Sen. Patty Tenacity

At the risk of mixing editorial apples and oranges, unanimous Senate passage of a ban on the manufacture of asbestos strongly suggests the Pacific Northwest will get more FBI agents assigned here.

The common thread — more like the steel band — that connects these topics is the legislative tenacity of DemocraticSen. Patty Murray, the state's senior senator. Once famously derided and dismissed by a state legislator as a frivolous citizen lobbyist — a mere mom in tennis shoes — no one is talking about her footwear now. Six years ago, Murray introduced legislation to direct the Environmental Protection Agency to ban the manufacture, distribution and importation of asbestos-containing products. She butted heads with the chemical industry and other legislators for years.

In March, she reintroduced her Ban Asbestos in America Act of 2007. Working with Sen. Johnny Isakson, a Georgia Republican, she fine-tuned the measure with exemptions related to manufacturing of unrelated productions. The legislation requires and pays for research into asbestos-related health issues, and funds a public-education campaign about the product's lethal hazards.

A key political ingredient was never diluted: tenacity. On Thursday, her bill unanimously passed the Senate. A companion measure is working its way through the House of Representatives, and her office reports both optimism and support of House leaders.

Murray is in her third term and she is the fourth-ranked Democrat in the majority hierarchy of the Senate. Her colleagues noted her purposeful streak in lawmaking and budgeting. The work with Isakson is especially good to read about, as rancorous relations between Democrats and Republicans make more headlines than bipartisan efforts.

One can visualize another recent scene, with the petite Murray bracing the director of the FBI against a rhetorical wall. She sought out FBI Director Robert Mueller for an explanation of the stingy staffing in her state. His agency has seen a wholesale shift of money and agents from law-enforcement work to anti-terrorism. If he is smart, he will recognize an ally.

To make her intent plain, she appended a note to a Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations subcommittee bill to find out exactly how the FBI assigns its agents and where. Sixty days from now, director Mueller ought to have pretty thorough explanation to share with Murray, who wants more FBI coverage in Washington.

Sen. Patty Tenacity. An apt description, and we hasten to add, a respectful one.