Tag Archives: Lynn Peterson

IN THE NEWS: Plenty of evidence to back refusal to confirm Peterson

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By Sen. Ann Rivers 

Sometimes, despite a person’s demeanor and education, she or he just isn’t the right fit for a job.

Our state Senate majority recently decided against confirming Lynn Peterson as state transportation secretary. There was overwhelming evidence to support our vote, which ended her tenure at the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Questions about Peterson began when Gov. Jay Inslee plucked her from Oregon, where she was ex-Gov. John Kitzhaber’s “sustainable communities and transportation” adviser. Was she ready to lead WSDOT as her first agency-management job?

Folks who have experienced WSDOT failures firsthand cheered the Senate’s Feb. 5 decision. I’ve repeatedly read the comment “About time!”

After Peterson’s ouster, however, her history at WSDOT was shamelessly rewritten by others. Yes, she inherited a number of challenges, like the Seattle tunnel, but what about how she single-handedly poisoned that project’s already tense atmosphere by fumbling an issue involving minority-owned contractors? So badly that a Seattle minority leader demanded her firing?

Or the sex offender employed by the state ferry system despite multiple complaints from passengers?

Or the eyebrow-raising $500,000 she authorized to settle a sexual harassment suit against the agency?

It would take this entire column to list every project failure and management misstep from Peterson’s time in charge (many are collected on my legislative Web page.)

The vocal criticism from Inslee and Democrat legislators amounts to a vigorous defense of Peterson’s mediocre management. Their claim that our decision was unexpected is weak, given that the Senate Transportation Committee chair wrote nearly a dozen letters since 2013 detailing his concerns.

The Columbian has been critical too, and unfortunately, I helped make that possible. From all the comments I made in a lengthy interview, the one chosen for print was an off-target quip about Peterson’s demeanor and profile. I should have simply said: “Sometimes, despite a person’s demeanor and education, she or he just isn’t the right fit for a job.”

Although I quickly posted a clarification of that remark, it keeps appearing. Such is life for an elected official: Sometimes I have to take my medicine whether I like it or not. That means “owning” my words, just like owning the decision the Senate made.

The Columbian has echoed Inslee’s angry accusation that election-year politics prompted the Peterson vote. I was in the room when our caucus decided against confirming Peterson and can tell Clark County residents that not every vote in Olympia is political. Some votes simply acknowledge things aren’t working, and things really weren’t working at WSDOT. The Columbian seems bent on defending someone whose state-agency experience amounted to five years as a level-1 engineer in Wisconsin 20 years before Inslee came knocking — and wouldn’t even become a Washington resident!

WSDOT did quickly replace the Skagit River Bridge in 2013 and responded admirably to 2014’s Oso landslide tragedy. I’d say the agency’s regional offices and road-shop employees warrant more credit than Peterson, though. Either way, if those are all Peterson’s supporters can point to, it’s underwhelming.

People are tired of politics, but they are also tired of feeling like there are no consequences when nothing changes. I have to own my off-target quote about Peterson and defend my voting record. Rather than repeat Seattle’s political-conspiracy theories, The Columbian ought to ask whether Peterson had a record worth defending, and if she didn’t own WSDOT’s management failures, who does?

Champions of “good enough” government can continue beating their drum. If I have to sometimes take my medicine, I will. We’ll probably be waiting a long time for our critics to do the same.

Original article, published Feb. 21, 2016, can be found at https://www.columbian.com/news/2016/feb/21/rivers-plenty-of-evidence-to-back-refusal-to-confirm-peterson/

Transportation secretary fails to win Senate confirmation, loses job

A majority of the state Senate voted today against confirming the state transportation secretary appointed by Gov. Jay Inslee. The decision means Lynn Peterson is out as head of the state Department of Transportation after three years.

“This is about having accountability at the highest levels in state agencies. Secretary Peterson’s inability to properly manage the DOT after three years has cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars. She has undermined any confidence the people had in transportation projects and simply can’t be trusted to manage the additional transportation funding approved last year,” said Senate Majority Leader Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville.

Appointments by the governor are subject to confirmation by the state Senate. While an appointee may serve indefinitely without being confirmed, a vote against confirmation means the appointee may no longer serve. The Senate majority chose not to confirm Peterson’s appointment; the 21 Democrats present from the Senate minority voted in support of Inslee’s pick, in spite of a long list of problems during Peterson’s watch.

Peterson’s three years as transportation secretary have seen one DOT failure after another. Recent examples include the shutdown Seattle tunnel project that is anticipating over $200 million in claims and cost overruns, and the ineffective Interstate-405 high-occupancy toll lanes that have made traffic congestion worse instead of better.

Her ouster by the Senate comes less than a year after legislators passed the largest transportation package in Washington’s history, which allocates about $16 billion for road maintenance and construction, among other investments. Speaking before today’s vote, members of the Senate majority pointed not only to DOT’s recent management failures but their growing doubt about Peterson’s ability to oversee the new projects they had approved.

“Reforms that would ensure accountability for our state’s taxpayers were first and foremost when we passed the transportation package in 2015. Sadly, the implementation of the package has not met our expectations – and Secretary Peterson didn’t seem interested in enacting the reforms,” said Sen. Ann Rivers, R-La Center, a member of the Senate Transportation Committee.

The responsibility for confirming gubernatorial appointments is one of the few ways the Senate can provide oversight of state government’s executive branch, Schoesler explained.

“We routinely approve the governor’s appointments – in fact, the Senate confirmed two of Governor Inslee’s agency heads today. A vote against confirmation is a rare occurrence, just like our recent vote to issue subpoenas in the felon-release scandal. But enough is enough when it comes to mismanagement at state agencies, and if the governor drags his feet, our majority is ready to provide leadership,” Schoesler said.

A pattern of mismanagement has emerged during Peterson’s time as transportation secretary, including:

  • Failure to properly supervise the Seattle Tunnel Partners (STP) administration of Minority Owned Business Contracting, resulting in a call by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for Peterson’s firing.
  • Poisoning the working relationship between STP and her now-former agency by issuing a politically-driven letter of default.
  • Inslee’s recent order to halt STP’s work on the downtown Seattle tunnel due to a giant sinkhole – the latest public-safety concern in a project plagued by water damage that independent experts say threatens the historic structures of downtown Seattle.
  • Alcohol consumption at the job site by contractor employees working on the State Route 520 bridge replacement project.
  • Her approval of a controversial change order on the SR 520 bridge project that cost taxpayers millions of dollars in part due to a poorly constructed state contract.
  • The collapse of the Skagit River Bridge, damaged because the DOT was still permitting loads that exceeded the bridge’s capacity.
  • DOT’s continued failure to verify routes for oversize load limits, which could cause another bridge collapse.
  • Repeated concerns about Washington State Ferries, including:
    • the loss of two ferries to mechanical failures during one week this past summer.
    • nearly 240 canceled ferry trips since 2013 due to staff shortages or miscommunication.
    • the overloading of a Bremerton ferry in 2014 that forced almost 1,700 passengers to disembark.
    • the 2014 discovery that a sex offender had worked for years on the ferries despite multiple complaints from passengers against him.
    • Peterson’s settling of a sexual-harassment suit against WSF for $500,000.