Walla Walla Senator Reflects on Almost 2 Years of Service
This story was published 9/16/02 in the Tri-City Herald
By Chris Mulick, Herald staff writer
OLYMPIA - Mike Hewitt was about as wide-eyed as a freshman legislator could get when he arrived in Olympia.
Twenty-two months after unseating Pasco Democrat Valoria Loveland to take his place in the state Senate, the Walla Walla Republican's ambition, smiley game face and disdain for government regulations that hamper business haven't been tamed.
But those who have watched his brief political career can point to a stark contrast between his first and second years in office.
Hewitt played up his rookie role in 2001, promising only to study the complicated issues before the Legislature and its equally complicated process.
But free from all other forms of gainful employment, Hewitt has become more active in 2002, though you still wouldn't know it by watching from the Senate gallery. Rather, he's learned to twist arms of regulators and lobbyists to solve problems off the floor, all while appearing to thoroughly enjoy his new profession.
"It's amazing what I've learned in two years," Hewitt said.
A freshman no more
As a small panel of Senate Republicans inched up to the microphones at a 2001 news conference to outline their water policy objectives, Hewitt positioned himself in a chair behind them.
"I'm just a freshman," he laughed as his colleagues prodded him to scoot closer.
Such was Hewitt's operating style during his first session. He wrote no bold measures, made few speeches and generally avoided the spotlight.
He became a sponge for information - he even called on reporters for background on various topics - and often could be found marveling at what he was learning.
Hewitt accepted smaller roles in developing major legislation, helping Republican colleagues identify potential budget cuts while lobbying Democrats to vote for the session's emerging water bill.
Hewitt found the job exhilarating, and it showed in his often gleeful demeanor.
"He has totally been 'I'm the new kid on the block,' " said Rep. Dave Mastin, R-Walla Walla. "That's how you get successful in this."
That enthusiasm subsided when the regular session ended without a budget or transportation plan in place, and uneventful special sessions dragged out until late July.
By then his real job, running the Walla Walla Chamber of Commerce, demanded attention. Several staff vacancies needed filling while he was tied down in Olympia waiting for legislative leaders to come up with a budget solution.
Feeling guilty about the time he'd been away, Hewitt later resigned as chamber director to devote himself to being a senator full time. The former beer and wine wholesaler had the luxury of being able to afford it, having sold his business in the late 1990s.
Things were different for Hewitt when he returned to Olympia last January. Gone was the awe and the freshman status. And with his district about to be redrawn to include parts of east and central Kennewick, Hewitt began finding Tri-City issues that needed attention.
He teamed with Kennewick Republican Sen. Pat Hale to press for money to help Hanford communities deal with an influx of construction workers and took up the cause to stop a plan to privatize Kennewick's state-run work release center.
Out of session, Hewitt has helped cattlemen in Kittitas, Asotin and Columbia counties fend off overzealous regulators, plotted strategy with irrigators and worked with the region's congressional delegation hoping to prevent the closure of four state parks.
Between April and July he averaged almost 20 meetings per month, not including political events, and has spent about two days a week in the Tri-Cities.
Constituent groups have found Hewitt to be accessible. In announcing him as one of two "legislators of the year," Washington Farm Bureau President Steve Appel noted Hewitt's availability "at any hour of the day or night, and even on weekends."
Former mentors, who weren't mentors for long, say they share information now as equals.
"It kind of goes back and forth," Mastin said. "He's not a freshman anymore."
Shooting straight
It was hard to imagine anyone could be more of a straight shooter than Loveland, who went on to be director of the state Department of Agriculture. But Hewitt has proved to be somewhat of a rhetorical marksman himself. Though his business speeches have a familiar ring to them, Hewitt otherwise has spun a rhetoric all his own.
Moreover, he's shown a willingness to tell people what they don't want to hear.
During a meeting in July with irrigators - generally a tough bunch to negotiate with - Hewitt suggested they consider relaxing their demands for revising "use it or lose it" water laws in hopes of developing legislation the governor actually would sign.
"He was trying to be pragmatic," said Tom Mackay, president of the Columbia-Snake River Irrigators Association.
Mackay said Hewitt has been anything but a "yes man" and that he challenges the organization to better state its case to him.
"I thought that was quite refreshing," Mackay said.
Hewitt has not been the kind of novice politician who spends his early years writing news releases, bold legislation and scathing floor speeches to boost name familiarity with voters for future elections.
Though caucus staffers have sought attention for him - once asking why his name isn't in the newspaper more often - Hewitt doesn't appear too worried about it. Ask him a question regarding something he knows little about, and he'll tell you as much.
