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closeHow they vote:
Six months into this year’s Puyallup City Council, voting patterns are beginning to take shape
Chris Albert
As the new Puyallup City Council passed its six-month anniversary at the June 26 meeting, The Herald has discovered that some expectations about how council members would vote have proven true while others have not.
Newcomer John Knutsen, for example, has lived up to his expectation as the renegade on city council, voting with the minority more than any other council member and the most likely to vote “no.”
Long-time council member Kathy Turner has recused herself for conflicts of interest the most often and voted the least often overall. It comes as no surprise to city hall watchers that she was least likely to vote with John Knutsen and most likely to vote with Tami Brouillet and Mayor Don Malloy.
The Herald obtained the voting records of council members in 2008 by going through the council minutes, which are posted on the city’s Web site.
It wasn’t until late January that the council was fully composed of its seven voting members. Council took several meetings to review applicants for the seat left vacant when Turner was elected to the At-Large position before appointing businessman Rick Hansen, who narrowly lost to Turner in the fall election.
Since then, the council has had more than a dozen meetings and voted on many issues. With a body of work behind them, it’s time to take a look at how they voted.
For the purposes of these numbers, votes such as on the consent agenda, approval of meeting minutes and amendments to the meeting agenda were not counted. They are almost always approved unanimously. With that in mind, the Puyallup City Council of Mayor Don Malloy, Deputy Mayor George Dill and Councilmembers John Knutsen, Mike Deal, Tami Brouillet, Turner and Hansen have taken legislative action 86 times.
This council will continue working together for the next 18 months before several seats are open to election in the fall of 2009.
Voting the same
Of the 86 times the Puyallup City Council has taken legislative action, they have approved a measure unanimously 55 times. The following shows how many times each council member voted the same as another council member.
Tami Brouillet
(voted 86 times)
Most likely to vote with Malloy, Hansen and Deal. Least likely to vote with Knutsen.
> Knutsen: 62
> Hansen: 70
> Dill: 68
> Malloy: 74
> Deal: 71
> Turner: 67
Mike Deal
(voted 83 times)
Most likely to vote with Brouillet and Malloy. Least likely to vote with Knutsen.
> Knutsen: 59
> Hansen: 67
> Dill: 65
> Malloy: 70
> Brouillet: 71
> Turner: 63
George Dill
(voted 83 times)
Most likely to vote with Malloy and Brouillet. Least likely to vote with Turner.
> Knutsen: 61
> Hansen: 68
> Malloy: 69
> Brouillet: 68
> Deal: 65
> Turner: 59
Rick Hansen
(voted 86 times)
Most likely to vote with Brouillet and Malloy. Least likely to vote with Knutsen and Turner.
> Knutsen: 63
> Dill: 68
> Malloy: 71
> Brouillet: 70
> Deal: 67
> Turner: 63
John Knutsen
(voted 85 times)
Most likely to vote with Hansen, Malloy and Brouillet. Least likely to vote with Turner.
> Hansen: 63
> Dill: 61
> Malloy: 62
> Brouillet: 62
> Deal: 59
> Turner: 54
Don Malloy
(voted 85 times)
Most likely to vote with Brouillet and Hansen. Least likely to vote with Knutsen.
> Knutsen: 62
> Hansen: 71
> Dill: 69
> Brouillet: 74
> Deal: 70
> Turner: 66
Kathy Turner
(voted 77 times)
Most likely to vote with Brouillet and Malloy. Least likely to vote with Knutsen.
> Knutsen: 54
> Hansen: 63
> Dill: 59
> Malloy: 66
> Brouillet: 67
> Deal: 58
It’s unanimous
Of the 86 times the Puyallup City Council has taken legislative action, they have approved a measure unanimously 55 times. So this council votes together more than 60 percent of the time. Of those unanimous votes, nine have been with a council of six because a voting member was excused from the meeting. They have been excused primarily for being out-of-town while fulfilling an obligation as a city representative. Turner, Dill and Deal have all been excused from a meeting.
In the majority
So far, for the 2008 Puyallup City Council’s voting opportunities, members have had the chance to vote on 86 action items. The following is how many times they have been in the majority opinion.
> Mayor Don Malloy: A little more than 95 percent of the time. He has voted 85 times, abstained once and has been in the minority opinion four times.
> Deputy Mayor George Dill: 95 percent of the time. He has voted 83 times, was excused for five votes and has been in the minority four times.
> Councilmember Mike Deal: 94 percent of the time. He has voted 83 times, been excused for four votes and has been in the minority five times.
> Councilmember Tami Brouillet: 93 percent of the time. She has voted every time and has been in the minority six times.
> Councilmember Rick Hansen: 90 percent of the time. He has voted every time and has been in the minority eight times.
> Councilmember Kathy Turner: 89 percent of the time. She has voted 77 times, has been excused for seven votes, has recused herself twice and has been in the minority eight times.
> Councilmember John Knutsen: 81 percent of the time. He has voted 85 times, abstained from voting once and has been in the minority 16 times.
Close calls
No city council is immune from disagreements when they vote. Every council member has found themselves in the minority opinion, where one vote decided what the city council would do. Of the 86 votes the council has taken, 10 could be considered close.
4-3 votes:
When a group of council members were in the minority, but an action item was approved.
> Deal, Dill and Malloy: 3
> Deal, Turner and Brouillet: 1
> Hansen, Knutsen and Dill: 1
When a group of council members were in the minority when an action item failed.
> Hansen, Knutsen and Dill: 1
> Turner, Brouillet and Deal: 1
4-2 votes:
Action approved and in the minority when a council member has been excused
> Hansen and Knutsen: 2
> Brouillet and Turner: 1
> Hansen and Deal: 1
Action failed and in the minority
> Malloy and Hansen: 1
Action failed because of 3-3 standstill: 1
In the minority
Sometimes a council member finds themselves in the minority on an issue. They might be alone or with others in voting “no” on an action item or have voted “yes” when the majority rejected an item.
Number of times a council member voted “no” by themselves:
> Knutsen: 7
> Turner: 2
> Hansen: 1
> Deal: 1
> Brouillet: 1
Number of times a council member voted “no” with other members:
> Knutsen: 6
> Turner: 5
> Hansen: 4
> Brouillet: 4
> Deal: 3
> Dill: 3
> Malloy: 2
Number of times a council member voted “yes” while in the minority:
> Hansen: 4
> Knutsen: 3
> Deal: 3
> Dill: 3
> Turner: 1
> Brouillet: 1
> Malloy: 1
Number of times council members voted the same way while in the minority:
> Hansen and Knutsen: 5
> Turner and Brouillet: 3
> Knutsen and Dill: 2
> Hansen and Malloy: 1
> Deal and Knutsen: 1
> Turner and Malloy: 1
> Hansen and Deal: 1
> Turner, Brouillet and Deal: 2
> Knutsen, Hansen and Dill: 2
> Deal, Dill and Malloy: 1
Not going to vote
> Not voting on an action item can happen. It just doesn’t happen very often. It is the responsibility of each council member to make it known whether or not there would be a conflict of interest if they vote and even ask for assistance from the city attorney if it is appropriate for them to recuse themselves from voting.
> An example of an appropriate time to recuse oneself from a vote would be if they would have a direct financial gain from voting. Not in the sense of lower taxes for a broad cross section of the city, but an individual gain that benefits them or very few.
> Turner has recused herself from voting on a few occasions, while Malloy and Knutsen have abstained from voting, too.