WSDOT head Hammond resigns, Inslee appoints replacement
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OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond announced Tuesday that she is resigning from the state transportation department just hours before Gov. Jay Inslee announced her replacement.
In an email to her staff and obtained by KOMO News, Hammond said she will leave the agency on March 8.
"I leave with pride in knowing that we are regarded as one of the best and most progressive transportation agencies in the country," she wrote. "With the nation's largest and most iconic ferry system, an ambitious capital program capably delivered, and innovative strategies that are transforming our freeway corridors, we have much to celebrate."
Hammond's letter couched her leaving as a retirement, but multiple sources told KOMO News she was hopeful of being reappointed to the position.
Her agency has come under fire recently after several KOMO Problem Solver investigations revealed on-going problems with cracking and leaks in the concrete pontoons that will hold up the new 520 floating bridge.
The governor appointed Lynn Peterson to the transportation secretary post. Peterson is currently serving as the sustainable communities and transportation advisor to Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber.
Inslee said Peterson will help the state develop an innovative approach to a transportation network that he believes is outdated and hampering economic growth.
"Lynn has the experience, creativity and leadership skills to help Washington build a transportation system for the 21st century," Inslee said. "And we'll do that in a way that more efficiently moves people and goods and reduces carbon emissions."
The appointment comes at a time that lawmakers are discussing a possible gas tax increase to fund transportation projects around the state.
Peterson has a background that has focused on transportation alternatives. She was previously a transportation advocate for 1000 Friends of Oregon, a land conservation group. She was also a planning manager at Trimet, which provides transit service in the Portland area.
Inslee's office said Peterson has recently been working in Oregon on issues like the state's portion of the West Coast network of electric-vehicle charging stations, and moving commercial vehicles to alternative fuels.
The Governor's office said the 520 bridge problems did not play into his decision to appoint Peterson, but says she will pay particular attention to mega-projects like the 520 Bridge, which is top of mind for many legislators.
Inslee also said he had chosen bank executive Carol Kobuke Nelson to lead the Department of Revenue, reappointed Scott Jarvis as director of the Department of Financial Institutions, and tapped Nicholas Brown to be his new General Counsel. Brown works for the U.S. attorney's office as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Terrorist & Violent Crimes Division.
In an email to her staff and obtained by KOMO News, Hammond said she will leave the agency on March 8.
"I leave with pride in knowing that we are regarded as one of the best and most progressive transportation agencies in the country," she wrote. "With the nation's largest and most iconic ferry system, an ambitious capital program capably delivered, and innovative strategies that are transforming our freeway corridors, we have much to celebrate."
Hammond's letter couched her leaving as a retirement, but multiple sources told KOMO News she was hopeful of being reappointed to the position.
Her agency has come under fire recently after several KOMO Problem Solver investigations revealed on-going problems with cracking and leaks in the concrete pontoons that will hold up the new 520 floating bridge.
The governor appointed Lynn Peterson to the transportation secretary post. Peterson is currently serving as the sustainable communities and transportation advisor to Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber.
Inslee said Peterson will help the state develop an innovative approach to a transportation network that he believes is outdated and hampering economic growth.
"Lynn has the experience, creativity and leadership skills to help Washington build a transportation system for the 21st century," Inslee said. "And we'll do that in a way that more efficiently moves people and goods and reduces carbon emissions."
The appointment comes at a time that lawmakers are discussing a possible gas tax increase to fund transportation projects around the state.
Peterson has a background that has focused on transportation alternatives. She was previously a transportation advocate for 1000 Friends of Oregon, a land conservation group. She was also a planning manager at Trimet, which provides transit service in the Portland area.
Inslee's office said Peterson has recently been working in Oregon on issues like the state's portion of the West Coast network of electric-vehicle charging stations, and moving commercial vehicles to alternative fuels.
The Governor's office said the 520 bridge problems did not play into his decision to appoint Peterson, but says she will pay particular attention to mega-projects like the 520 Bridge, which is top of mind for many legislators.
