Gov. Chris Gregoire has appointed the representatives to the new Washington Economic Development Commission, which was legislated in the 2007 session. Eight of the 11 new appointees hail from the Seattle-Tacoma area. No appointments were made from Southwest Washington.
The commission is legislated to provide planning, coordination, evaluation, monitoring, and policy analysis and development for the state economic development system as a whole and will advise the governor and the Legislature on the system.
Rep. Deb Wallace expressed surprise about the lack of local representation and concern that industry sectors particular to Southwest Washington, such as the semiconductor industry, will be overlooked when commissioners are working on issues.
Kristin Jacobs, spokeswoman for the Office of the Governor, said an outreach committee worked with members of the previous economic development commission, which was disbanded, to recruit for commissioners in Southwest Washington. Outreach efforts were made, according to Jacobs, through local economic development councils and “associate development organizations.”
However, she said, no one applied for any of the positions, and in an email, stated, “those who fit the description were not available or were not interested.” She did not say who was contacted.
Both Bart Phillips, executive director of the Columbia River Economic Development Council, and Wallace, former director of business expansion at the CREDC and current chair of the Higher Education Committee, say they were not contacted by those doing outreach at the state level for potential commissioners in Southwest Washington.
“It would surprise me if there weren’t qualified or interested (people in the region),” said Wallace. “It surprises me that they didn’t reach out to some of us that are more involved in economic development.”
Wallace said she believes the governor’s office made “a mistake” not appointing a commissioner from this region. The region is defined by the Washington State Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development as Grays Harbor, Pacific, Lewis, Skamania, Clark, Cowlitz and Wahkiakum counties.
“The challenge is that we are in a very different market,” said Wallace. She emphasized that the media messages heard at the state level about Southwest Washington come from the Portland market and communication is not strong enough.
While it may be a political problem for a state economic development commission to be void of representatives from Southwest Washington, Phillips said the region will likely continue to be represented adequately at the state level.
“Our issues tend to be fairly universal. They’re not really regionally based,” he said. “This is not a huge issue from a fundamental economic development standpoint.”
The law, effective July 22, 2007, legislates that the commission will be comprised of eleven members, including six representatives of the private sector, and one each representing labor, port districts, four-year state public higher education, state community or technical colleges and associate development organizations.
It goes on to say that members will represent the state geographically, including eastern and central Washington and represent the ethnic diversity of the state. The terms of the volunteer commission positions are three years.
While eight of the commissioners either hail from Tacoma, Seattle or Mercer Island, one commissioner hails from Burlington in the Northwest, one from Walla Walla and one from Spokane on the east side of the state. There are no representatives from central Washington.
“As soon as a position is open,” Wallace said, “they should put someone on from Southwest Washington.” In the meantime, she said representatives of the region should be sought for participation at meetings of the commission.
