Sen. Erik Poulsen, who's represented West Seattle, White Center, Burien and Vashon Island in the Washington Legislature for 13 years, is quitting to become a lobbyist for public utility districts.

Public utility districts provide electricity and water to Washington's rural communities. Poulsen, who lives in West Seattle, will leave the state Senate at the end of September to become government relations director for the Washington Public Utilities Districts Association.

Rep. Joe McDermott appears to be the favorite to replace Poulsen in the Senate. But there seems to be at least a half-dozen candidates interested in McDermott's seat in the Washington House of Representatives.

As chairman of the Senate Water, Energy and Telecommunications Committee, Poulsen has learned a lot about new technology. But he also tried not to see every issue through big-city glasses and that won the trust of Republican legislators from rural parts of Washington.

"I've tried to defy the stereotype of a Seattle legislator," Poulsen said. "You know, people think Seattle has all the money and all the political power."

For 10 of Poulsen's 13 years in the Legislature, Republiicans held the majority.

"I was forced to forge relationships with rural legislators," he said.

The level of trust between Poulsen and his rural Republican colleagues was high enough that Poulsen successfully brokered an agreement among cities, Indian tribes, environmentalists, farmers and business interests over how much water ought to be flowing in the Columbia River. The agreement solved a 30-year impasse and increased the amount of water available for agriculture while still requiring enough water be provided for migrating salmon runs.

In 2005 Washington Conservation Voters, which claims to be the largest environmental organization in the state, declared Poulsen as their legislator of the year.

It took Poulsen about three terms to understand how the Legislature works, he said. Once he got it, he was able to shape state law and policy. But his newly gained knowledge also stole some of the "mystery" from the legislative process, he said.

"I'm not burned out but a lot of the mystery is gone," Poulsen said. "Passing legislation is a complex process. But once you've got it down, it's not as much fun."

Poulsen grew up in Wisconsin, living first in Prairie Du Chein, a town of about 2,000. Later the family moved to Waukesha, with about 35,000 people.

He grew up in those two towns and went on to earned a bachelor of science degree in journalism at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. His goal was to become a press secretary to an officeholder and soon he landed an internship in the Washington, D.C. office of Congressman Les Aspin of Wisconsin. President Clinton later appointed Aspin Secretary of Defense.

Poulsen also served as press secretary to Governor Tony Earl of Wisconsin.

In 1987 Poulsen, his wife and young son decided to move west. They ended up in Mukilteo and Poulsen commuted by bus to a job in Seattle.

One day after work Poulsen took the wrong bus and found himself riding through West Seattle and past Alki Beach. He vowed then and there to live in West Seattle.

When he was first elected in 1995, Poulsen was put on the Energy and Utilities Committee, not considered a plum assignment at the time, he said. The committee was headed by then-Rep. Julia Patterson, who now represents Tukwila, SeaTac, Des Moines and Kent on the King County Council. Patterson assigned some of the committee's complicated technological bills to Poulsen.

At about that same time, the infamous company Enron had plans to move in on Washington's public utilities districts. The company was lobbying for deregulation of the state's energy system by claiming increased competition would drive down energy prices.

"Enron wanted to take over our energy infrastructure, which the public had already paid for, and throw it into a pool where they could control the marketplace," Poulsen said. The company used its power to gain control of energy infrastructure in other states such as California, and then drove up prices, he added.

"Enron took billions of dollars out of the California economy," he said.

Poulsen sees parallels in the history of public utility districts in Washington.

For many years, private electric companies ignored Washington's rural areas. They focused on the more lucrative urban markets of Seattle and Tacoma, where people live much closer together. Providing electricity to the far-flung parts of the state was more costly so private companies wouldn't do it.

That's what gave rise to public utility districts. Small communities pooled their money and coordinated their efforts to form public utility districts to bring electricity to where they live.

"PUDs were formed to serve the community, not to make money," Poulsen said.

About 80 percent of Washington's electrical power is provided by publicly owned agencies, he said. That's a higher percentage than any other state in the nation. (West Seattle residents get electricity from Seattle City Light and water from Seattle Public Utilities. Although neither is a public utility district, both agencies are owned by the public.)

Just as old-time electric companies ignored rural areas, so too are today's cell phone and Internet telecommunications companies, Poulsen said. Those services are commonly provided in urban areas but it's still difficult to get even regular landline telephone service in remote parts of Washington, Poulsen said. That's not because private companies can't wire the rural parts of Washington. They choose not to because they make more money serving their most populous markets, Poulsen said.

There are 28 public utility districts that cover the entire state. They provide electricity and water to about 1.7 million Washingtonians.

Public utility districts can provide only certain services allowed by law. Poulsen wants to change the law so public utility districts can provide telecommunications to their customers, But that idea is bumping into opposition from the telecommunications industry.

"Private companies don't want to serve parts of rural Washington, but they also don't want anyone else to step in," Poulsen said.

The outgoing Senate committee chairman wants to assist small public utility districts seeking authority to provide telecommunications equipment throughout Washington.

"I'd like to see other parts of our state prosper like Seattle," Poulsen said.

"This is a great cause to work on in my political afterlife," he said.

Poulsen would not rule out running for elective office again some day.

"Anything's possible," he said.

Tim St. Clair can be contacted at (206) 932-0300 or timstc@robinsonnews.com