Thumbs down on Olympia leadership

Congress has abysmal approval ratings, but how do state lawmakers fare? When asked to grade state legislators as part of a recent Elway Poll, 46 percent of voters gave legislators a D+ or F and only 1 percent said the Legislature deserves an A, according to Q13Fox.Gov. Jay Inslee didn’t get any gold stars: Only 43 percent  of participants view Inslee in a positive light compared to 50 percent with negative opinions of the governor, according to The News Tribune. After 18 months at the post, Inslee’s minus seven points score is better than the even stronger disapproval ratings given to Democratic Govs. Christine Gregoire and Mike Lowry at comparable points in their terms (2006 and 1994, respectively). But, in 1998, voters were giving overwhelming approval to then first-term Democratic Gov. Gary Locke.When scoring Inslee’s performance, voters gave him the lowest rating on his ability to provide leadership to legislators. “The Legislature and the governor sort of got wrapped up into one in public perception this time,” Stuart Elway of Elway Research Inc. told Q13. Inaction on transportation issues, anxiety about the economy and the fact that it took two sessions to pass a budget were particular sore spots, Elway said.