Congratulations Go To Gregoire
Think of what you could do with $25,000. A luxury European trip, perhaps, or a year or two of college for your child. And if you’d earned that $25,000 through hard work, against a lot of odds, wouldn’t it be all the sweeter to spend the money on something you really wanted or needed?
Christine Gregoire, Washington state’s attorney general, recently was given a $25,000 prize for being named one of 10 women who made a difference in 1999. The Good Housekeeping magazine distinction is prestigious and Gregoire earned the honor because of her crucial work in the $206 billion settlement with the tobacco industry.
Gregoire can’t accept the money; state ethics laws prohibits state employees from receiving additional money for doing the job they were elected or hired to do. Gregoire says she and her family will give the $25,000 to charity.
Congratulations to Gregoire for the award. It was well-deserved. The tobacco settlement will - through education and restriction on advertising - prevent at least some young people from ever lighting up a cigarette. We have Gregoire, and seven other state attorneys, to thank for finally saying “Bye, bye Joe Camel.”
Congratulations to Gregoire, too, for role-modeling public service at its best in the cynical ‘90s. She’s a politician, and she can play well the politician’s game. But she has demonstrated that elected officials can make a risky decision because it’s the right thing to do.
The tobacco settlement, for instance, was a gamble. The industry could have fought more stubbornly than it did and dragged the controversy on for years. If that had happened, Gregoire’s office would have been tied up with what might have been perceived as a hopeless cause.
The tobacco saga had a better, and quicker ending, but that ending was in no way guaranteed. Gregoire took it on for many reasons, but she knew it was the right thing to do for the state.
Gregoire also made a tough decision in April when she announced her plans not to run for the U.S. Senate next year against Republican Sen. Slade Gorton. She said the timing was off for her; she’s the mother of two teens and they - and her husband - need her attention. She’s busy enough as an attorney general, but a Senate race would probably have erased any down time with her family.
Balance is everything in life, even when you’re playing with the big girls and boys. Women, or men, can’t really have it all. Tough choices must be made. Gregoire’s example shows that our best public officials aren’t afraid to make them.