Thursday, March 22, 2007
A real accomplishment
This year's gathering of the state legislature has lacked any one big-punch theme, unless you want to count the squabbling about the Seattle Viaduct. You mostly hear discussions about spending, Democrats vs. Republicans. But a number of things going on have a real effect in Lakewood.
Perhaps one of the most noteworthy accomplishments is the success of Sen. Mike Carrell and colleagues to do something genuinely constructive within the tough political environment of Olympia. Prodded by Sen. Carrell, the legislature set up a committee, co-chaired by Democratic Sen. Debbie Regala, to come up with several good ideas for programs that might reduce the number of inmates returning to prison.
I got to one of their study groups several months ago, and was struck by the incredibly difficult task of accomplishing anything constructive when you had all the points of view in the same room. Many times, social workers, police, attorneys and others don't even speak the same language when it comes to inmates and what to do with them. It took a long time for people to share all they wanted to share about crime and about offenders.
So to build a consensus around real ideas to reduce real crime is a real accomplishment. It's a lesson to people who mistake Sen. Carrell's strident tones for a lack of flexibility: Sen. Carrell has shown he can be both fleet afoot and smart working within both parties and the many sides of this subject.
It's a majestic accomplishment in the Olympia environment.
Sen. Carrell does not have to do this; he could continue to get plenty of votes and keep winning in Lakewood just by demanding that all inmates just be punished harder and harder. But smart Republicans want to save money - and an inmate who repeats crime over and over is a money pit. Returning someone to prison again and again is a waste of real money (not to mention the pain inflicted by the crime). And hopefully Republicans would join Democrats in saying that there is also no point to the waste of human life represented by a life of crime.
So that's my thought about the significance of the accomplishment. If you want to know more about the actual efforts to break the cycle of crime, here are some write-ups:
Here's a good summary from The Seattle Times.
Here's an editorial from The News Tribune
Here's some context by longtime state capitol correspondent David Ammons
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Perhaps one of the most noteworthy accomplishments is the success of Sen. Mike Carrell and colleagues to do something genuinely constructive within the tough political environment of Olympia. Prodded by Sen. Carrell, the legislature set up a committee, co-chaired by Democratic Sen. Debbie Regala, to come up with several good ideas for programs that might reduce the number of inmates returning to prison.
I got to one of their study groups several months ago, and was struck by the incredibly difficult task of accomplishing anything constructive when you had all the points of view in the same room. Many times, social workers, police, attorneys and others don't even speak the same language when it comes to inmates and what to do with them. It took a long time for people to share all they wanted to share about crime and about offenders.
So to build a consensus around real ideas to reduce real crime is a real accomplishment. It's a lesson to people who mistake Sen. Carrell's strident tones for a lack of flexibility: Sen. Carrell has shown he can be both fleet afoot and smart working within both parties and the many sides of this subject.
It's a majestic accomplishment in the Olympia environment.
Sen. Carrell does not have to do this; he could continue to get plenty of votes and keep winning in Lakewood just by demanding that all inmates just be punished harder and harder. But smart Republicans want to save money - and an inmate who repeats crime over and over is a money pit. Returning someone to prison again and again is a waste of real money (not to mention the pain inflicted by the crime). And hopefully Republicans would join Democrats in saying that there is also no point to the waste of human life represented by a life of crime.
So that's my thought about the significance of the accomplishment. If you want to know more about the actual efforts to break the cycle of crime, here are some write-ups:
Here's a good summary from The Seattle Times.
Here's an editorial from The News Tribune
Here's some context by longtime state capitol correspondent David Ammons