Inslee also said he had chosen bank executive Carol Kobuke Nelson to lead the Department of Revenue, reappointed Scott Jarvis as director of the Department of Financial Institutions, and tapped Nicholas Brown to be his new General Counsel. Brown works for the U.S. attorney's office as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Terrorist & Violent Crimes Division.
"I leave with pride in knowing that we are regarded as one of the best and most progressive transportation agencies in the country," she wrote. "With the nation's largest and most iconic ferry system, an ambitious capital program capably delivered, and innovative strategies that are transforming our freeway corridors, we have much to celebrate"
Is this woman for real? She is a HACK and there is NOTHING To celebrate besides the fact that she has finally been "LET GO"
Thanks for spending all the dough, going with the flow, and watching the show! Your legacy stands right beside Queen Quagmire's!
Yesterday I publicly called Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond a liar. Today, I simply say, good-bye.
That email sounded oddly like it ought to have been resume or cover letter fodder as it was complete BS. Large and iconic ferry system? Iconic in that those employed have it made and the whole system hemorrhages money. An ambitious capitol program capably delivered? Then why are the road and ferries so horribly underfunded and mismanaged? Innovative strategies... transforming our freeway corridors? I can't even get through it with a straight face considering the way 520 is heading. Tolls to pay for it came online over a year beyond the deadline and the brand new bridge deck that's arriving fresh from the contractors in desperate need of repair and retrofitting... All this and she has the nerve to say that we (DOT) have so much to celebrate and that she's leaving in pride? Wow. I'd be laughing if the whole thing just didn't make me want to cry at the horrible waste of our tax dollars.Â
Good news - Paula Hammond is gone. Bad news - Inslee will replace her with another progressive idiot. Nothiing will change.
Oh, Paula, Paula, Paula... The fact is that you sucked at the job. Look at our roads. Falling apart. Wasted money everywhere I look. Maybe Inslee has 'some' redeeming qualities after all. I am sure he told her to GTFO if he was announcing her replacement a few hours later. I guess only time will tell if he made the right decision on hiring Lynn Peterson. You want to prevent 90% of the damage to our roads and make them last more than 5 years? Stop allowing people to drive with spiked tires. I have NEVER needed spikes in 15 years living here, and I commute every day through Snohomish County and King Counties 30+ miles. Every time I hear spikes, especially at THIS time of year, I find myself saying out loud "TAKE OFF THE SPIKES, A-HOL3!"
@slappywag Me either. I've been skiing and backpacking for decades and have never needed anything more than all season tires. It's further compounded by the !diots driving around thinking that AWD or 4WD badge on the vehicle somehow makes them better drivers in in-climate weather.
About freaking time, this total loser is out of here,  should have been fired 5 years ago. debacle after debacle
Why isn't the transportation secretary an elected position? I'm glad Paula Hammond is gone, she should have been fired years ago. Now she will collect a benefit on taxpayer dime? What a scam!
Progressive, i love it, how does that fix anything? She was a fiscal disaster in all aspects of management from the top to bottom, i know her hands were tied by union contracts but enough is enough, 520 turning in to a disaster, the downtown tunnel will be how many billions of dollars over budget when all is said and done? And they want to expand tolls to all other roads to pay for the tunnel that everyone will avoid because of high tolls? I almost forgot our smooth on budget running ferry system and the sound transit train.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who smells a rat here.  I've been fairly suspicious about the local news media's deep interest in problems on a number of WSDOT projects. I have been waiting for the other shoe to drop. Well, it just did. I wonder who Inslee's lackey was that was spilling all these 'concerns' to the media so he could bump Hammond.
Jeez, Inslee pulled somebody from Portland's TriMet? Â That agency is a freaking mess! Â All of that 'progressive' transportation 'planning' put TriMet running a 12 million dollar annual deficit, bus service (the public transportation that actually works) has been decimated and Portland roads are in awful shape. Â Heck, there are still many roads in Portland that aren't even paved! Â The city of Portland has a 25 million dollar budget shortfall this year. Â Why on Earth are we trying to be Portlandia north?
