In Washington, They Hate Californians More Than Politicians : Election: Term limits looked like a shoo-in--until a radio spot warned about water grabbers down south and Jerry Brown showed up.

Officially, it was known as Initiative 553-LIMIT, the Washington state term-limit measure to cap almost everyone’s political career, from House Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash) to the lowliest first-term state legislator. But by last Tuesday, the sweeping proposal seemed more like a statewide referendum on those water-grabbing, kilowatt-stealing, no-good Californians. Within 72 hours, the measure went from a political slam dunk to one of the most stunning upsets in the state’s history, losing by 54% to 46%. To all my friends in California, I want to thank you. It wouldn’t have happened without you.

After news of rubber checks and unpaid lunch tabs on Capitol Hill, coupled with the Clarence Thomas-Anita F. Hill spectacle, it looked like Sherry Bockwinkel, the local mastermind behind Initiative 553, and her band of LIMITeers might as well take a vacation. Among pundits and pollsters, guesstimates pegged the pro-553 vote near 70% and climbing. Local talk-radio host Jim Althoff daily rallied the disaffected and disenchanted behind term limits. His phone lines lit up like a well-decorated Douglas Fir when the subject came up. Throw the rascals out! Hell, throw out even the ones who aren’t rascals!

But something changed last weekend. Maybe it was the last-minute blitz by the “No on 553” forces, a loose coalition of labor, business and good-government types. They bombarded the radio with a spot produced by Democratic media whiz Joe Slade White, informing the public that 553 was bankrolled by “two oil billionaires (the Koch brothers from Wichita, Kan.) and other outside special interests.” The spot warned voters that “outsiders want the water we need diverted to other states--they think it’s unfair we pay lower electric rates--all because we’ve been strong enough to defend ourselves.” Who were those menacing outsiders?

Well, Speaker Foley is far too much the gentleman to engage in name-calling. But as he toured the state to oppose Initiative 553, the Speaker couldn’t resist noting that after the 1992 redistricting is completed, one in every eight members of Congress would be from--well, dare we say it?--California. Katie, bar the door! Pull up the draw bridges over the Columbia! This is war!

The final leg was knocked out from under term limits by LIMIT (Limitation Initiative Mandating Incumbent Terms) itself. On Nov. 1, Bockwinkel called a Seattle news conference to introduce the latest term-limit advocate, Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr. Yes, that Brown--the former California governor, Zen-studying, onetime-Linda-Ronstadt-dating Brown.

Gov. Moonbeam had come to tell us how to run our elections. He was less than convincing. Brown told reporters he abstained from voting last year on California’s less restrictive term-limit proposals because he was state Democratic chairman. But in his heart, Brown confided, he really was for term limits. Groping for a metaphor, Brown said that Initiative 553 was “the castor oil” needed to revive good government.

Washington voters gagged on that one. “He’s nuts,” State Democratic Chairwoman Karen Marchioro told one newspaper. Brown was the personification of the “Californication” of the Evergreen State. After all, for a time in 1989 and 1990, California-bashing was almost as popular in Seattle as espresso drinks here in Latteland. It was those equity-bloated Californians who jacked up our real-estate prices (2 bdrm., no yd, no vu. Needs TLC. $500,000). It was cellular-phone-equipped Californians in their BMW’s and Range Rovers who were jamming our freeways. It was Californians who brought us the drive-by shooting instead of just drive-thru banking. It had gotten so bad that the Seattle Weekly even ran a classified ad for a Californians’ self-help group--sort of a 12-step program for the perpetually tanned.

Ironically, California-bashing had sort of faded like a Seattle suntan--until the last 72 hours of the Initiative 553 campaign. You didn’t need to say explicitly who all those “outsiders” were. For God’s sake, here was their former governor, saying, as Rep. Al Swift (D-Wash) suggested, “Go ahead, cut your thumb off first. I’m right behind you.” A Seattle Times tracking poll revealed that voters turned against 553 because they were afraid of losing congressional clout. It may have been a testament to their respect for Foley. It may have been that voters favored term limits--for somebody else, say Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) or Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass).

In the end, though, you wondered how many Washingtonians decided a no vote was a way to strike back at those damn Californians for the soaring real estate, the rude drivers and the bullet holes in the stop signs on Tacoma’s drug-infested Hilltop neighborhood. I mean, really, some of my best friends are Californians. I just wouldn’t want one telling me who I could vote for.

Tuesday night, Brown waited at the LIMIT headquarters for victory--hoping to catch the big populist wave, like one of those Southern California breakers, that would propel his presidential bid across the country. The wave never came. Still, you had to thank Brown. We might not have done it without him.