The only debate between then-challenger Ronald Reagan and incumbent President Jimmy Carter prior to the 1980 presidential election produced one of the lines for which President Reagan is still remembered. “There you go again,” he said to Carter (before explaining that Carter’s promotion of national health insurance misrepresented Reagan’s position...

The word “showdown” conjures up images of the Old West, when one person would challenge another person to step out into the street to settle a disagreement. Recently the state Supreme Court set the stage for a constitutional showdown by doing something we’ve never seen: imposing a $100,000-per-day fine on...

Thanks to the efforts of Senate Republicans, college students and their families will see tuition reduced by 5 percent across the board this fall, and by even more in 2016, for a total 15 percent reduction at UW and WSU and a total 20 percent at Eastern, Western, Central and...

On Friday, after a regular session and three special sessions that spanned six months, the Legislature finally adjourned for the year. It was frustrating that it took so long to reach a final agreement on a new state budget. In the end, the Legislature passed the 2015-17 operating budget by...

I’d like to report that I am back in Spokane Valley, and all of the work in the Legislature has finally come to a close. Unfortunately, the third special special session will not end as quickly as we had hoped. Last Tuesday night, we worked around the clock to pass...

There was some breaking news overnight. At 1:30 a.m. the governor announced that legislative negotiators had reached a tentative deal on a new operating budget. While details of the deal have just been released, there is now hope that we’ll be able to avoid a state-government shutdown when the current...

While I am very hopeful that we will soon see a resolution to the budget negotiations, progress remains slow. The sticking points, however, have never been clearer. The Senate proposal has no tax increases. If the House accepted the Senate proposal, as is, the session could come to a close...

It’s frustrating that nearly two weeks into the second special legislative session, the Legislature has yet to reach agreement on a new budget. At the same time there has been a measure of progress which suggests things are beginning to come together.

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said, “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it… I do not know anyone who has gotten to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but it...