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Gregoire spokesman's gone; staff changes in the works

Brad Shannon | The Olympian • Published September 08, 2009

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The inner staff of Gov. Chris Gregoire continues to change with last week's departure of her communications chief Pearse Edwards. One other major departure is the previously announced exit of chief of staff Cindy Zehnder, who plans to quit as soon as her replacement is named.

The changes in the communications shop means Gregoire, still in her first year of a second term, has had more than 20 people working for her in public or media relations, speechwriting and related areas in less than five years. That's the unofficial tally that Gregoire's staffers made last week during an evening send-off for Edwards at Budd Bay Café in Olympia.

Edwards' previous work experience included stints with Microsoft, consultant firm GMMB in the other Washington, past Washington Gov. Gary Locke (2001-03), and 3 ˝ years with the International Finance Corp. in Moscow, where he lived in a Stalin-era apartment complex with an apparently stunning view of the Kremlin.

His hiring in North Carolina came during his vacation back home last month, and now he's in the midst of a cross-country drive. Edwards said he wasn't looking for a job, but a friend on Gov. Beverly Perdue's tracked him down and asked him in to talk about ways he had organized Gregoire's communications office. He showed up wearing flip-flops and a Hawaiian shirt, unaware at the time he'd be offered a job, which he said came later in a more formal setting.

His hiring at $136,000 a year hasn’t exactly gone over well, raising questions about Perdue's frugality at a time the Democratic governor helped raise taxes by about $1 billion to cover budget gaps.

But at least Edwards is working for Perdue and not the predecessor, reclusive Democrat Mike Easley whose secretly funded air trips were deemed illegal and who also received free golf privileges as perks.

Gregoire advertised in July for a press secretary to work with Edwards in Olympia, but that hire won't happen right away, Edwards said. First, she’ll hire Zehnder's replacement, followed by Edwards' replacement and then the press secretary, Gregoire aides and Edwards said last week.