Limiting the Outgoing Governor’s Legacy

“Because Gov. Gregoire isn’t seeking another term it’s only a matter of time (probably December) until someone attempts to define the mark she will have left on state government. Naturally she’ll be remembered for laws created on her watch, but a less-apparent part of her legacy involves appointments she made to boards and commissions and other posts in state government.

“I bring this up because it falls to the Senate to confirm gubernatorial appointments. There were more than 300 of those to consider for the 2011-12 legislative term. Many of the positions are local in nature, such as trustees at our community colleges and four-year institutions. However, some carry regional or statewide authority and can be controversial.

“Some of the names tied to these appointments are familiar, and not always for the best reasons. For instance, last year the Legislature confirmed the reappointment of Kathleen Mix to the Pollution Control/Shoreline Hearings Board until mid-2016. When Gregoire was attorney general, Mix was her chief deputy; the two were defendants in a well-publicized ethics complaint brought by an assistant attorney general who felt she had been scapegoated after Gregoire’s office missed a deadline to appeal a record $17.8 million verdict against the state.

“Gregoire, of course, became governor in 2005 and appointed her former deputy to the board at the end of that year. Mix’s salary in 2010 was a hefty $97,159.

“Last year one of the board’s other two members resigned to become head of the state Public Disclosure Commission, so in January the governor appointed Tom McDonald, an environmental lawyer from Seattle, to serve out the two years remaining in the term.

“I and others had serious misgivings about McDonald’s appointment, given perceptions about him, because state law forbids more than two members of the board from belonging to the same political party. I told the governor as much when she came to me about it on the evening of April 10 (which turned out to be the all-nighter to end the legislative session).

“McDonald’s appointment squeaked through that night by a 29-18 vote, which was far from a ringing endorsement. That means Gregoire will leave office with her stamp firmly on the pollution control/shoreline hearings board – but only for two years. The incoming governor will get to appoint someone to the third spot on the board, as that term expires at the end of next month, and McDonald can be replaced in 2014.

“Fortunately, not all of those 300-plus gubernatorial appointments received the Senate’s endorsement, and that limits the governor’s legacy. I was pleased that another of Gregoire’s poor choices didn’t make it through: David Dicks, son of longtime (and outgoing) U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, who represents the Olympic Peninsula and part of the Puget Sound region.

“The younger Dicks became an embarrassment during his three years as head of the Puget Sound Partnership. He resigned in late 2010, yet Gregoire last year appointed Dicks (who came from the same Seattle law firm as Tom McDonald) to a four-year term on the agency’s board. However, the appointment was not brought for a confirmation vote – a wise move on someone’s part – so our new governor will be able to show Dicks the door.”