2018 General Election Lost 55 — 45
What Goes Around Comes Around
Democrat Tom Foley represented Washington’s Fifth Congressional District for nearly thirty years. When he was defeated, he was the Speaker of the House. Foley’s replacement remained in Congress for a decade. His replacement, the incumbent, has been in Congress for a little more than a decade. She is the only woman in the Republican leadership in the House.
Lisa Brown http://www.lisabrownforcongress.com/ is one of two Democrats running in the Fifth District. She intends to do for the incumbent what the Republicans did for Tom Foley more than twenty years ago. Lisa Brown is the more likely Democratic candidate in Washington’s election system where the top two vote-getters in an all-candidate primary compete in a runoff election. She represented Spokane in Olympia for twenty years, serving as Ways and Means Chair and as Majority Leader of the State Senate. Appointed as Chancellor of Washington Sate University in Spokane, she served for four years and resigned to run for Congress.
Lisa Brown is another Congressional candidate in what is now a Republican oriented district who does not tout controversial positions. Her website says: Gets It. Done. She has a political lifetime that defines what she gets done.
Lisa Brown has been a leader among Democrats. Initially elected to Washington’s House of Representatives, she became assistant Minority leader in her second term. Elected to Washington’s State Senate, she became Ways and Means Chair during her first term and Majority Leader not long after that. One thing she gets done is election by her colleagues.
Lisa Brown’s major political accomplishment in her two decades as a legislator was a piece of constituent service that was also important for the State. Overcoming regional opposition and a statute that would have prohibited her goal, she led the legislature in creating a public medical school at Washington State University in Spokane. Many of her legislative interests have been about health. Under her guidance, Washington created a health insurance program for all children, required health insurance coverage of mental illness, and established a nonprofit foundation for free or low cost prescription drugs for the needy.
How Lisa Brown gets things done is notable. She was a central figure in obtaining a same sex marriage law. Taking a risk in 2005, the year she became Majority Leader, she brought gay-rights legislation to the floor of the Senate. The bill failed by a single vote. She made every Senator take a position. The “no” votes received public pressure and the same measure passed in 2006.
Lisa Brown also looked to the public on an education issue. During the 2000s, school budgets had been failing to pass with the required 60% local referendum margin. Lisa Brown arranged for a state-wide ballot measure on making school levies subject to majority of votes. The measure was approved by voters in 2007.
Lisa Brown’s style as Leader was a contrast to her predecessor. Legislators who arranged conversations with her about projects they wanted were more likely to come away with some hope that their goals could be achieved. The columnist who made the contrast said, nevertheless, the ultimate results were probably the same.
The results were probably worse for legislators with projects during Lisa Brown’s tenure. Political life grew harder after 2007. The financial crisis affected Washington and everywhere else, making it tough to pass programs that cost money. Budget cuts rather than new programs dominated the political conversation.
Lisa Brown decided she had a pretty good run. She had initially earned some national notoriety when she and her son were banished from the floor of the House after she brought her one year old to work there. The second time she brought her son to the Senate floor, she was too powerful for anyone to banish mother or child even if the rules had not been changed. Lisa Brown had been putting her doctorate to use teaching at Gonzaga, something she said she would continue when she left the Senate. Out of electoral politics, she instead became Chancellor of Washington State University – Spokane where, among other things, she oversaw the medical school which had been authorized under her watch.
After four years as Chancellor, Lisa Brown http://www.lisabrownforcongress.com/is looking at a good time to run for Congress. Help her run. Help Democrats finally replace Tom Foley with a Democrat. Lisa Brown’s election will help Democrats in general. She is a pro. She is a leader among colleagues and knows how to rely on the democratic process. This election is nearly fourteen months away. Even a small monthly amount is extremely valuable.
