When he first set eyes on former state Rep. Bill Fromhold, Sen. Ken Jacobsen smiled and put out his hand for a shake.

“You wimpy little coward,” Jacobsen said as he took Fromhold’s hand.

He was joking.

I think.

The point was that Fromhold got out before the storm. He didn’t seek re-election last fall and instead will represent a batch of clients as a lobbyist. That means Fromhold won’t have to take hard votes on ugly budgets that cut services and disappoint supporters.

And that means he won’t have to weigh tax votes that might relieve some programs from reductions but make re-election in 2010 more difficult.

Not that Jacobsen is at risk. His Seattle district won’t punish a lawmaker who raises taxes rather than make deeper cuts to health care, social programs and schools. But he’s one of the few who are insulated from the politics and the pressures of the 2009 session.

There’s a weight on the shoulders of most of the others. As much as they tried to treat the first day as a day of reunion, a day for optimism, it wasn’t easy. While “How have you been?” may have been the first question exchanged, it was followed quickly by “How long do you think the session will last?” and “How bad will it be?”

When the state faces a $6 billion shortfall in a budget worth about $33 billion, there are few good answers. When 58 percent of that budget is legally off limits to deep cuts, there are even fewer. And when the shortfall is expected to get worse the next time the numbers are run, in March, there aren’t even many bad answers.

Still, pomp supplanted panic Monday. New members led family members on tours before they watched the swearing-in ceremony at noon. A State Patrol honor guard practiced before accompanying the presentation of the colors.

Eager pages searched the desks for names so as not to misdeliver mail or messages on their very first day. Interns were impressed with the surroundings and the sense of history that the rest of us had when we first arrived years ago.

Out in the rotunda of the domed Legislative Building, long banners hung from the marble, anticipating the “Governor’s Inaugural Ball” set for Wednesday evening. That’s when officialdom and hangers-on will try to balance celebration with the seriousness of the situation, will for a night at least be distracted from rising unemployment and a tattered safety net.

Rep. Hans Dunshee, the Snohomish Democrat who is chairman of the Capital Budget Committee, is one of the few who seem happy. That’s partly his demeanor. Dunshee has a knack for seeing the humor in even the most depressing and disturbing events. But it also could be that Dunshee, who presides over the state construction budget, has money to spend.

Seattle Rep. Frank Chopp, who is extending his record as the longest-serving House speaker in state history, tried to fire up the troops with his own version of the problems-are-opportunities speech.

“We have to be very careful this year not to let a budget problem rob us of our vision and values,” he said. Looking to the future, he said, means not dismantling programs that are needed now and will be needed then.

It was a not-too-subtle reminder that Democrats in the Legislature may be facing off against Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire, whose no-new-taxes budget put many programs at risk.

At the end of Monday, the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on changes to the current state budget that runs through June. Cuts made now will be a predictor of deeper cuts in the next two-year budget.

It was the first formal opportunity for lawmakers to see the faces of the cuts, to watch numbers morph into people, to show them again how tough this session is going to be.

Peter Callaghan: 253-597-8657

peter.callaghan@thenewstribune.com

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