Northwest power is in his hands
Acting administrator for BPA has to juggle energy with politics
Al Gibbs and Les Blumenthal; The News Tribune
Russ Carmack/The News Tribune
There's a story making the rounds about Steve Wright, acting head of the Bonneville Power Administration.
In it, a major Bonneville customer offers Wright a Faustian bargain: "Cut us a better deal for power and we'll support you" in any effort to make Wright the Bonneville administrator instead of the "acting" administrator.
In the story version, Wright protests: "I didn't even want this job."
"Close, but not quite right," Wright corrected during an interview.
"I was insulted."
It is signature Steve Wright that both responses - fictional and real - are in character.
"Bonneville's lucky we've got him in there at this time," said Jim Jura, a former Bonneville administrator who now heads a power generating cooperative headquartered in Springfield, Mo.
Like a lot of others, Jura thinks that Wright, the man in charge of much of the Northwest's energy future, is the right guy for the job at the right time.
"There was never a doubt in my mind he could run Bonneville," said Jura, who put Wright's name on a list of possible successors when Jura left the agency a decade ago.
At the time, Wright was only 33 years old.
There also wasn't any doubt in the mind of Judi Johansen, Wright's predecessor, who left the agency last November to take a top executive job with investor-owned utility PacifiCorp.
"From Day One I said, 'You're the next administrator, and you've got to groom for this,'" she said.
"Now we're all proceeding like he will be permanent" Bonneville administrator, despite the lack of action by the Bush White House.
Bonneville is a federal agency with 2,700 employees, but it's unlike almost any other government organization because it controls a major part of the Northwest's economy: about half the region's supply of electricity.
As such, the decisions made by its chief executive are nearly always criticized by one or another faction of its three main groups of customers: public utilities like Tacoma Power that by law have first rights to its power; investor-owned utilities like Puget Sound Energy that have somewhat lesser standing; and Bonneville's direct industrial customers like aluminum plants and chemical manufacturers.
"He's in a pressure cooker," said Tacoma utilities director Mark Crisson.
Wright, 43, has been a Bonneville employee for two decades.
A journalism graduate of Central Michigan University, he took a master's degree in public affairs from the University of Oregon before he came to the agency.
Jura, then Bonneville administrator, dispatched Wright to California to open the agency's first office there, then posted him to Bonneville's lobbying shop in Washington, D.C.
"The fact is, you work for the region, and contact with all members of the (congressional) delegation is extremely important," Jura said.
"(Wright) was about as plugged in as anyone could be," added George Behan, veteran top aide to U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Belfair). "Steve dealt well with both sides of the aisle."
During his seven years as BPA's chief lobbyist, Wright, a registered Democrat, gained a reputation for handling the most difficult issues with an even hand, and earned respect from both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill.
"He's not a politician, but he has good instincts, the knack for knowing when a political problem is brewing," said Tony Williams, who as a one-time chief of staff to former Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.) worked closely with Wright for six years. Williams now lobbies for BPA.
Bonneville has been under almost constant pressure from conservatives for years. Lawmakers from the Midwest and the East believe Northwest residents have gotten a sweetheart deal with low electric rates while taxpayers from across the nation are footing the bill.
At various times, critics have proposed that Bonneville start charging market rates for its electricity and paying higher interest rates on its billions of dollars of loans from the U.S. Treasury to finance the region's hydroelectric system.
Some have even called for selling BPA outright.
As pressure grew in the mid-1990s, former Sen. Mark Hatfield (R-Ore.) then the senior member of Congress from the Northwest, proposed an arrangement where BPA agreed to raise the interest rates on some of its lowest-cost federal loans and throw in $100 million to sweeten the deal.
Wright, who was close to Hatfield, was seen as one of the behind-the-scenes architects of that plan.
"He played a key role," said Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) who worked with Hatfield to broker the compromise. "Wright is very effective in everything from personal relationships to his knowledge of the issues.
Wright still visits Washington, D.C., every three weeks or so to meet with Department of Energy officials - his official bosses - and Northwest lawmakers. His whirlwind schedule is usually capped with a mad dash to the airport to catch the last flight home. His friends say he thrives on such a break-neck schedule.
Wright says his workload is only marginally greater than when he worked in Washington, D.C. - but he acknowledges the difference the new job has made for him and his family.
"Intellectual challenge isn't the hardest part of the job," he said. "The hardest part is the emotional challenge. You go home at night thinking about the people who are affected.
"Some (other) guy has to go home and say 'I've lost my job.'
"That gets to me.
"There is emotional stress with this job, and it's distracting at home."
Home is very important for Wright.
He met and married his wife, Kathleen McNalty, in Washington, D.C.
Their daughter Hana, 8, was born with a brain disorder that leaves her unable to talk or walk.
She has two adopted brothers, Tyler, 4, and David, 1.
"We go for hikes; we go for walks; we go fishing; we build tents in the family room," Wright said. "We're a pretty typical family. The only thing unusual is that Hana's in a wheelchair."
Johansen, who has a family of her own, thinks family is important for somebody in such a critical job.
"It gives you perspective and something to focus on when you're not in the office," she said. "It's a good diversion.
"There's just so much going on that your brain just churns on it."
People who have worked with Wright over the years give him very high marks for three traits: his keen intelligence, his ability to listen, and his sense of humor.
"I wish I could laugh at more stuff," Wright said with a rueful chuckle during an interview.
Still, Wright's supporters abound.
"He has always been somebody people admired for his intelligence," said Jack Robertson, Bonneville's former deputy administrator. "He's a very quick study, and he has a sharp sense of politics.
"So the issues he faces now - California (energy crisis) politics, customer groups - it's about politics, yeah, but it's much more about decision making, very difficult decision making."
Those decisions affect real people - out-of-work employees from aluminum mills and chemical plants, low-income residents struggling to pay their light bills - and that weighs on Wright.
When laid-off aluminum plant workers staged a protest rally at Bonneville's Portland headquarters recently, Wright descended from his corner office on the seventh floor and, in shirt sleeves, talked to them.
"They listened," said Jerry Leone, director of the region's Public Power Council.
"I think," she added, "that he has a great deal of empathy for the underdog."
Testimonials to Wright's abilities are easy to come by. Critics seem almost impossible to find.
"Steve's one of the best listeners I've known," said Steve Johnson, director of Washington State's public utility district association.
"I have often walked out of a meeting thinking what valuable things came out because of the questions Steve asked."
Jura felt the power of Wright's persuasion.
"He's somewhat liberal and I'm a conservative, and I was surprised at how much of the time he could change my views," Jura said.
DeFazio said Wright heads Bonneville during the most difficult time the agency has faced in 20 years.
"He is very skilled at balancing the needs of the region," DeFazio said.
The right guy at the right time?
Absolutely, said Williams.
"Based on the circumstances we are in, we have been given a gift."