Print  email 

tool name

close

tool goes here

Senate news: Fraser recognized; Nafziger replacement named

• Published September 09, 2009

• Comments (0)

The governor of Japan's Hyogo Prefecture recently bestowed the "Award for Contribution to International Cooperation" to state Sen. Karen Fraser, D-Thurston County.

The gesture was for her efforts to promote friendly relations between that jurisdiction and Washington state, which share a 45-year sister-state relationship. Fraser received the award when the prefecture's governor, Toshizo Ido, visited The Evergreen State College and Capitol Campus recently.

Senate Democrats put out details on their blog yesterday.

"I think they gave me this recognition because throughout my legislative tenure I've been active in promoting our sister state relationship. Before I was in the Legislature I was active in promoting our sister city relationship, Olympia-Yashiro, which is now Olympia-Kato," Fraser said today.

(Kato is the city that resulted from a merger of three adjacent cities including Yashiro.)

Fraser has made around 10 trips to Japan over the years, most at her own expense, and as a former county commissioner went there on a trade mission with then-Gov. John Spellman. She frequently has met with Japanese professors and students, and she even speaks a little basic Japanese (enough to get around on, she says). She also co-chaired a 40th anniversary event for the sister state relationship about five years ago.

"I think there are a lot of benefits. Given the problems that can develop in this world, it's good to know and understand people of other countries and cultures," Fraser said, adding that "it reduces opportunities for misunderstanding in the future." She also noted that one early student exchange brought Ginn Kitaoka to Evergreen, and Kitaoka now lives in Olympia while working in Seattle as executive director of the Hyogo Business and Cultural Center.

ALSO IN THE NEWS, Senate Democrats' chief of staff Rich Nafziger announced recently he was headed off to a new career with his own consulting firm. And now, his predecessor, Carolyn Busch, is returning from her work on higher education funding issues for the University of Washington to take his place, Jerry Cornfield reports at The Herald.

Nafziger said he'd not had problems working with Senate Democratic Leader Lisa Brown of Spokane. Nafziger is a former Olympia School Board member who resigned that seat when he took his partisan Senate position a couple of years ago, and his 20-year state career included stints with former Govs. Booth Gardner and Gary Locke, as well as time as House chief clerk.