The Olympia Legislative Power Struggle
A dramatic standoff at the Olympia Hotel as Republican factions scramble to secure the House speakership and organize the new government.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
At the Olympic Hotel, the speakership sentiment assumed definite form when the King County Republican members of the House held a caucus and decided to support Hoole of Clallam County for speaker as a unit. The combination of the lower Sound went to pieces; Mentzer, of San Juan, failed to consolidate enough support. A dramatic scene occurred at the hotel when representatives Parrish and Tucker brought Hoole and Mentzer together in the rotunda, urging them to agree to a caucus to speed up the organization of the House. Hoole consented, but Mentzer refused. The deadlock persists as the legislature prepares for the upcoming inauguration of the new governor.
“Both of the first-named representatives are old members and fathers in the House of the Republican party, and their patriarchal aspect lent impressiveness to their plea for the good of the party.”
The frantic back-room horse-trading in 1895 Olympia highlights the perpetual friction between regional power centers in Washington. Just as the legislature struggled to organize itself then, modern state politics continues to reflect the push-and-pull between King County's massive voting bloc and the rest of the state.
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