Secretary Sam Reed

As part of his career-ending tour of Washington state’s 39 counties, Secretary of State Sam Reed visited with officials and well-wishers in the Whitman County courthouse in Colfax Monday.

The only elected official to graduate from Washington State University, Reed said he has a strong affinity for Whitman County.

“Whitman County’s always meant a lot to me,” said Reed, who noted he was an active member in the county’s GOP as an undergraduate.

Auditor Eunice Coker praised Reed’s office for helping advance Whitman County’s elections process. Particularly, she said, he should be credited with incorporating technology in the elections process.

“We’ve got a web presence that just would not be possible before,” she said. “We’ve got the election results posted online before the guy in the room has them handed to him.”

Coker also noted Reed pushed hard for Whitman County’s receipt of a federal grant from the Help America Vote Act. That grant helped pay for the county’s new elections office on the corner of Main and Island streets.

Reed, who wore a shirt Monday monogrammed “Lame Duck” is finishing his third term as secretary of state. Prior to that, he was Thurston County Auditor from 1978 until the end of 2000.

As a Republican in a primarily-blue county, Reed said he was repeatedly recruited by party officials for congressional runs, but turned away that pressure.

“I love history. I love elections. This is what gets me excited in the morning,” he said. “So why would I want to do anything else.”

His tenure was filled with important developments in how the state ran its elections, kept official documents and preserved history.

Reed was the state’s top elections official in 2004, when recounts and lawsuits surrounded the gubernatorial election between Democrat Chris Gregoire and Republican Dino Rossi, a race which ended with a 133-vote margin.

Seeking advice for dealing with a tight election, Reed phoned former Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris for advice. Harris oversaw the 2000 presidential recount in Florida.

Her advice to Reed was to make sure the process around the governor’s race was transparent, that did not include the closed-door decisions that were presented in the presidential recount. So he told the vast press corps watching the gubernatorial recount to call him if they had any questions.

“And wow, did I get calls,” he said. “I forgot my number was listed in the Olympia phone book.”

Reed was also instrumental in pushing through the state’s “top-two” primary process, which advances the two candidates who receive the most primary election votes to the general elections, regardless of their party affiliation.

Reed also pointed out he helped stop the state from closing its library, in operation since its establishment by Gov. Issac Stevens in territorial days. Closure of the state library would have rippled through to local libraries he said. He credited County Commissioner Greg Partch and Kristie Kirkpatrick, director of the county’s rural library district, for helping stave off the closure.

“He’s been a real champion for the libraries,” Reed said of Partch.

Partch praised Reed for building the nation’s first fully-digital archive building on the campus of Eastern Washington University.

He still loves the job, but decided to end his career after his 2008 victory party after his wife walked up, touched his elbow and whispered “enough.”

With a bachelor’s and master’s degree from WSU, Reed returned to the county this week in part to help develop a distinguished professorship in his name at the school. The position would focus on civility.

He also is applying for a 13-week fellowship with the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, where he would bring his experience of public service, particularly his role in overseeing elections, to students.

He is endorsing, and works on the campaign, for Republican Kim Wyman in this year’s election to replace him as secretary of state.

“I really think this is an office that has to be taken seriously,” he said.

Reed said Wyman’s experience in elections, serving as Thurston County Auditor since 2001, gives her more experience over Democratic candidate Kathleen Drew, a former state senator.

Secretary Reed was accompanied by Patrick McDonald, long-time aide who was raised in Colfax. McDonald told county officials about his collection of vintage Colfax postcards and displayed an 1881 cup with a hand-painted image of the former Whitman County courthouse. County officials used the cup to hold swizzle sticks at the refreshment table.