The classic car glistening in Sen. Jim Honeyford’s garage could be seen as a metaphor for the career of this longtime lawmaker.

The 1930 Ford Model A Coupe with its slick green paint and original – and operational – engine and brakes is the product of much behind-the-scenes work: Not budgets and bills, but restoration.

It has traveled all over Central Washington carrying Jim, his wife, Jerri, and their children in hundreds of parades.

And, it’s been around for a while.

Honeyford, 83, who became a lead voice on agriculture and water issues, legislative ethics and the state’s capital budget during his time serving in the Washington state Legislature, is retiring after nearly three decades in office.

The new phase begins in 2023, sealing off his career after 28 years in the Legislature and more than 60 years of public service throughout his lifetime.

Honeyford has spent recent months reflecting on his career and time in Olympia at farewell events with colleagues and at the last parade with the Model A this year, the Sunnyside Lighted Farm Implement Parade in his hometown in December.

“There were good people in each community that were supportive and helpful,” Honeyford said about the area he’s served.

Community members and colleagues praised the lawmaker’s work in recent interviews, highlighting his ability to cooperate with others while staying true to his convictions and fiercely gathering support for local projects.

Honeyford’s term is up in January, when Republican Senator-elect Nikki Torres of Pasco will take his place representing District 15.

History in Sunnyside

Sunnyside resident Jay Hester has known Jim Honeyford for quite some time: he first got to know him as a middle school student in Sunnyside. Honeyford was a teacher, librarian and coach at the Sunnyside School District from 1966-1995.

“He was a great librarian,” Hester said. “You look to librarians as being all-knowing. (With) what they did, they seemed like they were set apart from teachers when I was in school.”

Honeyford’s fit in that role has stuck with Hester through the years as he’s gotten to know him as a community member and lawmaker. Growing up, he remembers Honeyford as a city council member.

Hester, in his role as executive director of the Port of Sunnyside, has worked with Honeyford to secure funding and support for countless projects in Sunnyside, including keeping the airport viable, bringing in Ostrom Mushroom Farm and establishing the YV-Tech Skills Center.

The Sunnyside Municipal Airport is owned by the city, but the port district owns many of the properties around the airport, Hester said.

“He’s been a huge proponent for continuing to support that airport, make sure it stays here and viable, obviously for the agricultural businesses that it does serve but also, it’s a huge component for the community for life support, for getting planes in and out, for health,” Hester said.

Honeyford said aviation is an area of interest for him, especially when it comes to revitalizing community airports.

“I’m very much into aviation,” he said during an interview at his home in Sunnyside. “It’s why I started an aviation caucus, to get resources to our smaller airports.”

With an eye to development opportunities in the area, Honeyford also set aside funds in the state’s capital budget for the cleanup and demolition of the former Carnation milk plant in Sunnyside, Hester said.

“Community minded, always,” he said of Honeyford. “He’s always been a huge supporter of the port district and our endeavors in the community to try and recruit companies and businesses and job creation.”

Time in the Legislature

Sen. Mark Schoesler, a Republican from Ritzville, said it was a big jump for Honeyford from Sunnyside City Council to the majority in the state House when he took office in 1995.

Schoesler has served in Olympia for 30 years, including 28 years alongside Honeyford, though not always in the same legislative house. Honeyford moved on to the Senate in 1999. Schoesler made the jump in 2005.

“The years we didn’t serve together was when he really blossomed as a legislator,” Schoesler said in an interview. “Over those six years, he became chair of Labor and Commerce, where they did the historic unemployment insurance reforms, and he grew to be really knowledgeable on fiscal issues.”

That knowledge on fiscal issues landed Honeyford a top position in the Senate Ways and Means Committee, which deals with the operating and capital budgets. Honeyford was the lead Republican and chairman of the Senate subcommittee for the capital budget, and he was an assistant ranking member on Ways and Means at the time of his retirement.

He used this leadership to advocate for money to address droughts and flooding, along with long-term plans to secure water resources in the Yakima Basin, and other community projects. Planning and funding additional water storage is a challenge the Legislature still faces, he said.

