LOS ANGELES — Two-term Washington State Treasurer James McIntire will not seek re-election.
"Not campaigning during the coming year allows me to concentrate on protecting the Treasury and our AA+/Aa1 credit rating, press hard for comprehensive education finance reforms, and help lead the National Association of State Treasurers," McIntire said in a statement about his decision not to seek another term.
So far, no one has announced an intention to run for treasurer in the November 2016 election.
"He announced on Dec. 16 – and then along came Christmas," said Assistant Treasurer Wolfgang Opitz.
McIntire, currently senior vice president for NAST, was elected president during its annual conference in September.
He also received NAST's Harlan Boyles-Edward T. Alter Distinguished Service Award during the conference. The award is presented to public servants whose career in government has provided a respected voice for NAST at all levels of state government.
McIntire, who was elected in 2008 just as national and state economies were cratering under the weight of the Great Recession, was the "right guy for the right time," Opitz said.
"The typical candidate and occupant of state treasurer would not have been as well matched," Opitz said. "But he was a Ph.D. who had taught public finance at the University of Washington and he had done professional economic work as a congressional staffer early in his career."
Upon taking office, McIntire had to immediately step in and deal with the fallout of the collapse of Seattle-based bank Washington Mutual, said Hugh Spitzer, an attorney with Foster Pepper, the state's bond counsel.
WAMU was taken over by the federal government and sold to JPMorgan Chase for $1.9 billion in September 2008.
"He handled it very effectively," Spitzer said. "He got the legislature to stiffen the collateral requirements."
McIntire, a Democrat, also has pressed hard for tax reform during his time in office, but has so far been unsuccessful in that effort.
He was instrumental in getting the legislature to establish a debt commission to review the state's debt load, Spitzer said. As a result, the state is decreasing its debt limit gradually from its former 9% to 8% by July 1, 2024. The state also changed the debt limit from being based on a rolling three-year average of general state revenues to a rolling six-year period.
The state, which has a high debt load, was in danger of running out of debt capacity, Opitz said.
Washington's state auditor, superintendent of public instruction and lieutenant governor already had announced plans to not seek re-election.
Those three open seats have drawn interest from potential candidates on both sides of the aisle, Opitz said. There was less apparent interest in targeting a well-established incumbent who had been expected to seek re-election.
Opitz wouldn't venture a guess as to who might come forward, but said definitively he has no plans to run.
"I think a lot of people had expected him to run for good reason," Opitz said. "I am obviously biased, but I think he has done a great job as treasurer in one of the more difficult circumstances this country has faced."
McIntire said he has enjoyed working with a highly capable staff to increase competition for state banking services contracts and bond sales.