"Talking for the sake of talking doesn't get you anywhere," he said. "To give a floor speech to be on TV doesn't do anything for me."
He's also shown a willingness to take tough votes or speak out against the grain of popular opinion. He actively lobbied other legislators to pass a transportation package in Olympia this year without sending it to voters and was visibly frustrated when they didn't.
That was nothing compared with his vote against a bill to require health insurers to cover prosthetic hair replacement for children who lose their hair because of certain diseases.
Though sick children are not the constituency any politician wants to disappoint, Hewitt was one of only 14 legislators to vote against the bill as a matter of principle, fearing new mandates would only push insurers out of the market.
"Where do you draw the line?" Hewitt asked.
When it comes to the budget, Hewitt often sounds like those tasked with writing it, people who can't afford to talk in generalities about how to fix billion-dollar deficits. He has spoken out against Tim Eyman's popular tax-limiting proposals and other voter-approved initiatives he says are crippling the state.
And though he's critical of agencies that have allowed people to receive services for which they no longer qualify, Hewitt generally avoids making blanket statements suggesting deficits can be made up by simply making government more efficient.
"There are places where we're doing fine," he said.
Moving on
Hewitt's road to Olympia was paved with political glory after his expensive and heavily watched race two years ago. After defeating Loveland, the Senate's top budget writer and perhaps the most powerful woman in state government at the time, Hewitt quickly was given a leadership post within the Senate Republican Caucus.
On the opening day of the 2001 session, Hewitt was introduced and walked from the back of the chamber to the rostrum to be sworn in, grabbing as many hands as he could find on either side of the aisle along the way.
"Don't go in a hurry," he told his escort.
By then he was ready to put his electoral conquest behind him.
"I won that ball game," he said during his second month in office. "Let's move on."
Others found that more difficult. The loss of Loveland cut a gaping hole out of the Senate Democratic Caucus at a difficult time. A swath of voter-approved initiatives was beginning to create difficult budget scenarios.
"His predecessor was my one and only mentor in the Legislature," said Sen. Lisa Brown, a Spokane Democrat who took over for Loveland as the Senate's top budget writer.
Feelings were hurt not just because Loveland lost, but also how she lost. During the campaign the state Republican Party portrayed the Pasco moderate as a legislator who pandered to the interests of Seattle liberals. Anti-Loveland mailers were distributed with pictures emblazoned with the Space Needle.
Because they are responsible for striking compromise among various interests across the state, budget writers often are easily attacked in re-election campaigns by arguments they don't adequately represent their districts. Hewitt has long acknowledged the disadvantage Loveland faced.
"There was a sense that of all the people to be painted with the liberal Seattle mantle, Valoria was not deserving," Brown said.
Hewitt, an impeccable dresser and the consummate people person, said he's been able to develop cordial relationships with most Democrats in the Senate. The Nisqually earthquake helped, forcing senators into the close quarters of a hearing room after the Capitol was closed temporarily.
But though he's gone so far as to calculate such opportunities to strike up conversation, not everyone has come around.
Hewitt stepped outside during a break earlier this year to find a Democratic colleague he believed he hadn't gotten to know yet and introduced himself. "Some of us don't care if you're here or not," the senator responded.
"You'll get over it," Hewitt quipped.
Patient ambition
Hewitt doesn't hesitate to suggest he'd like to assume more responsibility within the Republican caucus, perhaps even become a budget writer himself. But he's in no hurry. At 56, he could see serving for at least 10 more years so long as voters allow it.
"I can't remember an organization that I've ever been in where I haven't moved all through the ranks," Hewitt said. "I'm content to stand in line and wait my turn."
Senate Minority Leader Jim West, R-Spokane, saw potential during the 2000 campaign when he said he'd give up his own seat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee to make room for Hewitt.
"I think he's a rising star," Hale said.
Regardless, Hewitt's election has had a marked impact on the state. Ironically, it led to the seating of the liberal Brown as the Senate's lead budget writer.
But by closing the Democratic majority to 25-24, Hewitt's victory also allowed Republicans to occasionally take control of the Senate by using the vote of maverick Democrat Tim Sheldon, a Potlatch moderate. Such a maneuver was used to pass last year's long-sought water policy reform bill that otherwise may not have ever gotten to the governor's desk.
Hewitt vividly recalls the feeling of being in power.
"It was my first taste of blood," he said.
Control of the Legislature is expected to come down to a handful of key races in the Puget Sound area this fall. So in between speeches to rotary clubs and meetings with local government officials this summer, Hewitt also has spent time on the west side schmoozing with business executives and campaigning for Republican candidates.
"I want a majority," Hewitt said. "We're never going to get any water until we get a majority."