2 Late Inslee Fish And Wildlife Commission Appointments Rescinded

Former Governor Jay Inslee’s controversial last-days appointments of two Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission members have been rescinded.

Senate Gubernatorial Appointment bills for Tim Ragen, the citizen panel’s vice chair and former director of the US Marine Mammal Commission, and the recently appointed Lynn O’Connor of Ferry County, who replaced rancher Molly Linville of Douglas County, have been marked “returned to Governor” Bob Ferguson this afternoon.

That means Ferguson will have a chance to appoint two new members to the commission which oversees WDFW policies and hires and fires its director.

“I think this is a positive step in the right direction from the new governor,” said Ron Garner, state board president of Puget Sound Anglers. “Kudos to the Senate too! Big win for Washington State.”

Garner also credited strong tribal efforts to overturn Inslee’s decisions that came with just six days left in his third and final term and followed years of troubling appointments to the commission.

There was also a good effort by Howl for Wildlife to get sportsmen to contact their senators to reject Ragen and O’Connor’s appointments.

Ragen typically voted with the more preservationist-oriented wing of the commission and liked to have an overwhelming amount of data before making decisions. He was appointed by Inslee in January 2022 and nominated himself to be the vice chair in December 2023, beating out the previous second in charge, Linville, on a 5-4 vote.

His reappointment had been announced by the Governor’s Office January 10, as was O’Connor’s, about six days before the end of Inslee’s term.

With her appointment rescinded, O’Connor, an active member of the Rotary Club of Northeast Washington, will not have attended a single commission meeting. It was a puzzling move by Inslee to appoint her in the first place given what December’s Ruckelshaus Center report was telling him about how the commission was being viewed as “dysfunctional” by close observers following years of controversial appointees amidst a campaign to “reform” state fish and wildlife management.

For the time being, it leaves the commission with seven members – Chair Barbara Baker of Olympia and Commissioners Jim Anderson of Buckley, John Lehmkuhl of Wenatchee, Woody Myers of Spokane, Steve Parker of Yakima, Melanie Rowland of Twisp and Lorna Smith of Port Townsend.