Washington’s legislature adjourned for the year this week. Several prominent leaders from both parties are ending their time in Olympia. They include Rep. Joel Kretz, R-Wauconda, who was the subject of a 45-minute tribute in the House on Wednesday.
Kretz is a Seattle native who became a rancher. He now lives in one of the most remote areas of Washington, up in northern Okanogan County. He has served the Seventh Legislative District for 20 years. He’s known for his handlebar mustache and his mystique as a tough guy.
“It would probably take something the length of ‘Lonesome Dove’ to really explain how the genial and grandfatherly gent that we all know in 2024 started out as the fearsome barbarian that many of us knew in 2014," said J.T. Wilcox, the former House Republican leader.
That tome would tell the story about Kretz’s work on a variety of rural issues, including wildfires. He promoted wildfire prevention and worked with Democratic Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz to get the state to invest more money for that.
In an era when party clannishness became more common, Kretz became known for his willingness to work across the aisle. You just had to get past the gruff exterior.
“I didn’t know Joel Kretz from Adam, from anybody ’til I sat down my first year at the House Ag and Natural Resource Committee next to this guy. And I look over. ‘I’m Representative Chapman.’ And he goes, ‘I know. I don’t talk to freshmen,'" said Rep. Mike Chapman, D-Port Angeles to laughs from the House chamber.
One day, he says, Kretz walked into a committee meeting carrying a blue sheet, the symbol of a new bill he had introduced.
“I’m like, ‘What’s your bill?’ ‘To relocate wolves to Bainbridge Island.’" That brought more laughs.
"I thought in that moment there was going to be one way to make friends with this guy. And I said, ‘Give me that blue sheet.’ I said, ‘I assume you’ll be number one. But I’m going to be number two,'" he said.
Chapman is not only the only westside Democrat who rose to extol Kretz’s virtues. Another is Federal Way Representative Kristine Reeves.
“What may not come to mind first when thinking about Representative Kretz is the important work he has done, that I have come to know him for, on promoting diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice in our public policy, particularly on behalf of rural and underserved communities," she said.
Another Democrat, Larry Springer, noted that he and Kretz were part of the 2004 class that came to Olympia, he a Democrat from suburban Seattle and Kretz a rural Republican. But he says they quickly found something that helped them bond.
"It turns out, you represent my family. They live in your district. My mother, my father, my brother, my sister-in-law. We share a love for that geography," Springer said.
"Over the 20 years that you have represented my family, there has never been a day down here that you did not ask me, ‘How’s your mother doing?’ My mother is 99 years old. She’s living in Colville and I think sometime in April I have plans and you’re going to meet her," he said.
Others want to meet Joel Kretz too, says his Seventh District seat mate, Rep. Jacquelin Maycumber, R-Republic. She told a story about going to Seattle one day and giving a big policy speech. Afterward, “People surrounded me around the stage and, as I stepped down, people came up to me and the first question was, ‘Is Joel Kretz’s driveway really five miles long?’ Even in the Puget Sound, I was answering questions about you, not policy," she said.
Kretz may be leaving Olympia as a legislator. But many of his peers urged him to come back and visit as a private citizen.
