Governor Fix-It gets deals done

When the state senator delivered the bad news that talks had broken down, what he got was a poke in the chest.

"She jabbed her finger right here and said 'I ... want ... a ... bill!' " recalls Erik Poulsen, D-West Seattle. "She couldn't have been more emphatic. She forced us to keep trying." The result: Farmers and environmentalists — at war for at least two decades — agreed on a new way of divvying up water from the Columbia River.

A Republican senator has a similar story. Except the feud was highways versus transit.

"We'd been hung up for years because the 'roads people' don't like transit, and the 'transit people' don't like roads," said Bill Finkbeiner, R-Kirkland. "I was impressed when she got in the room. She had her own ideas and didn't parrot the usual interest groups."

The result: A deal, five years in the making, to put a roads-and-transit package before regional voters in 2007.

"She" is Gov. Chris Gregoire. Hang around the state Capitol in Olympia, as I did recently, and most seem to agree: Our governor is quite the fixer.

So doctors and lawyers hate each other? Gregoire, an attorney, got them to resolve part of the brutal malpractice debate.

Even those who aren't always thrilled with the outcome say the state hasn't seen this kind of deal making in years.

"She gets the deal done, even when you're standing in the way," said Sen. Ken Jacobsen, D-Seattle, who fought her on the roads-and-transit bill.

Says Poulsen: "I would see [former Gov.] Gary Locke once a session — on the last day. But she's here in the wings every day, offering help.

Oh yes, the public. Did I mention that Chris Gregoire is arguably the least popular politician in the state?

Her approval ratings, once around 35 percent, have inched into the 40s. Ironically, one of the most popular is Dino Rossi, whom she edged in the contested 2004 election.

People are drawn to Rossi, says his book on the subject, because he is good at building bipartisan "philosophical majorities" to solve problems.

In other words, precisely what Gregoire is doing.

I asked Gregoire if it bugs her that Rossi can write a book about solving problems and is loved by everybody, while she is actually solving problems, and, is, well, not.

She said it shouldn't last.

"I had a very difficult year last year, politically. But now this is my strong suit — sitting people around a table and getting results. People will eventually notice.

"I'm convinced if we get the policy right, the politics will follow."

Even her advisers question whether that will be enough. They say she must articulate a grander vision. Fight for people. Be more than a lawyer who mediates everything.

Or take it from Rossi's book, which says leadership is 80 percent vision. And only 20 percent working out the details.

Gregoire's got this formula exactly backward.

I hope she sticks to it anyway. Maybe it won't get her re-elected, but it's about time someone poked the folks at the Capitol in the chest.

Danny Westneat's column appears Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at 206-464-2086 or dwestneat@seattletimes.com.