Power 09: Locals Go to Washington

The Obama administration plucked an unprecedented number of locals to lend their talents to the other Washington

Any qualms about Seattle being the nation’s smartest city (take that, San Francisco!) were put to rest when the Obama administration plucked an unprecedented number of locals to lend their talents to the other Washington, including these three, placed in top positions of power and influence.

Gary Locke [ U.S. Secretary of Commerce ]

Hometown: Seattle
Career:
King County deputy prosecutor (1976–1980)
Washington state legislator (1983–1994)
King County executive (1994–1996)
Governor (1997–2005)
Attorney (working on government relations and commerce issues), Davis Wright Tremaine (2005­­–2009)
Career impact:
First Chinese-American governor in U.S. history

Gil Kerlikowski [ Director, White House Office of National Drug Control Policy ]

Hometown:
Fort Myers, Florida
Career:
St. Petersburg (Florida) police force (1972–1985)
Head of Criminal Investigations, St. Petersburg Police (1985–1987)
Chief of police, Fort Pierce, Florida, 1987–1990) and Port St. Lucie,
Florida (1990–1994)
Police commissioner, Buffalo, New York (1994–1998
Deputy director, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, U.S. Justice Department (1998–2000)
Chief of police, Seattle Police Department (2000–2009)
Career impact:
At the end of his tenure, crime in Seattle was at a 40-year low.

Ron Sims [ Deputy Secretary for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) ]

Hometown: Spokane
Career:
Investigator, Washington Attorney General’s Office and Federal Trade
Commission (1972–1979)
Manager of Youth Services, City of Seattle (1979–1984)
King County Council (1985–1996)
King County executive (1996–2008)
Career impact:
Funded 5,632 units of housing in his 12-year tenure as King County executive, helping the county become the first in the nation to earn a prestigious housing communities award from HUD in 2005