Union may hold vote on prisons chief

TACOMA – Some corrections officers have called for a no-confidence vote of the state’s prison chief, saying he’s in over his head.

The corrections policy committee of the Washington Federation of State Employees voted Saturday to ask the executive board of the 40,000-member union to hold a no-confidence vote in August.

Union spokesman Tim Welch said the board will consider the request at its July 14 meeting in Bellingham.

The resolution calling for the vote said Harold Clarke is “perceived by staff at all levels as arrogant and prone to publicly humiliating those who speak in opposition” and “ill-prepared to manage an operation as large as the Department of Corrections in Washington state.”

Clarke had been Nebraska’s longtime prison chief before Gov. Chris Gregoire appointed him to head the Washington Department of Corrections in January 2005.

Clarke said he was surprised by the allegations. He has been meeting monthly with employee focus groups and has implemented many of the changes they have suggested, he said.

He said that regardless of what happens, “we’re going to keep on pushing in the direction we are to make sure we have the doors open and that they have what they need to get their jobs done.

“I’m not saying they’re going to get everything they want, but we’ll keep working with them,” he said.

Welch said any no-confidence vote would be held among the 1,448 prison system employees represented by the federation. That includes 765 community corrections officers and their support staff members.

Earlier this year corrections officers complained about redundant paperwork that made it difficult for them to keep an eye on ex-offenders in the communities. They also said there was a lack of communication between Clarke’s administration and front-line workers.