Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, released this statement today regarding the Senate Republicans’ proposal to take control of the Senate and divide control of committee chairmanships:
"Forcing half the chamber to accept a take-it-or-leave-it plan is not the way you foster collaboration, trust or respect. That’s a recipe for confrontation, not collaboration -- and it bears little resemblance to the Democratic principles I believe my constituents in the 36th District and people across the state expect legislators to uphold.
"It takes more than the defection of two conservative Democrats to make a proposal bipartisan. If one side says it’s bipartisan but the other side says it’s not, then it’s not.
“If Republicans were to control the Senate Labor, Commerce & Consumer Protection Committee, I fear where they would take our state. I find it telling that their very first proposal is to strip the words ‘consumer protection’ out of the title of the committee.
“Their proposal today reminds me of their actions when they briefly took control of the Senate floor last session and passed a budget that slashed funding for K-12 education, family planning, women’s health, safety net programs and other public services critical to Washingtonians in communities across our state.”