIAW. So just to jog your memory (because this was all of five months or so ago), consider this:

I heard the radio ad smearing state Senate candidate Chris Marr yesterday morning on 99.9 FM and thought there was something fishy about it. Now, according to the S-R's Jim Camden, the ad's been pulled for its false claims, while the revised version now on the air is merely misleading:

"A radio commercial from It's Time for a Change, another independent group, had to be rewritten after it claimed three-fourths of state Senate candidate Chris Marr's campaign money comes from Western Washington or out of state and that GOP incumbent Brad Benson is a Spokane native. It was pulled from at least one radio station Friday when the Marr campaign showed KXLY-AM staff that more than half of his money comes from inside Spokane County, and that Benson, like Marr, is a California native.

"The new ad says 'nearly 50 percent' of Marr's campaign funding comes from Western Washington or out of state. A check of the Public Disclosure Commission reports shows that even more of Benson's money – about 58 percent – comes from Western Washington or out of state."

That's right - they're attacking Marr for getting more than half his support from within the county, while incumbent Brad Benson got nearly 6 out of 10 dollars from outsiders. Talk about twisted logic.

"Time for a Change" was nothing more than a front group for BIAW, of course.

Look, the Democratic Party can be a "big tent" party. But some things aren't in the tent. The BIAW is not only outside the tent, it repeatedly tries to burn the tent down. There are many examples: the recount, the Supreme Court races, the scummy kickbacks used to fund the lies (that are made possible by abuse of the "retro" program), the attacks on John McKay, etc.

Chopp is taking a substantial risk by killing the Homeowners' Bill of Rights. The netroots will give Democrats a lot of leeway, but the one thing an elected Democrat can't do is "pull a Lieberman."

In other words, you can't actively assist the opposition that is trying to destroy us. The BIAW is run by people who are willing to do virtually anything to destroy the Democratic Party. They have repeatedly demonstrated that fact.

So it's rather odd that one of the leaders in this state's Democratic Party would think it appropriate to nix a consumer protection bill.

There's been bizarre chatter that Democrats must not "overreach," which started nearly the day after the election and seems to mean mostly that if Democrats stand up for regular folks, they are dirty hippies.

We can compromise without sacrificing our values. As Lakoff has observed:

The authentic pragmatist realizes you can't get everything you think is right, but you can get much or most of it through negotiation. The authentic pragmatist sticks to his or her values and works to satisfy them maximally. The inauthentic pragmatist, on the other hand, is willing to depart from his or her true values for the sake of political gain.

Frank Chopp has consistently conveyed that he's a politician who believes in standing up for the people. He's a Democrat, he represents a district that's very progressive, he says those are his values. But he would not allow thoughtful, common sense legislation with broad support to move forward in the state House. He killed it without offering a good reason why.

When you willingly give up your authenticity and your moral vision, you surrender up your values and you surrender trust.

It's disturbing that entrenched interests are allowed to dictate the terms of the debate in this state so thoroughly.

Another facet to discussions involving the BIAW is that everyone, including me, at times feels compelled to concede something like "well, there are some good, honest developers, too." And there are.

But when was the last time Tom McCabe felt forced to point out the existence of hard working union members? Does Evergreen Freedom Foundation leader Bob Williams have anything nice to say about the Washington Education Association?

The mindset is seemingly unchanged, as if Democrats hold a slim majority or it's still a tie. Our political discourse has not yet recovered from the damage that has occurred in recent decades (especially the 1990s), as by default business voices are considered legitimate and authoritative, and worker and consumer voices far less so, no matter the merits of each case.

Much as it would be enjoyable to talk only of the justice that BIAW so richly deserves, that is actually a secondary issue. The real issue is that a modest consumer protection bill won't be voted upon by the state House because a Democratic speaker has decided to kill it, for whatever reasons.

Chopp stands to lose, and the caucus suffers along with him. As does the reputation of the state Democratic Party.

It might be too late for all I know, but Chopp should try to find a way to let the bill, or a modified version, see the light of day and let the legislative process play out. There are real homeowners out there who deserve better protection, and they aren't in on the horse trading in Olympia.

I yammer on endlessly about everything, but on this score I have been perfectly consistent: the Democratic Party must put the interests of ordinary people first. Business leaders deserve a seat at the table, not veto power.