@UtterReality Where are those 'many unpaved roads'?
In Aug of 2010 I wrecked my 4runner off a small bridge (the bridge was  for cosmetic purposes not so much structure/safety)....I hit/went through 2 4foot 4"x6" and 4 or 6, 4foot  2"x4s"...the wood that was there when I wrecked was already starting to deteriorate.  I spoke with several people who worked for WSDOT crew and Clallam County Rd Dept.  They all told me that I would get robbed with a 4500 to 5000 bill.  Which we all know is ridiculous..Imagine how shocked I was when I opened the bill and it was 9300..I called and left several messages  wanting to know how they came up with their appraisal.  Not a single message was ever returned.  I had full coverage with Farmers Insurance and so they (WSDOT) knew they would get paid. ...They billed me for 6 to 8 employees (all supervisors) 2 or 3 trucks, etc (I will have to find my bill again) their per diem to drive out here and stay the night ONE OF THE LAST WEEKENDS (THEY CAME OUT ON THURS and stayed the WHOLE WEEKEND) OF FISHING HERE IN CLALLAM BAY/SEKIU  ..They left  the wood that they replaced laying in the ditch and the yellow and  black striped sign ended up on the beach along the mouth of the river~I left them another message telling them I drug their sign off the beach and since I paid for it I was bringing it home,...lol
It will be interesting to see what crawls out of the woodwork now that Hammond is gone.
Where does the buck STOP? It doesn't stop at the desk of the Dept of Transportation. WOT has many problems, mostly due to political hacks but it all comes from the desk of the governor aided by the corrupt legislature.
Why does her photo strike me as saying "You people have no idea just how much other crap I approved that isnt in the budget and your screwed."
Hold onto your wallets folks. Take a look at Oregon and their tax by the mile program they are starting. Your liberal friends in oly town are keeping a close eye on them. This DOT is a mis-managed mess and will not change until they have real business people running it that have actually made a payroll. When are they going to change the use it or loose in their budget. I live in Monroe and they DOT put so much deicer down that it was slippery than the ice itself. They probably had to burn it up so they could get the same for next year. This has to change and it is in every dept. of our government. They don't need to try to save a dime, they have an open checkbook with us paying for their pet projects, cell phone bills and don't forget the dry cleaning. I wish I could run my household like that. Keep voting them in people. It's to bad that after the screwing Paula did to the taxpayers that we now get to pay her retirement too.
@glideman
Canât say Iâm fond of being taxed, but roads arenât cheap and electric cars are here to stay â meaning less gas sold per car and less taxes collected per car, but same wear and tear on the roads. Saw the piece on Oregonâs idea, but didnât catch what the price per 100 miles is going to be, if they even said. As to if this is just a way to dig into our pockets â not much different if all they have to do is raise the amount of tax charged per gallonâ¦.like this soon to be raised 0.09 chargeâ¦.
And in reality since the GPS option stops the state from charging you when you are NOT on a state maintained road, overall, if done right, bunches should end up paying less.
Good riddance Paula Hammond! All you government bureaucrats are wasting money hand over fist. Thanks for jacking up our gasoline tax a few years ago by .09 cents a gallon claiming that it was going to relieve freeway/highway congestion and repair roads. It did neither. Now you and your loser lawmakers want another dime a gallon? Washington State Government mirrors the uselessness of our Federal "Do Nothing" Congress.
The State is raising the fuel Tax to pay her Salary.
Thats a Progressive idea.
Ugh, I was so excited when I read the headline, but then I made the mistake of reading more and seeing who the replacement will be. I hope I'm wrong, but it looks to me like it will just be a continuing downhill slide for WSDOT...
@chuckh0308 That's the way I see it as well.
