Fit To Be Tied In Washington.

• Author: Ammons, David
• Position: Democrats and Republicans

Washington's House members find themselves split down the middle for the second time in two years.

Washington's '49ers: Still fit to be tied.

Two years ago, after an unexpected Democratic surge, Washington's 98-member House of Representatives found itself tied 49-49 for the third time since statehood.

There was wailing, ranting, meltdowns, spats and, yes, even some good humor as lawmakers used to partisan politics learned to do the Bipartisan Two-step. Eventually, they struck an uneasy truce but had a rather productive two-year sitting.

Both sides, of course, lived for the 2000 elections, when all 98 seats were on the ballot and each party believed it could pick up at least a skinny majority.

And what happened?

After the two parties spent an eye-popping $11.9 million to try to break the tie, after a handful of recounts were completed, the state House amazingly wound up right where it was before the campaigns-tied again.

Analysts called it the political equivalent of flipping a quarter and having it land on edge. Twice in a row.

The same Washington electorate also created as tight a margin as possible in the state Senate--25 Democrats and 24 Republicans-and in a vote that went down to the absentee ballots, picked Democrat Maria Cantwell over veteran Republican U.S. Senator Slade Gorton to pull the Democrats into you guessed it, a 50-50 tie in the U.S. Senate.

Stuck with a tie for two more years, barring special elections, disappointed and dejected House members settled in for another biennium of wandering in the wilderness.

To be sure, they say, it's less strange and exotic this time around, since they learned from the School of Hard Knocks what works, what doesn't-and what isn't fixable, but must be merely endured.

House Co-majority Leader Democrat Lynn Kessler, called the first tie a "shotgun marriage" of incompatible mates. So what is the second tie like? "It's like being in a marriage that's gone under, and you can't get out of it, and you're staying together for the kids," Kessler said.

"You can kind of muddle through a tie for two years, but I wouldn't wish this on anybody four years in a row."

Maryann Mitchell, Republican co-chair of the Transportation Committee, agrees: "It gets harder. For the first two years, we knew we were part of something that had happened for only the second time ever, so we adopted an attitude of 'We'll make the best of it.'

"But it wasn't meant to work this way. It was designed to have one party in the majority with an agenda and a focus. This is craziness. The voters didn't send us down here because we agreed with people in the other party. Otherwise, why did we campaign and why are there two parties?"

Legislative ties are unusual, but not unheard of, across America. Washington has the only House tie. But Arizona's Senate is tied 15-15, and Maine's Senate has a 17-17 tie with one independent.

The tie is an ever-present possibility, since more than 60 percent of the country's chambers have even memberships--28 Senates and 33 Houses. Every election cycle since 1984 has resulted in at least one tie.

AN OLYMPIAN TASK

One small favor as House members tackled their Olympian task yet again: They didn't have to invent a brand new operating manual from scratch. As in the ties of 1979-1980 and 1999-2000, the two sides agreed on a Noah's Ark power-sharing arrangement rather than divvying up committees and leadership posts.

The parties are sharing everything even-up. They have two speakers, two clerks, two speaker's attorneys, two majority leaders, co-chairmen for each committee and so on. Even the perks, like office and parking assignments, are even-Steven. After this year's tie materialized, the House spent $100,000 to reconfigure office space so the Democrats had square-footage equity.

Many of the players are holdovers from last time, most notably the speakers, Republican Clyde Ballard of East Wenatchee and Frank Chopp of Seattle. Political foes, but personal friends, they've learned to "read" each other and know how to head off most of the pitfalls.

Both parties have absolute veto power over the other's legislation. Both co-chairmen have to agree to committee agendas, and a bipartisan vote is needed to advance a bill.

"The hardest thing to grasp is that you cannot offer an amendment, hang an amendment or put a bill forward unless you have support from both sides and from both speakers," says Co-majority Leader Republican Dave Mastin. "I think you...