The Buccaneer

Issue date: 3/4/09 Section: Campus Life

Media Credit: Marcus Como Lynn Kessler talks in her office

Media Credit: Felice Thompson A beautiful day for a visit on the Capital campus. Our first meeting was in the Insurance building.

Their brains were as foggy as the weather as they left Port Angeles before dawn to make their first appointment in Olympia. The staff of The Buccaneer is on its way to visit the state capital to see how politicians carry out the business of representative government.
When arriving on the Capitol Campus its grandeur strikes at every turn. The buildings are Grecian- or Federalist-palatial. Inside, the marble walls and floors compete with ornate frieze work covering two-story ceilings.
It's hard not to feel small and ordinary. And it reflects the axiom frequently offered by practicing Journalists: Those who inhabit this campus are inmates of a Marble Zoo.
But the hustle and bustle of the pages, interns, politicians and business suits brings you back to the reality and purpose at hand. It is reminiscent of ants in an ant farm. Each ant has an assigned job and everyone is hurrying to get that job done. In some instances young pages were actually running to their appointed tasks.
The first meeting brought us to the quiet, expansive office of Washington State Auditor Brian Sonntag. Students are greeted warmly and offered hot beverages while waiting. Entering Sonntag's office students are invited to sit in high-backed leather chairs, surrounded by sports memorabilia and family photos.
The auditor's office is responsible for determining whether tax dollars are being spent appropriately. His staff conducts performance audits periodically and investigates agencies reported by state employees or private citizens as conducting business suspiciously or inappropriately.
Last year the auditor's office spent $15 million for its audits and operations, but those audits revealed $21 million in wasted or misappropriated funds.
Sonntag is an avid supporter of open government and holding government accountable for its actions. "We always want to remember who we work for," said Sonntag. The public elects the state auditor. His mission is to measure the stewardship of spending tax dollars.
Twenty minutes later it was a rapid walk to 24th District Representative Lynn Kessler's office in the high-domed Legislative Building, the heart and pulse of the Capitol

Campus. She's also the majority leader serving as chief of House of Representative democrats. This time The Buccaneer staff waited in a dim corridor outside her office, next to the cavernous Representatives' meeting chamber. The House was not in session during the visit.
Kessler's office is small, part of a suite dedicated to the House leader's staff. Like the offices before, dark wood paneling surrounds the big leather couch and chairs. This appointment was short, maybe 10 minutes, but it was clear that Kessler supported higher education and what it meant to the state and Peninsula College community. She supports a bill to reduce the cost of textbooks, finding textbooks "horrendously expensive. They change two sentences and students have to buy a new edition and the author is the only one who reaps the rewards," remarked Kessler. "The system stinks."
The next interview was with Senator Jim Hargrove. He appears smug and self-assured. He's been the 24th District senator for 25 years now. Sitting with him in his office he offers to speak on two different levels, and pointedly explains his answers would be quite different "off the record" than on as one student-reporter produces a digital recorder. Hargrove also reaffirms he opposes a bill that would assure student news media of qualified advisers and independence from administrative review. He said his position is molded from testimony by school administrators and boards earlier in the week who claim discomfort with such "rights" being required by law.
Regarding the state's budget deficit, Senator Hargrove observes, "You could cut all state funding for education and prisons, and you'd still need to trim another $3 billion to balance our budget." The numbers and the outcome are beyond the fiscal challenge confronting Peninsula College administrators who must find the means to cut spending by $1.5 million for the next biennium.
For student reporters, the most fascinating part of the day was visiting the Temple of Justice for an interview with Supreme Court Chief Justice Gerry Alexander. The architecture of this temple is grand, with white pillars, wide steps and bronze-clad doors with gold accents. Entering the temple visitors can't miss a sign posted that states unequivocally that all court proceedings are open to the public. And every session is recorded or broadcast live by TVW.
Journalism Instructor Frank Garred and the Chief Justice graduated from University of Washington the same year and although they were not personally acquainted then, they subsequently merged pathways and the two reminisced about events and stories from their past.
The legislative process begins in early January and continues for four months into the year. It suggests a strong commitment to political and public service by the citizen legislators. The days and hours these elected and appointed government officials devote to a process that keeps government functioning in the face of an $8.5 billion projected budget deficit, that must with balanced reason create laws for citizens' conduct and government operations, seems daunting to a one-day visitor, including these student reporters.
For four PC Journalism students and their two instructors, Feb. 19 was a day of wonder and discovery, all put into perspective along a communal dining table at Brinnon's Geoduck Tavern. Now blurry from a long day, sore feet and a new sense of awareness the enlightenment came, along with the food.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools