Kevin Ranker resigns from the Washington State Senate following misconduct allegations

Kevin Ranker has resigned from the Wash­ing­ton State Sen­ate fol­low­ing recent alle­ga­tions of mis­con­duct, the Sen­ate Demo­c­ra­t­ic Cau­cus announced today.

“Sen­a­tor Ranker informed me today that he has resigned from the Sen­ate effec­tive imme­di­ate­ly,” said Sen­ate Major­i­ty Leader Andy Bil­lig in a state­ment. “I want to thank Sen­a­tor Ranker for his ser­vice to the state and the 40th Leg­isla­tive District.

“Because this remains an ongo­ing inves­ti­ga­tion, I will wait to com­ment fur­ther until I have had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to read the investigator’s com­plet­ed report on the alle­ga­tions against Sen­a­tor Ranker. The Sen­ate remains com­mit­ted to cre­at­ing and fos­ter­ing a safe, inclu­sive work­place for everyone.”

“The process to select Sen­a­tor Ranker’s suc­ces­sor will begin as soon as possible.”

Ranker’s for­mer leg­isla­tive assis­tant Ann Lar­son alleged last fall that Ranker had cre­at­ed a hos­tile work­place and made unwant­ed sex­u­al advances towards her sev­er­al years ago. In Octo­ber, the Sen­ate hired a spe­cial inves­ti­ga­tor — Tara Park­er of Ogden Mur­phy Wal­lace — to inves­ti­gate the allegations.

Park­er’s report is due soon.

“I am deeply sor­ry for any stress I caused her and I sin­cere­ly apol­o­gize. I wish her peace,” Ranker said in a brief note to con­stituents ref­er­enc­ing Larson.

“When I was informed of these alle­ga­tions, I imme­di­ate­ly told the Sec­re­tary of the Sen­ate that I would ful­ly coop­er­ate with any inves­ti­ga­tion, and I insist­ed that an impar­tial inves­ti­ga­tion must take place. I have done so.”

The inves­ti­ga­tion came to light last month fol­low­ing the dis­clo­sure of Park­er’s con­tract in a pub­lic records request made by The Asso­ci­at­ed Press.

“The Senate’s pol­i­cy on Appro­pri­ate Work­place Con­duct was put in place to encour­age mem­bers of our leg­isla­tive com­mu­ni­ty to have a safe envi­ron­ment to come for­ward with cred­i­ble accu­sa­tions of mis­con­duct and to pro­vide a fair process for the accused,” said Bil­lig in a state­ment released by the Sen­ate Demo­c­ra­t­ic cau­cus on the day the exis­tence of the inves­ti­ga­tion was revealed.

“These are seri­ous alle­ga­tions which must be ful­ly inves­ti­gat­ed as we work to ensure a safe and respect­ful work­place,” Bil­lig added.

“Once this inves­ti­ga­tion is com­plete, the Sen­ate will have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to view the facts of this case in full and act appro­pri­ate­ly based on those facts.”

Ranker has now cho­sen to leave the Leg­is­la­ture ahead of the com­ple­tion of the inves­ti­ga­tion. He had already stepped down from his lead­er­ship posi­tions in the Sen­ate sev­er­al days ago; now he is depart­ing the cham­ber altogether.

Ranker was first elect­ed to the Sen­ate a lit­tle over ten years ago. He was reelect­ed in 2012 and 2016 by com­fort­able mar­gins. The Orcas Island res­i­dent and for­mer San Juan Coun­ty Com­mis­sion­er made pro­tect­ing Puget Sound’s orcas one of his sig­na­ture issues while in the Legislature.

Ranker deac­ti­vat­ed his Face­book and Twit­ter accounts today after sub­mit­ting his let­ter of res­ig­na­tion to Gov­er­nor Jay Inslee.

Ranker’s res­ig­na­tion leaves the Sen­ate Democ­rats with a major­i­ty of twen­ty-sev­en for the time being. (Twen­ty-five votes are required to pass bills in the Senate.)

A spe­cial nom­i­nat­ing cau­cus must now be called by Wash­ing­ton State Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty Chair Tina Pod­lodows­ki to draw up a list of three names to suc­ceed Ranker. The coun­ty leg­isla­tive author­i­ties of San Juan, Skag­it, and What­com Coun­ties will then need to select one of those indi­vid­u­als as Ranker’s replacement.

State Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Jeff Mor­ris, who has served in the House for over twen­ty years, would be an obvi­ous choice to fill the vacan­cy if he want­ed to move across the state­house. The oth­er mem­ber of the 40th’s del­e­ga­tion is Kris Lyt­ton, who is retir­ing and due to be suc­ceed­ed by Debra Lekanoff as of this Monday.

Who­ev­er is appoint­ed will rep­re­sent the 40th Dis­trict in the Sen­ate until at least the end of Novem­ber 2019. In accor­dance with state law, a spe­cial elec­tion will be held this year to deter­mine who will rep­re­sent the 40th for the remain­der of Ranker’s term, which expires in ear­ly Jan­u­ary 2021.

The 40th is a dis­trict that has reli­ably vot­ed Demo­c­ra­t­ic for years, so the par­ty should not have much dif­fi­cul­ty in hold­ing the seat.