House leader Kessler to retire
Lynn Kessler, who could probably win the contest for Washington’s most popular legislator, is hanging it up. After 18 years in the state House, most of it in leadership, the Hoquiam Democrat stunned her colleagues by announcing her retirement. As the longtime majority leader, Kessler was the highest-ranking woman in the House and her many fans had assumed she’d be the first woman Speaker one day. But that wasn’t to be, as Speaker Frank Chopp set a record for holding…