They don’t have a secret handshake (as far as we know), their roll call is rather short, and they seldom meet. So when the four people who serve or once served as Washington’s Secretary of State do gather, it’s cause for celebration, or at least a blog post. The new officeholder, Kim Wyman, met with her three predecessors for lunch Tuesday in Olympia. No word on how much they talked shop or discussed whether Gonzaga will reach the Final Four….
A new book about former Washington’s last Republican governor, “John Spellman: Politics Never Broke His Heart,” is being launched by The Legacy Project in the Office of the Secretary of State. The author is Legacy Project’s chief historian, John C. Hughes, a former editor and publisher for the Aberdeen Daily World. He’s no stranger to storytelling; this is Hughes’ seventh book he has penned since accepting his position in 2008. Among his other projects were biographies of U.S. Senator Slade…
Bette Snyder receives a standing ovation during book launch event honoring her husband, Sid. As a state senator, he was known for bringing together people from both parties and earning their respect and admiration. A launch event for a new book about Sid Snyder showed that the Senate legend can still attract people from both sides of the aisle. Nearly 100 people, including former Governor Dan Evans, the late Snyder’s former Senate colleagues, former and current legislative staffers, lobbyists and…
Resuming the Washington State Heritage Center project and enacting election improvements are the centerpieces of new Secretary of State Kim Wyman’s legislative package. Wyman unveiled her 2013 legislative agenda in her office Friday morning during a gathering with members of the Capitol Press Corps. Wyman introduced several division directors and most of her executive team during the informal get-together with the media. The Heritage Center, which would house the State Archives, State Library, historical exhibits, an educational center and other…
Washington’s 63rd Legislature is off to a dramatic start, with a coalition of minority Republicans banding with two dissident Democrats to take over control of the state Senate. The debate was fairly low-key. Despite having an elected majority in the upper chamber, the Democrats were left with little option but to accept that 23 Republicans had lined up support of fiscally conservative Democratic Sens. Rodney Tom and Tim Sheldon to form the 25-member coalition to run the 49-member Senate. Democratic…
Rand Simmons Kim Wyman, who will be sworn in as Washington’s 15th Secretary of State, announced her choices for her executive team Friday December 7. In making her appointments, Wyman consulted with outgoing Secretary of State Sam Reed, senior managers and others both inside and outside of government. In her email, she described the team as “a mix of people from within and outside the office, with a wide variety of experience and perspectives.” Rand Simmons was chosen as Washington…
But the governor’s race, the marquee state contest in the General Election, remains very close. Democrat Jay Inslee, who gave up a safe congressional seat to run for the office being vacated by two-term Gov. Chris Gregoire, led Republican Attorney General Rob McKenna 51.32 percent to 48.68 percent, or about 50,000 votes out of nearly 1.9 million counted. Inslee told cheering supporters it looked like victory, but didn’t declare himself the winner in so many words. McKenna, still seeing a…