Moderator: Welcome to theolympian.com's first online chat. I'm Online Reporter Christopher Dean Hopkins, and we'll be quizzing Statehouse Reporter Adam Wilson about Washington politics for the next half hour.

Moderator: For starters, Mr. Wilson, why don't you tell everyone a bit about yourself, your background and qualifications, etc.

Adam Wilson: I'm new to Western Washington, I just transferred from the Eastern Washington, Northern Idaho area, where covered the Idaho state legislature.

Adam Wilson: Politics are substantially different in both Eastern Washington and Idaho, perhaps most notably because Idaho and Eastern Washington are following the national trend towards conservative politics and the Republican part. Western Washington and statewide elections seem to be leaning more towards the left and the Democratic party.

Moderator: How does the newly renovated Washington Capitol Building compare to Idaho's Capitol?

Adam Wilson: Idaho does not have a dedicated revenue source to maintain its Capitol and spent the money it had saved to renovate it during the recession. As a result, the downstairs, where the press stay, flooded recently. Idaho has a small enough population and legislature to house everything in its Capitol; all committee meetings, protests, and media.

Olyscoop of Olympia, Wash.: Given the Democrats tenuous hold on power in Olympia and the hard-right shift of national politics, will the Democrats running the House and Senate embolden Gregoire's focus on her narrow agenda or will they demand passage of more left-leaning legislation that had been bottled up by the Republican Senate?

Adam Wilson: The Democrats clearly are coming out of their corner fighting. Their first major partisan bill appears to be aimed at the Building Industry Assoc. of Washington and its funding through state programs. The BIAW was a major supporter of Republicans in general and Dino Rossi in particular, in that sense the Democrats are being decidedly partisan. However, Gregoire and the Democrats don't seem to be pursuing a particularly left-leaning policy agenda. Democratic legislators have expressed openness to health care spending accounts, which Republicans also tend to support.

Nothingman202, via e-mail: Please explain what the House and Senate Rules committees are. How come they are not televised on TVW?

Brad Shannon: The people at TVW were not immediately sure why they don't televise the House and Senate rules committee meetings, but they note that the meetings are scheduled with short notice. There's also the problem that the discussions often involve bill numbers and not a lot of meaningful discussion on the merits of those bills that the public might be more interested in. Having said that, I think TVW is looking into televising those meetings more.

Moderator: Brad Shannon has been The Olympian's political editor for 6 years.

Nothingman202, via e-mail: How come the caucus meetings are closed to the public? They are open to anybody in other states?

Adam Wilson: Caucus meetings are closed. There has been some discussion amongst the media and open government advocates of opening them or forcing them to be open. Closed caucus meetings are less problematic in a relatively balenced legislature. In Idaho, the Republicans control 80 percent of the legislature and hold their caucus meetings behind closed doors. That means almost all legislation can be discussed and decided upon out of public view.

Adam Wilson: There was legal action, but the short version of the argument is this: The legislature writes the laws and can do as it pleases unless they violate the state constitution.

Moderator: Can you explain some of the differences between the two malpractice initiatives currently making their way through the legislature?

Link: Insurance commissioner decries competing malpractice measures

Adam Wilson: I-330 is sponsored by the Washington State Medical Association and is generally viewed as the doctor's solution to medical malpractice lawsuits. The initiative limits the amount of money an injured patient can get from jury awards for pain and suffering.

Adam Wilson: I-336 is sponsored by the Washington State Trial Lawyers Association, and therefore is the lawyer's solution to malpractice. The initiative sets tougher standards for doctors, establishes a three-strikes-you're-out for malpractice findings and it requires malpractice settlements to be disclosed, not kept secret in settlement agreements.

Moderator: Thanks for joining us today, that's all the time we have. Join us every Wednesday at noon for more Capitol chat.