Trag­ic news from Roslyn tonight: State Sen­a­tor Scott White, who has capa­bly rep­re­sent­ed Seat­tle’s 46th Dis­trict in the state Leg­is­la­ture since the begin­ning of 2009, was found dead in his room at the Sun­ca­dia Resort after house­keep­ing staff noticed that he had failed to check out.

The cause of death is cur­rent­ly unknown, but it may have been a heart attack. We’ll have to wait until an autop­sy is con­duct­ed to know more.

All of us at NPI are deeply griev­ed by this unex­pect­ed loss. Scott was a great friend, a loy­al sup­port­er of NPI, a knowl­edge­able and smart leg­is­la­tor, and a won­der­ful father. He was wide­ly con­sid­ered to have a bright future ahead of him.

Scott served for sev­er­al years as the chair of the 46th Dis­trict Democ­rats; along with Tina Orwall, he also co-chaired the King Coun­ty Democ­rats’ Leg­isla­tive Action Com­mit­tee before becom­ing a state leg­is­la­tor. He was elect­ed to the state House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives in 2008, and to the state Sen­ate last year.

The Sen­ate Demo­c­ra­t­ic cau­cus, rec­og­niz­ing his orga­niz­ing skills, quick­ly tapped him for the post of major­i­ty whip, an impor­tant lead­er­ship position.

Scott White con­fers with col­leagues on the floor of the state House dur­ing the 2010 leg­isla­tive ses­sion (Pho­to: Wash­ing­ton State Legislature)

Scott worked tire­less­ly dur­ing the 2011 leg­isla­tive ses­sion to find a way to empow­er King Coun­ty’s elect­ed lead­ers to raise more mon­ey for Metro, which was in dan­ger of hav­ing routes elim­i­nat­ed and ser­vice reduced due to a rev­enue shortfall.

In the spring, he suc­cess­ful­ly got a bill through the House and Sen­ate giv­ing King Coun­ty the author­i­ty to levy a vehi­cle fee for Metro, and then, dur­ing the sum­mer, he worked with King Coun­ty Exec­u­tive Dow Con­stan­tine and Deputy Exec­u­tive Fred Jar­rett to line up the votes on the coun­ty coun­cil to enact the fee.

Undoubt­ed­ly, that leg­isla­tive tri­umph will be part of his lega­cy. Every King Coun­ty Metro rid­er owes Scott White a heart­felt thank-you. If it weren’t for Scott, Metro would have had to begun evis­cer­at­ing itself.

For the past two years, Scott served on the host com­mit­tee for our 2011 Spring Fundrais­ing Gala, help­ing to orga­nize and pro­mote NPI’s most impor­tant event. Scott believed that build­ing pro­gres­sive infra­struc­ture was impor­tant, and he believed that think­ing long-term was crucial.

I’ve always been grate­ful for his encour­age­ment. And his will­ing­ness to listen.

Our deep­est con­do­lences go out to Ali­son (Scot­t’s wife) and his fam­i­ly. Scott leaves behind two young chil­dren, ages three and five, who will have to grow up with­out the father they loved. They are cer­tain­ly in our thoughts and prayers tonight.

“My heart goes out to the fam­i­ly of Sen­a­tor Scott White tonight,” Gov­er­nor Chris Gre­goire said in a state­ment. “Scott was a ded­i­cat­ed pub­lic ser­vant and cham­pi­on of impor­tant issues in Olympia. He was nev­er afraid to tack­le the dif­fi­cult prob­lems — and did so with a pos­i­tive atti­tude, which I always appreciated.”

“I am stunned to learn the awful news of Scot­t’s unex­pect­ed death,” said King Coun­ty Exec­u­tive Dow Con­stan­tine. “Scott was a col­league and a friend, a ris­ing star in the Leg­is­la­ture, and a cham­pi­on for his dis­trict and for King County.”

“Scot­t’s sense of pur­pose led to his elec­tion first to the State House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives and then to the State Sen­ate, where I came to rely upon his lead­er­ship to pro­vide the means for us to save bus ser­vice in King County.”

“Scott had a vision, and he delivered.”

“Today Seat­tle lost one of its promis­ing lead­ers,” agreed Seat­tle May­or Mike McGinn. “A man of intel­li­gence, humor and com­pas­sion, State Sen­a­tor Scott White was a devot­ed pub­lic ser­vant, father and hus­band. Seat­tle, King Coun­ty and Wash­ing­ton are a bet­ter place as a result of Scot­t’s ser­vice and he will be dear­ly missed.”

“I am deeply sad­dened by the shock­ing news that Sen­a­tor Scott White has passed away,” said King Coun­ty Coun­cilmem­ber Bob Fer­gu­son, the like­ly Demo­c­ra­t­ic nom­i­nee for attor­ney gen­er­al in 2012.

“He was a hard­work­ing, tena­cious advo­cate for our shared con­stituents in the 46th Dis­trict as he fought for edu­ca­tion, the envi­ron­ment and tran­sit. His fam­i­ly, espe­cial­ly his wife and young chil­dren, are in my prayers.”

“I’m so sad that my dear friend Scott White has passed away,” added State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Tina Orwall. “He was so clever, ambi­tious and kind. He was always there to give me good advice dur­ing our time c0-chair­ing the LAC and as we entered the leg­is­la­ture together.”

“I will miss you, my friend,” she con­clud­ed. “My thoughts and prayers are with your family.”

Scot­t’s Demo­c­ra­t­ic col­leagues in the state Sen­ate have post­ed a num­ber of remem­brances, which can be viewed here.

FROM STEVE ZEMKE: Democ­rats lost a true friend with the death of State Sen­a­tor Scott White. At forty-one, his life seemed full of promise and hope and it is sad and trag­ic that some­one so active, car­ing and con­cerned passed away. Our prayers go out to his wife Ali­son and their two chil­dren. Scott cared about peo­ple and our state and was some­one we all looked to for lead­er­ship and direc­tion in these try­ing times. We will all miss him.

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