O'boy another Liberal. Â
Going to save the World.Â
Did she actually 'resign' the way this headline makes it sound?  Sounds like she sought to be re-appointed under the new governor but he opted to go a different direction, then decided to retire vs taking a lesser position within the State.  In the initial short version posted here it appeared they were trying to sway readers into think she had resigned over the 520 bridge and other issues to help fuel the Problem Solvers series no less - now it could very well be why she wasn't re-appointed but at least report that way.
That said I'm sure if she wants to work in the private sector I'd bet Kiewit will give her an easy interview.
"I leave with pride in knowing that we are regarded as one of the best and most progressive transportation agencies in the country," That's enough of a reason to be glad that she's leaving with a dumb statement like that. Let's hope her replacement is better.
@Zoso Amen, Zoso!  One of the most out-of-touch-with-reality statements I've read in awhile.  Talk about living in denial!
Here's to hoping Lynn Peterson isn't as much of a screw-up as Paula Hammond.
Given her specialty seems to be transportation "alternatives", this does not bode well for the auto lover in all of us...
@Tattooed_Angel Not a snowballs chance in hell. Actually very likely worse, look at her background.Â
Hey Inslee! Why don't you replace what's her face with someone who's qualified, rather than bowing to politcal correctness? Oh, that's right, nevermind, you're a Democrat.
We're screwed folks.
"I leave with pride in knowing that we are regarded as one of the best and most progressive transportation agencies in the country,"
Delusional much??
@al_wa Key word: Progressive
New boss is same as the old boss, again Washington state setting the bar at mediocre..
My guess is that she chose to retire because she wanted to protect her benefits. What she's saying sounds like the same thing as all of the politicians say on their way out. Are the average people the only ones who realize there are problems or is every thing just peachy keen and we're the only ones who aren't aware of it.
@Jatok I can't say enough good things about this employee.Â
You would be fortunate to get this person to work for you.
Nobody would be better for this position.
Waste no time making this person an offer.Â
Marge, I think you're funnin' us! Â :-) Â The 1st 3 statements, at least, can be taken to mean the opposite of what they usually mean. Â I think you're right though - "Nobody" WOULD be better for this position than Ms. Hammond has been.
@Smartypants Yep, those are just the ones I could remember offhand; it's a whole list of such "compliments" that managers have supposedly written when compelled to write a reference letter or an evaluation for a Paula Hammond type employee. :DÂ
@Jatok
And whom are you calling 'average'?????? I'm at least "special" (key word usually said in a higher pitched voice - by others.....)
Silly me, I guess I was referring to all of us who pay the bills and especially those who are "special".
Peterson has a background that has focused on transportation alternatives.
Oh joy. I'm sure she is interested in fixing traffic problems. No doubt global warming is a priority. 1000 Friends of Oregon are big global warming fanatics.Â
Good riddance to Hammond but I don't think Peterson is going to be any better.
@Blindman I agree with you.
Now THAT is some of the best news to come out of Olympia in months. Too bad Paula's last day cant be today!
well you know what they say just look at her eyes at how brown they are she is really full of Sh*&*%
@Eharper"they" say? As in, hillbillies?
Let us pause for a statewide, collective sigh of relief. I for one wish her the best, and hope she finds a job to which she's better suited.
@Arthur MarriottYou wish her the best? Meanwhile she was laughing all the way to the bank every month drawing her paycheck (your tax dollars) while 520 pontoons were sinking.Â
@NW-Economist @Arthur Marriott And while employees were collecting obscene amounts of extra pay, many well into the tens of thousands of (tax) dollars, for driving back and forth between ferry runs.Â
Nevermind this sheeple, just look away keep your heads firmly planted in the sand and keep voting for anyone with a "D" in front of their name. Everything will be just fine.
@thatsjarrod2 People still say "sheeple"?
@thatsjarrod2Â Voting for anyone based on which letter follows their name is equally moronic.Â
@thatsjarrod2 Plenty of politicians with an R after their name that are just as bad.