One might think state lawmakers representing Snohomish County routinely break bread to sift out the causes and concerns on which they’ll unite in a legislative session.

But you’d be wrong.

Attempts to bring everyone together mostly fizzle out. On that rare occasion in recent years when a majority wound up in the same room, fireworks erupted, preventing agreement on any substantive matter except adjourning.

As a result, around the Capitol where perception drives behavior, it’s long been perceived that Snohomish County lawmakers don’t speak for the county. And the question of who does isn’t easily answered.

In two weeks, another try to come up with an answer will be made.

Democrat Rep. June Robinson of Everett, one of the delegation’s newest members, and Republican Sen. Kirk Pearson, Monroe, one of its nicest veterans, are organizing a pre-dawn meeting in a conference room on the first floor of the state Capitol.

The purpose, an email Pearson sent to fellow senators says, “is for those of us representing Snohomish County to come together and discuss issues of importance to our part of the state.”

“We’ll see who gets up and comes,” Robinson said Jan. 13. “I think it’d be a great opportunity to see where we agree and, even if we don’t agree, how we can focus our efforts to support our local community.”

Robinson said when she entered the Legislature a year ago she was surprised the county’s contingent didn’t regularly assemble and assert its collective political muscle the way it seemed their peers in Pierce County and regions of King County did.

Rep. Luis Moscoso, D-Mountlake Terrace, has had a similar feeling since he arrived in Olympia four years ago.

Snohomish County lawmakers possess the numbers, the talent and the gravitas to directly influence decisions but their lack of synergy undermines that clout, he said.

“I’m really hoping people show up this time,” he said. “We need to work together.”

The county is the state’s third-most-populous with residents served by 21 lawmakers elected from seven diverse legislative districts. Its delegation, because of the numbers, looms as a threat to lock arms to pass or defeat measures though it never has.

There are reasons the delegation has never behaved as a coalition or caucus.

Partisanship is a hurdle as much as personality differences among members of the same party. Historic rivalries exist between interests in north and south county as well as urban and rural communities.

And finding a day and time when most, if not all, of the 21 people can attend is a practical barrier.

There is a price to pay for failing to overcome the hurdles. While it’s hard to pinpoint where the lack of unity harmed the county’s interests, it’s clear when internal divisions cost it opportunities.

Consider what travel on U.S. 2 might be like today if two former senators — one Democrat and one Republican — got along. But Democrat Mary Margaret Haugen of Camano Island and Republican Val Stevens of Arlington didn’t. The 2005 transportation package contained no major money for improvement projects along the highway.

And as everyone applauds the rise of Washington State University in Everett today, don’t forget bitter disputes among Snohomish County Democratic members scuttled a branch campus of the University of Washington in the city a few years back.

With such history, one might think a consensus cannot be cooked up this year.

It’s too soon to say that’s right.

Political reporter Jerry Cornfield’s blog, The Petri Dish, is at www.heraldnet.com. Contact him at 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com and on Twitter at @dospueblos