Olympia must toss nuclear ban

The Olympian • Published August 26, 2008

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A subcommittee of the Olympia City Council today must take the first step toward repeal of the city's unenforceable ordinance that bans nuclear weapons in the capital. The Nuclear Free Zone Ordinance, which was passed by a previous council in 2005, also prohibits the city from doing business with companies associated with nuclear weapons.

Today, the council's General Government Committee will consider whether to repeal the divisive ordinance. It's an opportunity for the council members to distance themselves from the previous council that ignored local issues in favor of making political statements.

It's encouraging that all three members of the subcommittee have criticized the ordinance. Let's hope they have the courage of their convictions and recommend to the council that the ordinance be repealed. At the council level, they should have support of Mayor Doug Mah and Councilwoman Joan Machlis.

Councilman Joe Hyer voted for the ordinance when it passed and still supports the measure. Councilwoman Karen Messmer, who campaigned on a promise to steer the council away from global issues such as the no-nuke ordinance, reneged on that promise in June 2006 when the council was split 3-3 on repeal. Messmer sat on the fence and abstained from the vote on procedural grounds. It was a lack of leadership on her part.

The ordinance became a symbol of the City Council's dysfunction in the 2006 elections. A case can be made that the nuke-free fallout helped drive former council members Laura Ware and TJ Johnson from office.

"My impression of the ordinance is that it doesn't do anything except make a statement," Councilman Jeff Kingsbury says. He is absolutely right.

The first thing the old council did was to exempt the federal government.

The original ordinance also required every entity doing business with the city to sign a pledge that their company or organization is not in any way connected to the nuclear industry.

Local Superior Court judges refused to sign, as did the Lacey City Council, the LOTT Alliance, the Narcotics Task Force and the Washington State Patrol.

With the city tied in knots and intergovernmental cooperation in jeopardy, the council amended the ordinance to exempt all governments. Today the nuclear-free law applies only to private companies and nonprofit groups. How many nonprofit groups have ties to the nuclear industry?

That's why the ordinance is largely symbolic.

Hyer defends it saying, "In this world, symbols are important. We don't need nuclear weapons."

Does Hyer really think a symbolic stand by the Olympia City Council is going to rid the world of nuclear weapons?

Councilman Craig Ottavelli has it right when he called it a "nuisance ordinance."

He, Councilwoman Rhenda Strub and Kingsbury should vote today to repeal the ordinance and send the measure to the full council to follow suit. It's time to send the message to the community that this City Council is focused on solving local problems, not focusing on ineffective, unenforceable, symbolic ordinances.