Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown says fairness, not politics behind income-tax pitch

OLYMPIA — Advocating an income tax generally isn't a wise career move for politicians in Washington state.

Voters have rejected income-tax proposals four times in the past 70 years, most recently in 1975 by a 2-to-1 ratio. Republicans excoriate anybody who raises the subject.

And yet here's Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane — who's contemplating running for governor in four years — on television, on the Internet and in newspapers talking about an income tax that would target people earning more than $250,000 a year.

This raises lots of questions.

Is she nuts? Is this a way for Brown to raise her profile and appeal to the Democratic Party's base? Or is she driven purely by the conviction that an income tax is the best way to make the state's tax system more fair?

David Olson, an emeritus political-science professor at the University of Washington, says all this tax talk could be an early move by Brown to garner primary votes in 2012.

"If you can appeal to Democrats in the four-county area of King, Snohomish, Pierce and Kitsap, you can control the outcome of the primaries," he said.

Yet Brown says there's nothing political about it. "It's not a calculated proposal," she said. "Fairness of the tax system is one of the things that intrigued me about running for office in the first place. I've always felt our tax structure was unfair and not competitive."

Brown, born and raised in Illinois, said she expects to decide by the end of the year whether she'll run for governor. And if Gov. Chris Gregoire decides to seek a third term, Brown said, she would not run against her.

Past controversies

Brown, 52, an economist and associate professor at Gonzaga University, has not shied away from controversy in the past.

She was instrumental in stitching together enough votes in the Senate to narrowly pass the state's first gay-rights bill in 2006. That was back when Democrats held a narrow majority in the Senate, with some conservative members who often sided with Republicans on that issue.

Last year, Brown filed a lawsuit with the state Supreme Court seeking to overturn voter-approved Initiative 960, which requires lawmakers to approve tax increases with a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate, or send measures to voters with a simple majority vote. The court dismissed the case saying it was a political question involving the Legislature, and not something to be decided by the courts.

It's not clear if the income-tax proposal will be another case where Brown tries to push the envelope.

She's the only prominent Democratic leader in the Legislature touting the idea. And momentum seems to be heading in a different direction — sending voters a ballot measure that would increase the state sales tax by a small amount to help pay for health-care services expected to be cut from the state budget.

But one thing is for certain. In a Legislature often dominated by Gregoire and House Speaker Frank Chopp, Brown has gotten everyone's attention.

"Year of the woman"

That's not to say she's been a recluse since her election to the state House of Representatives 16 years ago.

Three months into her first term Brown made national headlines by bringing her then 1-year-old son, Lucas, onto the House floor during a late-night vote. The chief clerk ordered the child off the floor, saying that only lawmakers were allowed. The incident sparked a debate that ended up changing the rules. Brown marked the occasion a year later by bringing her son back to the floor. No one objected.

Nowadays she still flies back to Spokane almost every weekend to see her son, now 17.

Brown was first elected in 1992 during what was deemed the "year of the woman" in politics. Rep. Lynn Kessler, then-Attorney General Gregoire and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray all were elected that year. In Olympia, the class made national headlines because nearly 40 percent of the legislators being sworn in were women — at the time, the highest percentage of female lawmakers elected to any Legislature in the nation.

Brown started moving up the ranks in short order.

By 1995, she was named House minority floor leader and one year later, after just two terms in the House, she defeated Republican John Moyer for a seat in the Senate.

During her first term in the Senate, Brown became chairwoman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, one of the most powerful positions in the Legislature. In 2005 she became the state's first female Democratic Senate majority leader.

Leadership styles

People who know Brown and Chopp say they have similar core values, but very different leadership styles.

Chopp is viewed as more of a hard-charging leader who gets deeply involved in the details of legislation.

Brown is "less of a micromanager than Frank," said Rick Bender, president of the Washington State Labor Council. "Lisa lets her committee chairs and others make their own decision as to what comes out of their committees."

Some of that reflects the difference between the House and Senate. The House Democratic Caucus is much larger, with 62 members. The Senate Democratic caucus is half that size and requires a different style of leadership, said Sen. Fred Jarrett, D-Mercer Island. "The Senate has a tendency to be a lot more like cats," he said.

But there's a distinct difference in personalities, said Paul Berendt, a former chairman of the state Democratic Party who has known both lawmakers for years.

"After you've had a meeting with Frank, you walk away thinking that you're not going to get what you've been asking for. When you walk away from a meeting with Lisa, you get the feeling you will get what you asked for," he said. "But if the truth were known, it's probably about the same in each case."

Both lawmakers are equally tight-lipped about the behind-the-scenes negotiations that determine much of what happens in Olympia.

Details leaked out

That's been the case when it comes to whether Brown will actually introduce a bill asking voters to approve an income tax.

She's leaked out details over the past few weeks: The tax could be between 1 and 3 percent of income, would hit only those earning more than $250,000 a year, and could raise between $500 million and $1.5 billion per biennium.

"I'm very convinced that people understand this tax system isn't fair ... And that there are affluent citizens here who can afford to pay more," she said recently.

But she hasn't said if she'll move ahead with the idea.

If Brown is seriously considering sending voters a ballot measure creating an income tax this session, she's running out of time. The last day of regular business for the Legislature is April 26.

And if this is simply a way to help position herself for a run for governor, it could backfire.

"It's a gutsy move, but I'm not sure it's going to help her run statewide," Bender said. "I'm assuming her Republican opponent would use that against her a lot."

Republican Sen. Mike Hewitt of Walla Walla sees the tax proposal as a surefire way to destroy Brown's career.

"It's her political future. If she runs something like this she's not going to be very popular," Hewitt said.

Sims weighs in

Brown is the second Democratic leader in recent years to propose an income tax.

King County Executive Ron Sims, who ran for governor in 2004, wanted to eliminate the state sales tax and business taxes, and switch to a personal income tax.

Sims said Brown's push for an income tax won't hurt or help.

"You cannot look at the income tax and say, 'Ron lost because of the income tax,' " Sims said. "Our numbers didn't change. The numbers we came in with in our early polling were the numbers we came out with. So it is not persuasive."

He said Brown's work in the Legislature is more important when it comes to running for governor.

"Were you the idea person? Did you mold and shape the agenda? Were you the problem-solver? And are you going to be the problem?" Sims said.

"That will be the biggest challenge she faces," he continued. "If she manages to move strategically as the alternative, the person who met the public's desire for change in a variety of different ways, I think she'd win."

Bender said this will be a difficult legislative session for any politician to use to their advantage, given that lawmakers are planning to cut state spending by nearly $4 billion to balance the budget.

"There's no question she's probably one of top names considering running for governor," he said. "But I think this has been a tough session for Lisa and Frank both mainly because of the budget situation.

"They're not going to make core supporters happy when that budget passes."

Andrew Garber: agarber@seattletimes.com or 360-236-8268.

Jennifer Sullivan: jensullivan@seattletimes.com or 360-236-8267