Sen. Poulsen quits for utility lobby job

OLYMPIA — State Sen. Erik Poulsen, D-Seattle, is resigning after 11 years in the state Legislature to take a job with the Washington Public Utility Districts Association.

Poulsen, whose legislative district includes West Seattle, Burien and Vashon Island, will be government-relations director for the group.

He had been considering a run for state lands commissioner. But an offer from the PUD association persuaded him to leave the world of electoral politics.

"It will allow me to keep working on environmental and public-power issues that are near and dear to my heart, and enable me to get my two sons through college," Poulsen said Tuesday.

Poulsen, who will leave the Legislature at the end of the month, said he's grown tired of the "nuts and bolts of campaigning."

An appointment will be made to fill the seat until the November 2008 election, when the position will appear on the ballot. The 34th District Democrats are expected to nominate three people to the Metropolitan King County Council, which will make the appointment.

The two Democrats representing the 34th District in the House are Eileen Cody and Joe McDermott. Cody has more seniority, but she said Tuesday she has no interest in moving to the Senate.

McDermott, however, said he would be interested in the seat.

Poulsen is chairman of the Senate Water, Energy and Telecommunications Committee.

He established himself as a voice in utility debates early in his legislative career. He worked with Republicans in 1997 to prevent what he now says would have been an Enron-style deregulation of Washington's power market.

"That gave me great insight into the value of public power, and it's something I've been passionate about ever since," he said.

Poulsen also was a key player in the Legislature's 2006 bipartisan deal to rework how water disputes are handled on the Columbia and lower Snake rivers.

The Legislature had been unable to deal with contentious water legislation for more than a decade. Poulsen is widely credited with guiding a compromise through the Legislature.

He said he leaves with one major disappointment: He was unable to pass legislation this year to stop an expansion of gravel mining on Maury Island.

Poulsen has been among the more quotable members of the Legislature. He's also irreverent at times, even using that trait as a political tool.

In 2003 he and then-Sen. Aaron Reardon slipped off in Poulsen's SUV to slow Senate action on a bill so that House Speaker Frank Chopp would have time to work out a compromise more to their liking.

Poulsen hopes to raise public-utility districts' profile in Olympia. His hiring does some of that off the bat. He also will hire two contract lobbyists, saying, "I hope to make a big statement with the lobbyists I hire as well."

David Postman: 360-943-9882 or dpostman@seattletimes.com.

Seattle Times staff reporter Andrew Garber contributed to this report.