washington business
gathering of business leaders and the quadrennial host of the
first gubernatorial debate of each campaign season.
a new look
one-upsmanship or personal feelings. If we respect each other’s position, we can solve our problems.”
David Bricklin, then president of the Washington Environmental Council, described a “red phone” arrangement that
his organization had struck with AWB, similar to the old Cold
War Moscow-Washington hotline.
“We’re talking directly, not through the press,” Bricklin
said. “It promotes the ability to get problems solved.”
Larry Kenney, president of the AFL-CIO State Labor
Council, agreed that things had changed at AWB. “I remember when the position of AWB was that whatever labor is
for, we’re against,” Kenney told the newspaper. “That’s no
longer true.”
A year after Brunell took over AWB, his make-over of the
organization was attracting attention. The Seattle Times
published an article in February 1990 beneath the headline
“Changing Look Of The ‘Business Lobby.’”
Its description of the old AWB as “a band of rock-hard
conservatives with beady eyes wearing dark suits” who
engaged in “prolonged holy wars against organized labor
on obscure issues” might have been a double-helping of cliché with a side of hyperbole. But the article’s description of
Brunell’s new-look AWB, with its proactive agenda and
an emphasis on issues rather than personalities, is what
really came through.
“I told our staff that I only want you to talk issues
— Earl Hale, former executive director of the Washington State Board
and issue alone,” Brunell told the reporter. “Forget
“Don had a good sense of when to push and when
not to. He could figure out how to get things done.”
for Community & Technical Colleges
Uhlman said the change meant that people
began to listen to AWB. “It became more positive,
rather than just saying ‘no’ to everything.”
Heidi Stanley, the former Sterling Savings
Bank executive who served as AWB board chair
from 2002-03, said it was this ability to work
with diverse groups to find common ground that
helped Brunell succeed over the years.
“I’ll never forget walking down the hall about
to go in and visit with Gov. Gary Locke,” Stanley
said. “I was absolutely passionate about whatever it was we were going in to talk about. Don
stopped me and said, ‘Heidi, if I can leave you
with just one thing: I understand you’re passionate, but if we are ever going to get anything done,
you have to move off the mark a little.’”
That way, Brunell told her, Locke can move a
little, too.
That was his attitude, Stanley said. “Do you want
to move toward getting something done, or do you
want to just complain about it?”
building coalition
Brunell not only worked to build bridges with
traditional adversaries, but he also forged partnerships with other business groups.
“He is incredibly aware of the effectiveness of
coalition,” Davis said. “That’s been one of Don’s
real strengths and it’s become one of AWB’s real
strengths.”
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