Pam Roach Investigation: Money Well Spent

Every office has the occasional spat that crops up among co-workers, and every office has it's own method of dealing with infighting. When colleagues here at Seattlest develop "beef," as it is known in some circles, whatever is at issue is settled in the ancient and Gothamist approved manner: with a drinking contest. It's a manner of dispute resolution that leaves everyone generally satisfied and rarely costs more than the price of a bottle of fuel-grade grain alcohol.

We mention this because the Washington State Senate apparently needs some assistance in policing bickering among their own in a cost-effective manner. Case in point: the recent round of bickering and ensuing investigations involving Sen. Pam Roach (R-Auburn) and Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt (R-Walla Walla) that culminated in Roach's exile from the Republican caucus. The investigation of Roach for misconduct, and the subsequent investigation of Hewitt that it prompted finally have a price tag attached to them, and the Seattle Times reports that it cost the State of Washington a total of $55,000 to determine, once and for all, which Republican State Senator is the jerkier jerkbag jerk.
Which is where we cue the soft music and the Claymation dog enters to deliver the moral of our story: "Kids, kids, kids. Don't you see? You both wasted tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars in a state with a budget shortfall of billions to settle a petty squabble that should have remained private business, and made your party look like a bunch of simps doing it. You're both jerks."

Thus endeth the lesson.