F in racial equality

All local state lawmakers received Fs Monday in a report card issued by several civil rights organizations.

Lawmakers receiving the poor grades called the Legislative Report Card on Racial Equity "biased," "subjective" and "baffling," stressing that they were trying to create jobs for people of all ethnic backgrounds.

The report, released on the steps of the Capitol Building in Olympia, graded state lawmakers by their votes on 25 or so bills that the organizations believed most affected people of color. The report card gave grades for voting records in civil rights, education, health care, economic, housing, tribal and criminal justice categories.

More than 20 civil rights and social groups, led by the Washington Community Action Network, endorsed the study.

All nine representatives and senators from the 13th, 14th and 15th districts -- all Republicans -- received Fs.

"What does that tell you? It's a completely biased thing," said Rep. Bill Hinkle. "We're here trying to create jobs for everybody in Washington state. That's what we do. Jobs are the answer no matter what ethnic group they're in."

Sen. Jim Honeyford, R-Sunnyside, said in an e-mailed statement that the group did not account for his work on the board of directors for Habitat for Humanity when they gave him a zero score on housing issues.

"So it is clear to me that they obviously failed to do the research necessary to come up with a credible report," Honeyford said.

Key state Republicans also dismissed the report as biased.

House Republican Leader Richard Debolt called it "subjective and arbitrary," in a written statement Monday afternoon.

"I do not view opposing an income tax as a vote against racial equality, as this report does," he said.

Overall, Washingon's Legislature received a D. A total of 36 percent of lawmakers received Fs. Most of them were Republican.

Among the bills the groups cited were the following:

* House Bill 1517, which allows for restoration of voting rights to formerly incarcerated people. It was signed by the governor.

* House Bill 1329, which would have created a new type of collective bargaining for directors and workers of child care centers that have children subsidized by the state. That measure did not reach a vote.

* House Bill 1706, which would have expanded the state's student financial aid eligibility to immigrants. It was held in the House Higher Education Committee.

The report also blasted lawmakers for cuts in education spending last year and raising college tuition, and for not creating an income tax to shore up state revenue. Those decisions hurt poor people -- largely people of color -- disproportionately, the report said.

It's the first time for such a report in Washington, but not in states such as California and Oregon, said Maru Mora Villalpando, a spokeswoman for the groups.

She defended the report's objectivity, saying the organizers followed the same methodology as other states. They used a racial justice public policy institute, Applied Research Center, based in Oakland, Calif., to compile the report.

"If (lawmakers) didn't get a good grade ... then they didn't vote the right way to advance racial justice," she said.

Other groups endorsing the report card were Central Washington Progress, the Washington chapter of the National Association of Social Workers and the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation.

* Ross Courtney can be reached at 509-930-8978 or rcourtney@yakimaherald.com.