Conservative state senator steps down

State Republicans lost a class act yesterday when Senate Minority Leader Bill Finkbeiner stepped down from his leadership position in the state legislature.

After all, state Republicans have had enough trouble these past few years with the governor's race and losing any hold on the state legislature they may have had.

Things have gone noticeably left here in Washington, and Finkbeiner was a strong presence for the Republican Party.

Fortunately, his lightened load at the Capitol will allow him to focus more on his business graduate studies at the UW and spend more time with his family. Kudos to you, Bill.

But his diminished role within the legislature isn't a loss to him as much as it is to his party and the senate. Finkbeiner was decisive, charismatic and willing to go against traditional Republican values.

He genuinely showed that being a Republican didn't mean following the party line for line, but instead making strong conservative choices. He broke lines on a bill to permit stem cell research and always insisted Republicans in the Evergreen State have a genuine interest in the environment. He even switched parties after his first term as a representative and still earned the respect of both his GOP and liberal colleagues.

It will be hard to replace Finkbeiner. State Republicans will need a sympathetic leader who is willing to work with Democrats and understands how to navigate a very liberal state with his or her conservative views.

They will have to learn that Washingtonians are not ever going to be sympathetic to hard-line conservatives. But there is a future for conservatives in Washington, and Republicans will need a new leader that the whole state can identify with.