Senator Fairley Retirement and Impacts -NW Progressive Institute Advocate Post

The Northwest Progressive Institute Blog posted this story April 22nd.
http://www.nwprogressive.org/weblog/2010/04/state-senator-darlene-fairley-retires.html


Senator Darlene Fairley has been a State Senator Representing the 32nd Legislative District for 16 years.
She has a very strong environmental record and is known to be very outspoken.

Reminder: Today (4/26) Rep Maralyn Chase, on of the 32nd LD's two Legislators will be making an announcement at a press conference at Shoreline City Hall under the Solar Array at 5pm. Everyone is welcome.  Representative Chase has been in office since 2001 as State Representative.

Senator Fairley and Rep Chase have nearly identical voting records.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

State Senator Darlene Fairley retires

Longtime State Senator Darlene Fairley, who represents the 32nd Legislative District and chairs the Senate's Government Operations & Elections Committee, has decided to retire from the Legislature. (Her term expires at the end of this year).

She announced her decision in an email to colleagues and Senate staff today:

To Everyone:

Around Christmas time last year I was griping and groaning about having to go back to Olympia soon. My husband (who had just about had it with my complaints) said I should wait until the end of this session to see if I felt the same.

If anything, my feelings are more negative than before.

I've always believed that if you hate what you're doing, and you can't give it your best, stop doing it. Life is too short to waste on things you don't enjoy doing.

We never know what's going to happen next, but I do know that I'm not running again. 16 years is enough.

To all of you--take care,

Darlene

That's Senator Fairley: direct and to the point. She's long been one of my favorite senators, in part because she always has a retort ready when Tim Eyman insults the Legislature from the table in front of her.

We at NPI wish her the very best in retirement. She'll be missed.

Democrats in the 32nd must now find a successor to Fairley. State Representative Maralyn Chase is reportedly thinking about running; she has served in the House for over a decade. If she runs, that would make her own position an open seat, but it makes sense to take that risk, since this is probably the best chance she'll ever have to move over to the Legislature's smaller chamber. She'll have to make up her mind quickly if she doesn't want Democratic rivals.