Washington State Legislature Ends in Gridlock
After a grueling, unproductive session, lawmakers fail to elect a U.S. Senator, leaving Governor McGraw to appoint a successor amidst a rush of last-minute legislation.
The third legislature has adjourned. It was not an industrious one. Only during the last two weeks of the session did it address itself with energy to the work of legislation, and as a consequence, numerous measures that would have proven salutary died because they could not be reached in the congested condition of the calendar. If the legislature has not passed all the laws that the people hoped it would, it has enacted a number of meritorious measures, including a complete revenue system and a new practices act that simplifies legal proceedings. The legislature failed to elect a senator, however, and interest is now centered on the governor's expected appointment of John B. Allen to the vacancy. The failure to pass a harbor line commission measure is regarded by Sound members as a most serious matter, as it may delay the establishment of harbor lines in Seattle and Tacoma for two years.
“It was only during the last two weeks of the session that it addressed itself with energy to the work of legislation.”
The 1893 legislative gridlock over federal appointments and the frustration of urban leaders over local harbor control highlight a perennial struggle in Washington: the friction between state-level dysfunction and the immediate infrastructure needs of growing cities like Seattle.
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