The Senate Deadlock in Olympia
After fifty-two ballots, the Washington State Legislature remains stalled in a bitter senatorial fight that is effectively paralyzing the lawmaking process.
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.
Numerous telegrams from leading Republicans of Spokane who have heretofore been supporting Turner have been received here, indicating a reversal of the sentiment of that city on the senatorial question. The senders of the dispatches urge the abandonment of the fight and advise the Spokane members to support Allen. It is an anomaly that this legislature, which has in its membership a good many active, intelligent and well-equipped men, should be so exceptionally slow in legislation. There can be but one reason for it: the prolonged senatorial contest which has commanded much of the attention and energy of the members has, in a measure, deadlocked legislation as well as the senatorship. It is impossible for men to give that close attention to lawmaking that the public interests demand when the excitement of a great political struggle influences them day and night.
“The prolonged senatorial contest which has commanded much of the attention and energy of the members has, in a measure, deadlocked legislation as well as the senatorship.”
Gridlock and partisan brinkmanship in Olympia are far from new. This report from 1893 illustrates how a single legislative impasse—in this case, the selection of a U.S. Senator—can bring the entire machinery of state government to a standstill, a recurring theme in Washington’s political history.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.