Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1915-04-02
NJ 'ARDLE ON STATE
PAYROLL ONCE MORE
TAKES JOB WITH BUREAU OF IN.
SPECTgON-RECA DENIAL
DURING SESSION.

l.. d. McArdle, representative from
Jefferson county,, he who so vocifer-
Ously denied during the recent ses-
sion that he had any itnention or ex-
pectation of taking state job after
The legislature was over, went on the
state payroll yesterday as one of the
examiners of the state bureau of in
spection, "to make a thorough exam
ination of all the state Offices" ac-
cording to the official announcement.
This bureau is sometimes referred to
as the bureau of incompetency and
inefficiency," even by Republicans,
and the job McArdle took yesterday
is similar to the one he held between
the 1913 and 1915 sessions.
The announcement that McArdle
would be given such job April
was made late last week and natural
1y caused much comment. AS the
Seattle Post-Intelligencer put It:
more than ordinary interest at
taches to the appointment of McArdle
to political job SO soon after the
close of the legislature. because Of
his vehement denial on the floor Of
the house of the report current at
the time that he would be taken care
of. He went to some pains to explain
that his employment by the bureau Of
inspection Immediately after the close
of the 1913 session was to study state
government at close range. Con-
cerning the report that he would
again get a political job when the
1915 session closed, he said:
"'The story is absolutely false.
came to this legislature as q Repub-
|lican, determined to work for the
best interests Of the state, and I shall
continue to do 50. Any story to the
effect that / am working to secure :
job for myself is absolutely false
Denial Was Notable.
''The occasion for McArdle's heated
denial of any intention Of smuggling
up to the state payroll was notable.
1t came at q time when the McArdle
bills reorganizing the land board. the
eQualixing board and abolishing the
state tax commission were up for com
sideration. The tax commission bin
provided that the state land commis-
|sioner should be ex-officio tax COM
missioner and that the three tax CONF
missioners should cease to be.
Representative Frank Reeves Of
Wenatchee, Democratic floor leader,
had three bills dealing with the same
Offices in somewhat different man
ner. The Reeves tax commission bilTs
proposed to reduce the commission to
one member. During the day or two
when the bills we're before the house
for consideration a report was in gem
eraI circulation that McArdle had Sc
1ected the position of assistant tax
commissioner as his biennial. post
session job, and that Representative
Victor Zednick Of King county. who
was assisting McArdle In putting the
bills through, would also land in
some favored spot. The Post-Intelli-
gencer and several other newspapers
printed the story as coming from the
Democrats.
Displayed Great Perturbation.
both McArdle and zednick dis
played great perturbation when the
report appeared in print. Rising to
a question of personal privilege, Nc
Ardle made a speech in which he de-
clared that pOst-session job in the
states service was a thing remote
from his innermost thought. He
yielded the floor for a minute to Mr..
Zednick, who also denounced with
great vigor the report which con-
veyed the idea that he was to get .
job. When the denials had been put
into the record, McArdle called upon
the correspondent of the POst-Intelli-
gencer to inform the house of the
source of the reports.
"There was a suggestion from ono
or two members that there was no
precedent for granting the privilege
of the floor to private citizen. but
McArdle was insistent and the cor
respondent of this newspaper ad-
dressed the house.
''It was pointed out by the corre-
spondent that the report was in cir
culation on the floor of the house and
i'm the corridors of the capitol an' in
the press room, and that it had been
generally credited. The fact was
Continued on page So