Senator's comments on her blog raise ire in Olympia

MCT REGIONAL NEWS/BUSINESS

By Michelle Dupler

Tri-City Herald, Kennewick, Wash.

(MCT)

Mar. 17--OLYMPIA -- Sen. Karen Keiser is learning that even in the Internet age, when information can change at the speed of a broadband connection, once something is out there, it's out there.

Keiser, D-Kent, found herself in the midst of a tempest last week when Republicans attempted to use a blog item posted under her name to show that Democratic support for a bill the GOP opposed was nothing more than political payback.

The original item was posted Feb. 12 under the headline "It's payback time," and referred to a bill that would require groups participating in the state workers compensation Retrospective Ratings Program to say how they spend money refunded to them.

The Building Industry Association of Washington has taken money refunded to it under the state's program and used a portion to pay for political campaigning -- mostly for Republicans, such as unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi.

The program allows businesses to pool their industrial insurance premiums voluntarily and spread the risk for workers' compensation claims. If member businesses pay in more money than is paid out for claims, "Retro" groups get a refund from the state Department of Labor and Industries.

Of the more than 40 Retro programs in the state, BIAW has the largest, and some of its refunded money goes for political activity.

BIAW's Retro group has about 6,000 member companies, and the association has received $3 million to $4 million in refunds in each of the past few years.

But by the time the bill had passed in a 25-24 vote just minutes before a 5 p.m. Thursday deadline, the "payback" blog item had been revised.

Gone was the "It's payback time" headline and two statements: "So now it is time to talk about payback," plus, "And then the BIAW used millions of those dollars in nasty, bullying and partisan political campaigns."

But there still was a paper trail -- printouts taped up in several Republican senators' offices and distributed to reporters at the Capitol.

Keiser said Monday that Senate Democratic Caucus staff were responsible for the original inflammatory headline and for editing it after the debate.

''I expressed concern that it was inappropriate," she said. "(A blog) should be an individual's voice and shouldn't be edited."

Kaiser said that because the blog is a public resource produced by public employees, she doesn't have control over what is published under her name, or how it's edited later.

She said she's considering taking a break from posting to the official Senate Democrats blog and starting a personal blog.

Her 2006 campaign website gives an address for a personal blog, but the link no longer is active.

She also said the outrage over the blog posting is obscuring the real issues at the heart of the bill.

Keiser said what prompted her ire, and the "It's payback time" blog item was learning that the state had over-refunded millions of dollars to individuals and groups participating in the Retro program, reportedly because of a duplicated line of code in the Department of Labor & Industries' computer system.

Vickie Kennedy, special assistant to the Labor & Industries director, said Retro participants have gotten back extra money yearly. The peak amount was about $10 million to $15 million by 2009. But the exact cost of the error is uncertain, Kennedy said.

She said the error was small enough compared with the labor department's total $1.7 billion in annual premiums that it went unnoticed in annual audits until the Legislature directed an independent actuarial review in 2008 to find ways the agency could be improved.

When a consultant found the error, the department asked for help from the state auditor and attorney general to decide whether it could recoup the overpayments.

Kennedy said the answer from the attorney general was that because adjustments to Retro accounts are final within 60 days of notice by the department to the participant, the department could only recover overpayments made after April 2005 -- the last date for which final adjustments have been given.

She said that could result in some participants getting smaller refunds as overpayments are deducted, or they might get billed for what they owe.

The department will work with anyone who owes money to set up a payment plan, Kennedy said.

Keiser said the bill doesn't address the coding error or how to deal with overpayments, but it does require an accounting for the next five years to try to prevent future errors.

But Republicans argue that isn't what the bill does at all. They say it forces private entities -- the Retro groups -- to tell the government how they spend private money. And they think that isn't right.

''The issue for us is this is a private contract between a private group and employers," said Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla. "The government does not belong in this arena. This really does nothing except raise administrative fees."

The bill has gone to the House of Representatives for consideration.

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