Steve Bloom/The Olympian
Washington state residents won't tolerate inaction from the Legislature this session, House Minority Leader Clyde Ballard says.

Former speaker Ballard: 'I want to work bipartisan'

PATRICK CONDON, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Saturday, January 26, 2002

OLYMPIA -- Clyde Ballard is back where he started.

Elected to the House of Representatives in 1982, the Republican from East Wenatchee ascended to the position of minority leader by the end of the 1980s.

In 1994, the Republican revolution toppled the Democratic majority and made Ballard the speaker of the House, a spot he held for the next four years.

The 1998 election brought the 49-49 tie that gripped the House for the next three years, until a special-election victory last fall in Snohomish County put the Democrats back on top and once again made him "House Minority Leader Clyde Ballard."

"I'd rather be in a majority than in a tie, and I'd rather be in a tie than in the minority," said Ballard, 64, who still gets called "Mr. Speaker" on almost a daily basis.

"But the truth of the matter is, you can go around saying, 'This is horrible,' or you can get used to it," Ballard said.

"You look at the pros, the people who have been around -- they know this is just how the process works."

Quick response

Last summer, as the Snohomish County special election loomed, many House Republican staff members speculated that Ballard would resign his seat and leave the Legislature behind if Republicans slipped back into the minority.

He'd come too far, they thought, to go back to playing the loyal opposition, sitting on the sidelines and occasionally lobbing a partisan grenade at Democrats running the show.

Then Sept. 11 happened. Ballard was among the first state officials to publicly respond, paying a quick visit to his longtime nemesis, Gov. Gary Locke, and urging a united front.

Republican staff members sensed a renewed vigor in their leader, a willingness to keep at it, no matter the outcome of the election.

Ballard won't admit to considering resignation, saying only that he and his wife, Ruth, regularly reassess the direction of his political career -- "Probably two or three times a week," he said.

"He still has the fight in him," said Gary Chandler, who recently resigned his House seat to work as a business lobbyist.

"He still has the twinkle in his eye."

Settling in old roles

Now Ballard must relearn the role of minority leader.

In doing so, he'll look back on his previous term in that post.

He insists it's never been his intention to simply derail the efforts of the Democrats.

"I want to work bipartisan, and I'll tell you why," Ballard said.

"I think we've got a lot of good solutions for what's going on. If I just wanted to be a bomb-thrower, it would be so easy. You can raise havoc pretty easily."

The last time he was minority leader, Ballard sparred with then-Democratic Speaker Joe King.

"Clyde, for my money, wasn't what I thought of as a minority leader," recalled King, who has since left the Legislature.

"He was not an obstructionist. He got in there, and he helped us solve problems. That was what he liked to do."

Ballard's working relationship with current Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, has not been so amicable.

After sharing the gavel for the three years of the tie, the two men were, by most accounts, constantly at odds by the end of the drawn-out 2001 session.

Blaming Ballard

Indeed, Democrats were quick to blame Ballard for the Legislature's monumental failure to pass a multi-billion dollar transportation improvement plan last year.

Led by Ballard, House Republicans spurned countless attempts to craft a package that both sides of the aisle could support, Democrats claimed.

Ballard still clearly feels the sting of being portrayed as the obstacle to progress.

"Oh, they demonized me," Ballard said.

"OK, blame me, I'm the bad guy now. You still haven't fixed the transportation problem, though. Did it feel good to blame me? I bet it did. I'm sure a lot of people high-fived each other and said, 'We really did a job.' "

This year, lawmakers again are trying to tackle the transportation problem, as well as redraft a state budget that has a $1.25 billion shortfall.

This leaves Ballard with a choice.

He said he can sit back and give the Democrats enough rope to hang themselves, hoping for a replay of 1993.

That was the year Democrats raised taxes to fill holes in the state budget -- which in turn gave Republicans the ammunition they needed to win the majority and make Ballard the speaker for the first time.

"There are a lot of similarities between that year and this year," Ballard said.

But that approach goes against one of his own greatest principles, Ballard said.

He'd rather be part of the process instead of doing something simply to win or stay in power.

"You will lose gladly before you break your principles," Ballard said.

So, is Clyde Ballard really back where he started? Or is he already on his way back to the top?

Clyde Ballard

- Age: 64

- City: East Wenatchee

- Family: Wife, Ruth; three sons and seven grandchildren

- Work experience: Served in the National Guard, 1954-59; owner-operator Ballard Services Inc., an ambulance company, for 20 years

- Legislative service: Elected to the House in 1982; Republican Caucus chairman, 1985-87; House minority leader, 1987-95; House speaker, 1995-98; House co-speaker, 1999-2001; House minority leader, 2002-present

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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