PORT ANGELES – Steve Tharinger is eager to get his feet wet in Olympia.
The Clallam County commissioner from the Dungeness area will start his first term as a state representative when the Legislature convenes Jan. 11.
“Right now it’s really kind of fun,” Tharinger, a Democrat, told Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce members Monday.
“It’s kind of an adventure. I’m having a pretty good time.
“Talk to me after Jan. 10 or Jan. 11.”
Tharinger, one of 21 new members in the state House, will keep his post on the Clallam Board of County Commissioners while serving as a part-time legislator.
He joins Mason County Commissioner Tim Sheldon, D-Potlatch, as the only other legislator serving simultaneously in state and county government.
Sheldon is a state senator representing the 35th District.
Tharinger was flanked at the weekly Port Angeles chamber luncheon at the Port Angeles CrabHouse Restaurant by incumbent state Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, also a Democrat.
The Sequim firefighter/paramedic, who begins his third two-year term next month, focused on the $5 billion state budget deficit during his turn at the microphone.
Tharinger and Van De Wege represent the 24th District, which covers the North Olympic Peninsula and the northern half of Grays Harbor County.
Share office space
The two will share Van De Wege’s office space in Sequim.
Tharinger can use his office at the Clallam County Courthouse in Port Angeles for legislative work. However, he cannot bring county work to the Legislature.
“It’s kind of a one-way street from my commissioner’s office up to the legislative (office),” said Tharinger, who has hired a legislative assistant in Grays Harbor County.
Four-day school week
In the current economic climate, bold, new ideas — like a four-day school week — will be on the table, Tharinger said.
“That’s not to say that you’re going to see that in legislation,” Tharinger said.
“You’re not going to see that in the governor’s budget, but that’s the kind of creative thinking that I think has to go on here to address these issues of this huge budget gap that we’re facing.”
Tharinger defeated Port of Port Angeles Commissioner Jim McEntire in the Nov. 2 election to fill the seat left by retiring House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam.
“There were a lot of folks in that [Democratic caucus] room who are sad to see Lynn go,” Tharinger said.
“No question, as the majority leader for 10 years, they haven’t had to elect a majority leader. So that was a pretty new process for a lot of people.”
Pat Sullivan, D-Covington, was elected majority leader. Van De Wege was elected majority whip for the House, the fourth-ranking position in the caucus.
“Let me tell you, it’s a big deal,” Tharinger said.
“There’s this table up front with the leadership, and Kevin’s at that table. . . . Congratulations to Kevin. It’s a good deal for us.”
Tharinger recently attended a two-day training session for incoming state representatives. He said he is interested in serving on the Local Government, Capital Budget and Environment committees.
“I think that this session is going to be all budget, all the time,” Tharinger said.
“There’s not a lot of hope for revenue, although I would hope that that’s not off the table to look at closing some of the tax loopholes or finding some of the revenue.”
Both attended House “committee days” last week, and took part in a special session Saturday to get a head start on the budget.
“Five billion dollars is a lot of money,” Van De Wege said.
“For the programs that affect the least amount of people — or new programs — those have all been long cut. We did that years ago.
“So to still have a shortfall now, we’re really having to dig into things that people truly rely on, truly make a difference in people’s lives and truly are going to be really difficult to cut.
“We have a lot of difficult choices ahead of us,” Van De Wege said.
Washington runs on a two-year cycle. The current biennium ends June 30.
The state was about $1.1 billion short for the current biennium, Van De Wege said, but the Legislature shaved about $585 million of that in Saturday’s special session.
“When we start the session in January, the first thing we’ll do is make sure we’re balanced for the rest of this biennium, and then we’ll start working on the 2011-2013 biennium, which starts July first of 2011, ” Van De Wege explained.
Van De Wege said Peninsula College will feel a recent $26 million cut to community colleges — half in the latest round of cuts to higher education.
“We’re obviously in a recession, a recession that is not going away and is longer than a lot of people expected,” he said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
