Rinehart's Job Change Stuns Her Colleagues

Rumors swirled for weeks that Sen. Nita Rinehart was leaving the Legislature. But news of her resignation yesterday stunned other legislators because of the job she is taking.

Rinehart is stepping down to become director of the Senate Democrats' roughly 20-member staff.

It's not that the job is a bad one. The $70,000 to $80,000 salary is a hefty pay raise from her $28,000 paycheck as a legislator. Having been one of the state's most respected legislators, Rinehart will still have considerable influence among Democratic senators.

But the position falls far short of the power she wielded in the Legislature or the ambition that fueled her short-lived run for governor this year. Rinehart dropped out of the governor's race in June when an expected key contribution fell through.

Rinehart had been chairwoman of the powerful Senate Ways and Means Committee, which writes budget and tax legislation and decides the fate of other bills that spend or generate money.

When Democrats lost control of the Senate last month, Rinehart lost her position as head of the committee. But even as a member of the minority party, Rinehart would have been a significant voice in debates about education spending and other issues she championed during 17 years in Olympia.

If she were to leave the Legislature, went the political wisdom, she would most likely seek another powerful position, such as mayor of Seattle. Rinehart, 57, has represented Seattle's 46th District since 1979 and will step down Tuesday, the same day she begins her new job.

"I would describe it as stunned silence," said Senate Minority Leader Sid Snyder, D-Long Beach, describing the reaction of other Senate Democrats after he told them the news.

Rinehart said the staff position is the job she wants. Senate Democrats had been discussing how to replace retiring staff director Dean Foster. "We were looking towards the future, at the new direction we wanted to take. It dawned on me that it's a challenge I would really like to tackle," she said.

Rinehart said the state's term-limits law was not a factor. She had another term and a half before she would have hit her limit.

Rinehart also denied she was considering a run for another elected office. "All the rumors about how I wanted to be King County executive or Seattle mayor were false," she said.

Friends in the Legislature said the decision made some sense. Kathleen Drew, an Issaquah Democrat who lost her Senate re-election bid last month, said that as term limits force experienced legislators from office, Rinehart's influence would grow.

Her departure further complicates Seattle's political scene, which already resembled a game of musical chairs with King County Executive Gary Locke elected governor, Metropolitan King County Councilmen Ron Sims and Greg Nickels vying to replace him, and Councilwoman Cynthia Sullivan said to be under consideration for a Cabinet post in Locke's administration.

House Minority Leader Marlin Appelwick, from Rinehart's same North Seattle district, said he won't seek her Senate seat for fear of disrupting his caucus. He also has a longstanding agreement with the district's other representative, Democrat Ken Jacobsen, that he wouldn't contest him for the Senate.

But Jacobsen had been interested in running for Sullivan's King County Council seat. District Democratic Party Chairman Darrel Johnson said unsuccessful secretary of state candidate Phyllis Kenney, former Seattle City Councilwoman Sherry Harris and Locke chief of staff Kevin Raymond are also possibilities for Rinehart's seat.