Prisons’ chief faces worker referendum

By Adam Wilson | The Olympian • Published July 16, 2007

Department of Corrections workers who supervise prisoners on release will have a no-confidence election on director Harold Clarke.

The executive board of the Washington Federation of State Employees approved the vote in a weekend meeting. Ballots will be mailed to about 1,500 workers on Aug. 15, with a Sept. 5 return deadline.

“The members feel that management has said they will try to rectify problems, and they don’t feel like they’ve done that. They feel like there’s been lip service,” said Greg Devereux, executive director of the union.

Clarke has said he believes a minority of workers support the action, which was proposed weeks ago. “Although some feel it is important, the decision is disappointing,” Clarke said in an e-mail Monday. “I hope it doesn’t adversely impact the work we are doing.”

If passed, the no-confidence vote would amount to a public reprimand of Clarke by some of his staff.

Until this summer, the federation had not held such a vote since 1998. Workers in the state Parks and Recreation Commission passed a vote against director Rex Derr this month, saying he lacked focus on the day-to-day operations of the agency.

Supporters of Derr were quick to dismiss that vote, noting that although it passed 116-88, fewer than half of the workers who received a ballot mailed back a vote.

In corrections, officers who are charged with monitoring inmates being released into the community have said Clarke isn’t up to the job of overseeing major changes in the agency.

The Legislature this year approved a $25 million initiative that will change to the department’s programs for preparing prisoners for release. Meanwhile the agency has struggled to recruit new employees and has used overtime to make up for staffing shortages.

Gov. Chris Gregoire expressed support for Clarke last month. She said she sympathized with the pressures on department workers, but asked them to “buck up” while improvements are made.

The Teamsters, which represent agency workers inside prisons and other facilities, have opposed the no confidence vote by the federation, arguing Gregoire has been generally supportive of their issues.

But federation officials have been adamant in saying the vote was a choice for federation members alone, and condemned Clarke as bullying his workers when he sent an agency-wide memo questioning the need for the vote.

“I myself have met with Secretary Clarke at least three times, with members, and they still are not satisfied,” Devereux said.