Veteran WSP officer named its new chief

Wed., Feb. 9, 2005

David Ammons Associated Press

Gregoire names directors of health, ecology divisions

» Gov. Christine Gregoire reappointed Mary Selecky as secretary of the state Department of Health on Tuesday.

» Selecky, a Colville native, has served as health secretary since 1999, when former Gov. Gary Locke named her to that post. Before that, she worked for 20 years as administrator of the Northeast Tri-County Health District, which encompasses Stevens, Pend Oreille and Ferry counties, said Tim Church, the department's communications director.

» "Our state is making great progress on public health issues like tobacco prevention and emergency preparedness," Selecky said in a release from the governor's office.

» The statement said Gregoire has directed Selecky to: ensure public confidence that the state's health care professionals provide safe care for patients; remove providers who jeopardize patient safety; discourage more young people from using tobacco; and build relationships with local governments.

» Gregoire also picked a new director, environmental lawyer Jay Manning, to head the agency she once ran, the Department of Ecology.

» Manning is an old friend of the governor's, serving as her assistant attorney general when she was Ecology director during the Booth Gardner administration. When she was elected attorney general, she promoted him as top environmental lawyer for the state and together they sketched a 30-year agreement with the federal government for cleanup of the Hanford nuclear site. Manning, will work to streamline permits and will deal with water supply and storage needs, Gregoire said.

Staff and wire reports

OLYMPIA – Gov. Christine Gregoire on Tuesday tapped John Batiste to become the first black chief of the Washington State Patrol.

Batiste spent 26 years with the patrol before leaving to become deputy police chief for Tacoma. He served for seven months under Chief David Brame, who later killed his wife and then himself in 2003.

Batiste, currently deputy chief of the Port of Seattle police, succeeds Chief Lowell Porter, who is in line for the top post at the state Traffic Safety Commission.

Democrat Gregoire, continuing to reshape the administration she inherited from two-term Gov. Gary Locke, said she’s looking for “new blood” to bring change to Olympia. She also picked a new director, environmental lawyer Jay Manning, to head the agency she once ran, the Department of Ecology.

She said new picks are coming for Social and Health Services, Labor and Industries, Trade and other departments. She previously selected a new state budget director and policy office director. She said all Locke holdovers who want reappointment will have to compete with fresh applicants.

Batiste, Public Health Director Mary Selecky, and Maj. Gen. Timothy Lowenberg of the state Military Department will collaborate on the state’s homeland security preparedness, the governor said. The public’s attention may have wandered, but the state will put a major focus on being ready for natural disasters or terrorist attacks, she said.

Gregoire said Batiste will be “absolutely an asset” at the patrol. As attorney general, she wrote a stinging investigative report that said the Tacoma Police Department had a culture of corruption.

Batiste worked at the department during 2002.

A joint federal-state probe into the agency was conducted after Brame fatally shot his wife and himself in front of their children the following spring. Investigators found no grounds for state criminal charges but “abundant evidence of troubling management practices” in the police department.

Gregoire said she had a lengthy discussion with Batiste about his stint as assistant chief in Tacoma. She didn’t expressly say so, but indicated that Batiste wasn’t implicated in the agency’s problems.

Batiste said he’s honored to be the first black chief. He said he was brought up in Louisiana by parents who taught him “the sky’s the limit.”

During his previous 26-year career with the patrol, he was posted in Everett and Bellevue and then moved into leadership posts in Tacoma, Wenatchee, Bellevue and Olympia.

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