We were wrapped up in endorsements yesterday and didn’t have time to link the PI.com’s interview with Gov. Chris Gregoire. We’ve been trying to get the governor to directly address the controversial statements that state house Speaker Rep. Frank Chopp (D-43, Seattle) made to the Stranger, namely that the infamous cost overrun provision came from Gregoire, not Chopp, who otherwise has been widely blamed for the poisonous provision.
We did get denials from Gregoire’s spokesman, but the PI talked to Gregoire herself.
Have you spoken with Speaker Frank Chopp since he said the ‘stick-it-to Seattle’ clause came from you?
I have not talked to him. I had my legislative liaison call him and ask for a retraction. And I don’t know what he’s going to do.
Just to be clear, that language did not come from you?
You heard from the fellow members of the House caucus. This was the speaker’s office’s idea. They come out with the language. Yes, there was debate about it, and maybe some changing of the words as the process went along, but, no, sorry, didn’t come out of my office.
We did a public disclosure request for all communications between Chopp and Gregoire on the tunnel provision to see if perhaps Chopp had a smoking gun—perhaps an email documenting Gregoire’s role in coming up with the provision.
He does not. We got the response to our request yesterday and were told that Chopp does not have any records of communications with the governor on the overruns provision.
Footnote: Communications by members of the legislature are not subject to public-disclosure law. (The legislature is responsible for writing the public-disclosure laws under which it operates, and the exemption is a perennial complaint of public-disclosure advocates.) However, state House Democrats spokeswoman Melinda McCrady said she didn’t believe there had been any communications between Gregoire and Chopp on the overruns issue, and the response from Chopp’s office said there were “no records responsive” to our request.
