Being top dog at UW a steppingstone for future politicians

Sitting in the student activity center at the University of Washington, talking to Timothy Mensing, current student body president, I ask only slightly in jest, "What are you running for?" You know, after college.

The question is not as far-fetched as it might seem.

As president of the Associated Students of the University of Washington, Mensing sits in a greenhouse that has been growing Northwest politicians for decades.

The charming college senior with a light beard and cool demeanor played along gamely. Mensing is 24, majoring in biochemistry, not political science. He plans a year off after graduation, ponders medical school and thinks about professional politics, maybe mayor of Seattle, or governor, or something political later on.

So far, he has ruled out mayor of Tenino, his hometown, because it is too small — the town and the job.

The most accomplished former UW student body president, in recent decades is state Attorney General Rob McKenna, who sat in Mensing's chair during the 1984-1985 school year. McKenna's path has taken him from UW, to law school, to a law firm, to the Metropolitan King County Council and the attorney general's office. Many people, myself included, think McKenna will be Washington's next governor.

King County Councilmember Bob Ferguson, interested in the attorney general's job in 2012 when McKenna moves on, was ASUW president in 1988 and 1989. Both he and McKenna used the same word to describe the ASUW leadership experience: formative.

Ferguson said there were a lot of talented people in student government when he was in charge, including Jeff Bjornstad, current chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington.

Ferguson was inspired both by his peers in student politics and professional politicians he met on the Seattle City Council and in Olympia, including then state Rep. Gary Locke, now commerce secretary in the Obama administration.

Ferguson and his pals lobbied Olympia about student fees to be used for turf at Husky Stadium. The students wanted the money for other student purposes.

"I remember saying to myself, 'I can do that job,' " said Ferguson. "It didn't seem so remote to me."

Mensing ran for student body president last year, as he put it, as the "ideas candidate," offering fresh plans for campus safety, grass-roots organizing and a lot more peer tutoring for students, especially in those humongous entry-level classes. Mensing had a hand in student rallies against tuition increases and in favor of more student aid.

Two other relatively recent University of Washington student body presidents who sprouted into politicians were Heidi Wills (1990-91) and Judy Nicastro (1992-1993). Both became Seattle City Council members in 1999 and served a single term.

They didn't wear well for a variety of reasons, perhaps because of a resemblance to Tracy Flick, the uber-ambitious student leader played by Reese Witherspoon in the 1999 movie "Election."

Going back further, Congressman Norm Dicks of Bremerton was in student government, not as ASUW president but a member of the student council. Dicks, of course, was just named chairman of the powerful House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

Many schools produce famous politicians or famous politicians attend various schools, prompting a fair chicken-and-egg type question. Does the UW springboard the politicians or would these same people rise in politics anyhow, anywhere?

McKenna says it is a combination. People who run for student government are interested in leadership and politics but the UW is a particularly effective training ground because it is such a complex organization.

Students who run campuswide have to persuade a small city of 38,000 students, or at least those who bother to vote, to support them.

Then university lobbying and haggling with various student interest groups provide an experience big enough and real enough to give students who perhaps had just an interest in politics a bug that eventually proves irresistible.

And, of course, ASUW president is a great line on a résumé.

Joni Balter's column appears regularly on editorial pages of The Times. Her e-mail address is jbalter@seattletimes.com