OLYMPIA – Today the Association of Washington Business released its annual Legislative Report Card, reviewing the 2008 legislative session and grading lawmakers on their performance.
“If you’re in business in Washington, you will want to see how your local legislators voted on business issues,” said AWB President Don Brunell. “In these difficult economic times, lawmakers have to be held accountable for how their votes affected the competitiveness of our state’s job makers.”
Besides listing how every legislator voted on those issues most affecting business, individual legislators receive a percentage score reflecting how well they agree with Washington’s business community. Scores range from a low of 22 percent to two legislators with perfect scores of 100 percent.
The highest rated senators were Sens. Jim Honeyford, R-Sunnyside, and Linda Parlette, R-Wenatchee (100 percent); and Senators Jerome Delvin, R-Richland, Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla; Curtis King, R-Yakima, and Bob Morton, R-Orient (96 percent).
The House of Representatives’ top scorers were Reps. Larry Crouse, R-Spokane; Joel Kretz, R-Wauconda; Lynn Schindler, R-Spokane (96 percent), and Reps. John Ahern, R-Spokane; Gary Alexander, R-Olympia; Bruce Chandler, R-Granger; Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale; Larry Haler, R-Richland; Bill Hinkle, R-Cle Elum; Dan Kristiansen, R-Snohomish; Joe Schmick, R-Colfax; Norma Smith, R-Clinton; Maureen Walsh, R-Walla Walla; and Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake (92 percent).
"Anyone doing business in Washington today needs to look at this voting record and the percentage scores," Brunell said. "There is no better indicator of how business-friendly an individual legislator might be."
The Report Card can be found online at www.awb.org and is being distributed with the current issue of Washington Business, the association’s bimonthly magazine.
AWB is Washington's oldest and largest statewide business association. Formed in 1904, its 6,600 members employ more than 650,000 workers. AWB also is the state chamber of commerce and the umbrella organization for more than 130 trade and professional organizations. While AWB's membership includes the states major employers like Boeing, Microsoft and Weyerhaeuser, more than 85 percent of AWB members employ fewer than 100 people and one-third of our members hire fewer than 10.
