In our view: Taxpayer rip-off
On the 10th and the 25th of each month, the taxpayers of Washington pay Jim Dunn $1,720 for his services as a state representative, and bestow on him the medical coverage and other benefits that go to all legislators. In addition to his salary, Dunn gets from the taxpayers $100 per day for living expenses while the Legislature is in session.
On the 10th and the 25th of each month, the taxpayers of Washington pay Jim Dunn $1,720 for his services as a state representative, and bestow on him the medical coverage and other benefits that go to all legislators. In addition to his salary, Dunn gets from the taxpayers $100 per day for living expenses while the Legislature is in session.
The taxpayers are being ripped off.
Dunn’s good-old-boy persona and his narrow-minded, don’t work-too-hard approach long ago rendered him largely ineffective in Olympia and in Clark County.
Ineffective and embarrassing, as civic and business leaders, educators, lobbyists and other legislative observers know. But now The Dunn Problem should be obvious even to the most rock-ribbed Republican voters in the 17th Legislative District, where he was first elected in 1996. (Barberton, Brush Prairie, Burton, Fisher Basin, Cascade Park, Orchards, Five Corners, Salmon Creek east of I-205, Mount Vista.)
Jim Dunn should bring an end to this by rescinding the “C1” candidate registration form he filed with the state in November and declaring that he will not seek re-election this fall.
It is obvious that even his own House Republican caucus would welcome that move. Dismayed and angered by years of Dunn’s ineffectiveness and boorish behavior, GOP leaders have seen enough. After yet another incident — a sexually inappropriate comment to a female legislative staffer last fall during out-of-town committee business — Republican leaders stripped Dunn of his committee assignments and barred him from legislative travel on the taxpayers’ dime.
They gave Dunn a chance to climb back out of that hole by working hard this session and taking sensitivity training. But, as The Columbian’s Kathie Durbin reported Thursday in a Page 1 story, that hasn’t happened. The Republicans aren’t paying for it and Dunn said, “I can’t afford it.”
In the meantime, he told Durbin, he is devoting more time than in past years to meeting with constituents and attending receptions and other gatherings. But no one can legitimately argue that being barred from committees — where bills die or advance — is not a huge blow to a lawmaker’s effectiveness.
The thing of it is, Dunn was never very effective anyway. For example, he has taken pride over the years in being the only “no” vote on bills, as he was this week on an anti-gangs measure.
He also was the lone no vote on an earlier bill to remove barriers to school lunch programs buying fresh produce from farms in this state. That prompted this comment from Kurt Fritts of Washington Conservation Voters:
“When every member of the House votes for a bill like this one, and Jim Dunn doesn’t, he makes clear that his votes are cast without thought or reason.”
Dunn even concedes he’s a political liability, telling Durbin, “A number of my bills don’t have my name as prime sponsor. I don’t want my reputation to hurt the chances of any bill I’m working on, so I try to get the chair or co-chair to sign on.”
Dunn’s personal Web site (www.jimdunn.com), which appears not to have been updated for a couple of years, says his stances on issues are grounded on “the 4 R’s:” Respect, responsibility, religion and the American republic.
Dunn can show respect and responsibility by bowing out of the 2008 election.
