It is easy to treat the latest in the long line of incidents involving Washington state Sen. Pam Roach as political theater – comic, tragic, historic.
This time the Auburn-area Republican has been reprimanded by the Senate for going off on a staff member. Another complaint involving her bizarre treatment of a citizen testifying before a committee was dropped because the citizen didn’t want to further provoke Roach.
A few years ago she issued a press release accusing Senate Majority Leader Mike Hewitt of “mooning” her after she gave him the finger.
And then there was the time when she allowed staff members to hack into a previous staff member’s e-mail account after the departed staffer had accused Roach of being abusive.
Oh yeah, and don’t forget the time Roach took to the Senate floor to rail about the injustice of having a gigantic bouquet of roses removed from her desk.
Funny stuff from a true political character, right? Oh, that’s just Pam, say her declining list of supporters. Legislating is a tough, stressful business so it is OK – even expected – that elected lawmakers might launch intimidating attacks on staff.
“Tempers cannot help but flare,” Sen. Don Benton told an investigator looking into the latest allegations. “It’s almost by definition a hostile workplace.”
Well, with all due respect (isn’t that what politicians say before they disagree with someone?), that is pure rubbish. Senators aren’t kings and queens. Just because they won an election doesn’t give them authority to treat staff like pawns. Lots of people have stressful jobs without going ape on the help.
Despite their sometimes over-inflated egos, politicians shouldn’t expect everyone around them to put up with disturbing and aggressive behavior. Yet that’s what the investigator found. Nearly all of those interviewed said they are afraid of Roach, avoiding her the way family members avoid abusive parents, not wanting to complain for fear of retaliation.
“People expressed concern for themselves personally and professionally, for their families and for the causes they care about,” wrote investigator Chris Farias. “The level of fear was quite remarkable and in my opinion, genuine.”
Here are some of the reactions from those who witnessed her verbal assault on Senate attorney Mike Hoover (whose crime had been to warn Sen. Janea Holmquist that she might be butting up against Senate ethics rules by posting photos from a political rally on her government Web page):
“Everyone was looking down, embarrassed, helpless.”
“It was very ugly. I had a horrible stomach ache. I just wanted to throw up.”
“It’s venom, the feeling that comes when she walks into the room. Like she smells blood.”
“... everyone was looking for a place to go for cover.”
“I’ve learned that when she looks like she’s in a particular mood, you just walk away. Maybe staff can’t.”
“At one point I put my hands over my ears.”
“There’s a certain tolerance that should not exist.”
And these were fellow Republicans.
Roach sticks with her narrative. She’s a victim. Everyone is out to get her. Hoover does the bidding of Hewitt and other leaders. Don’t look at her behavior, look at what “they” do to her. Hewitt and other GOP leaders “glare” at her.
A majority of 31st District voters see her as a maverick who doesn’t care whose feathers she ruffles. But getting elected doesn’t guarantee effectiveness and Roach loses more of hers with each incident. She’s already lost her seat in the GOP Caucus. And getting re-elected doesn’t guarantee staff, committee assignments or even a vote on the floor.
Those who enable her – from Benton who continues to make excuses, to Sens. Holmquist and Val Stevens who refused to cooperate with the investigator – are doing her no favors.
Hers is not normal behavior, even by the sometimes low standards of politics. It suggests underlying medical and emotional conditions that appear to be getting worse.
People who claim to care about her need to urge Pam Roach to get help. Because it’s just not funny anymore.
Peter Callaghan: 253-597-8657
peter.callaghan@thenewstribune.com
blog.thenewstribune.com/politics
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