Blair Brady seeks re-election to board

Blair Brady isn't bored yet. He is, however, surprised to find himself running unopposed for his third term as a County Commissioner for the Westend, District 3.

Brady grew up in New Jersey, a poor kid in a wealthy town, seven miles out of Newark. He was educated in what he described as a kind of public private school, with professors as teachers and with such a great education he never felt compelled to go on to college.

Brady only has two regrets from his youth. He passed on an opportunity to do voiceovers and turned down a spot at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. Though he had always loved cooking, he was feeling restless.

He had several jobs over the years and now considers himself a reformed workaholic.

He was once a butler and chauffeur for a gentleman, who, according to Brady owned a bunch of newspapers on the eastern seaboard. Brady would drive him around, set the table for meal times, and do light cleaning. Sometimes when the family entertained, Brady was included.

"I learned a lot of from him," Brady said. "He taught me to lighten up, asking me once at dinner, 'Who are you trying to impress?'"

Brady worked as a longshoreman, an orderly and a janitor. He was in a Carpenter's Union and worked in the shipyards, He had a bar and restaurant in San Francisco and worked for Georgia Pacific Corporation in a corrugated container plant for nearly 20 years.

"I started working at 10 years old," Brady said. "I was always busy. I never had an allowance. I worked for every dollar I had. I know the value of a dollar."

It was his wife's ties to Grays River that eventually brought him to Wahkiakum County. He bought his in-laws' home and got along so well with his mother-in-law, he eventually stayed to care for her.

When she passed away, he ran for office. He lost that first year in a coin toss with Mark Linquist, but ran again the next time around.

"I have no other obligations, so I'm available," Brady said. "I enjoy it, I've learned so much in the last seven years. It's fascinating. I've managed to get some legislation passed on our behalf with the assistance of the Association of Counties."

This year he says he will be the vice chair of the legislative steering committee. He is also working with a group of commissioners from throughout the state to attend federal legislative meetings to ensure that every county's legislative needs or concerns with the federal government are better addressed. And he's sitting on the National Association of Counties Rural Agricultural Affairs Committee.

"I want to maintain physical sustainability which is a big challenge for every county in the state," he said. "Our revenue doesn't go up, but our costs continue to go up. It makes it more and more challenging to get compensated in replacement lands for the county in timber. Anytime we are able to preserve the forest land and work in productive forest, the better we are."