The Political Heist of 1909
Everett’s labor leaders decry a state legislative session that killed pro-worker laws and undermined the direct primary, centralizing power back into the hands of party machines and corporations.
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The 11th session of the legislature is now history and it is well to take a moment to review its work from a laboring man’s viewpoint. Four distinct labor measures were asked for: Employers’ Liability, an eight-hour law for female workers, an eight-hour law for miners, and the Initiative and Referendum. Not one passed in full. Even worse, the legislature sabotaged the Direct Primary Law, effectively stripping voters of the right to choose their own Supreme Court judges and forcing registration based on party affiliation. They tell us it is undignified to drag the name of an aspirant for the bench through the mire of a primary campaign. In reality, they are simply returning control to the corporations and the party machines.
“Have we not had enough Gordons and Roots upon the Supreme Bench?”
This editorial captures a defining era of Washington state politics: the struggle to secure direct democracy and workers' rights against corporate-backed machines. The suspicion of 'party machines' and the desire for legislative accountability remain recurring themes in local civic discourse.
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