PORT ANGELES — While House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler is retiring from the state Legislature, she’s not stepping into the shadows quite yet.
Nor does she even really intend to.
The Hoquiam Democrat has been a regular guest at business and civic club meetings across her 24th District, which includes the North Olympic Peninsula and a portion of Grays Harbor County, since she announced her pending retirement in April.
“I’ve been busier than ever except I haven’t had to run for office,” she said Saturday evening, shortly before a dinner held in her honor at the Red Lion Hotel in Port Angeles.
And wherever she goes, she carries the same words of wisdom for current and aspiring politicians: be civil.
“I’m trying to make sure we all remain civil with one another and have civil discourse and not be yelling at each other and calling each other names,” she said.
“I think it’s a poor way to have discourse analysis. It’s a poor role model for our children.
Kessler, 69, said that message, which she delivered at the Clallam County Democrats’ Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Dinner on Saturday, has been well received, including at the National Conference of State Legislators meeting in Louisville, Ky. last July.
Kessler spoke at that meeting after receiving the organization’s Excellence in Legislative Leadership award.
“Somebody’s got to do it. Somebody’s got to start it,” she said. “And I wish the public would demand it.”
Kessler attributed her pending departure from 18 years in the Legislature to health concerns and a simple wish to spend more time with her family.
She said she intends to continue to travel in the 24th District and help promote Steve Tharinger, a fellow Democrat and a Clallam County commissioner who is running for her seat in the state Legislature.
Tharinger is running against Republican Jim McEntire, one of the three Port of Port Angeles commissioners and retired Coast Guard captain.
After her term ends in January, Kessler said she would like to go to work for early childhood learning programs such as Thrive By Five or the University of Washington’s early learning lab. But she doesn’t want to be paid.
Kessler said she wants to be able to help show parents what they can to give their children a head start in their education.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
