The firing of the Renton Technical College president Don Bressler backfired on the Board of Trustees this week, when community activists discovered one trustee wasn’t eligible for his appointment.
Frank Irigon doesn’t live in the college’s district, one of a few requirements for an appointment.
The discovery comes as an embarrassment to the Gov. Christine Gregoire’s office, which reappointed Irigon in 2007, and made attorneys scramble to see if Irigon’s vote in the 3-1 decision could be discounted.
There’s a long history of similar cases, and precedent suggests the Bressler vote is still valid, said assistant attorney general Derek Edwards. “Legally it stands. It’s up to the Board of Trustees about what they want to do.”
Irigon is expected to submit a letter of resignation, said spokesperson Karina Shagren. “He’s ineligible to take any action on the board.”
Irigon was first appointed in 2002 by Gov. Gary Locke.
When he was reappointed, Gregoire’s office failed to check his eligibility.
“We assumed that Frank lived in the college district,” said Kim Tanaka, the executive analyst for boards and commissions. “That was our error in not double checking.”
In 2004 the governor’s office purchased address software to make sure appointees are eligible, Tanaka said.
“You see this happen a lot with school districts,” Edwards said.
The issue was first raised about a different trustee in a blog by City Council President Randy Corman.
Site visitors began reporting their investigations on the comments page, he said. “You can retrace the discovery that he was ineligible by tracing the comments on my blog.”
Links to maps, phone book listings and state laws flooded the comments section.
“In the age of the Internet these sorts of things are just going to rise to the surface faster,” he said.
The governor’s office is now looking for a new trustee. The Governor’s Web site has an online application.
The governor’s office hopes to fill the position by Sept. 30 with other appointments, though there isn’t a set time frame.
