The first state lawmaker has announced their retirement in 2010.
It’s Democratic Rep. Al O’Brien of Mountlake Terrace.
O’Brien won re-election Nov. 4 and will start his seventh term in January. He told me he will complete the two-year term then he and his wife will be moving to Wisconsin to be closer to her family.
“They live 40 miles from Green Bay so I’ll be a Cheesehead but I will root for the Seahawks when they come here,” he joked.
O’Brien said he is also giving up his chairmanship of the House Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee, the panel that deals with most of the major crime-fighting bills. House Democrats will select his successor next week. It is expected that the post will go to the current vice chairman, Rep. Christopher Hurst, who is a former cop like O’Brien.
Rep. Kirk Pearson, R-Monroe, the panel’s ranking Republican since 2004, said Monday he wished O’Brien would serve at least one more year at the helm of the committee.
“He’s been very fair with the gavel. I will be very sad when he leaves,” Pearson said. > Give us your news tips. > Send us a letter to the editor. > More Herald contact information.Talk to us