His plan for $5 billion over several years to support water projects did not fully pass during his time in office, but he hopes lawmakers continue to look at the issue. Parts of it have been funded on the state, federal and local levels.

“Hopefully they continue working on water. We need more storage, and that’s something I worked on – I’ve been on water ever since I’ve been in the Legislature,” he said, referencing the House and Senate committees he served on that focus on agricultural and water issues. “Hopefully someday they’ll wake up and realize that we’ve got to address these problems, and it’s going to take money.”

Other local projects have gotten support through his leadership on the capital budget, including school and infrastructure projects and the proposal for a pool in east Yakima at Martin Luther King Jr. Park.

Schoesler remembered Honeyford’s unique tradition of wearing a bow tie for the capital budget discussions on the Senate floor.

“I forget where he picked that up from, but he always had that bow tie,” he said.

Honeyford also served on the Legislative Ethics Board.

“When you’re on the Legislative Ethics Board, you are supposed to put partisanship aside and be objective,” Schoesler said. “You wouldn’t worry – Jim Honeyford was that guy.”

Honeyford and his wife, Jerri, are also both passionate about historical preservation and led efforts to establish a Heritage Barn Register in the state. The program recognizes historic barns and provides grants to the structures’ owners to preserve their history and architecture.

Jerri served as chair of the Barn Advisory Committee, and she said more than 800 heritage barns have been registered since the program was created.

Sen. John Braun, Senate Republican Leader out of Centralia, mentioned this work by the pair in a news release from May 23, when Honeyford announced his retirement.

“One area which was a huge boon to the state was Sen. Honeyford’s passion for history and maintaining the history of our great state,” Braun said in the release. “In addition to legislative appropriations on this front, he volunteered many of his few free hours to make sure the state’s historical heritage was maintained.”

Honeyford’s other accomplishments praised by Braun include his national leadership in discussions on stopping the daylight saving time switch; his work to secure water access and internet availability; his support for legalizing fentanyl test strips; and his desire to increase penalties for cannabis shop robberies.

“Perhaps other legislators will grow to recognize the importance of these innovative new tools he proposed,” Braun said in the statement.

Praise from colleagues

Passionate, honest and fair. Those are the words colleagues used over and over to describe Honeyford’s work in Olympia.

Schoesler added “loyal friend and ally” to the list. Honeyford is someone you can always count on, he said.

“When I put together the majority coalition caucus, I built that as Jim Honeyford chairing the capital budget committee because he was physically and politically a rock to build upon. There’s a great, big guy with character and strength,” he said.

Honeyford also had the political courage to tell people “no,” Schoesler said.

“He told a lot of people ‘no’ and they still liked him … and respected him,” Schoesler said. “He is a principled conservative, and he was pretty straight up about things. Not everybody will give you a straight answer, black and white, but Jim would.”

Republican leader Braun said Honeyford was a model public servant.

“He served with integrity. He served with passion. He will be sorely missed here in the Senate,” Braun said in his statement.

Hester, with the Port of Sunnyside, said Honeyford has always been well-versed with what’s needed in the community, and that’s not something he expects he’ll leave behind in his retirement.

“He continues to keep me informed of what he knows in the community … talking to people that have a pulse on all these things,” he said.

Hester said he’s sad to see Honeyford retire, but is glad he is choosing it at his own time.

“He’s served our state well, so I am sad to see him go,” Hester said. “He’s a friend, I can say that.”

Rep. Jeremie Dufault, a Republican in District 15 whose term also ends in January, said Jim and Jerri Honeyford are admired in Sunnyside, throughout the district and across party lines in Olympia. Colleagues turned out in force at a farewell event near the Capitol earlier this year, he said. It was one of at least four on both sides of the state.

Dufault has represented the district alongside Honeyford since 2019. In that time, he has seen how the senator interacted with constituents in his home district and visitors in Olympia, responding to emails and dropping what he was doing to show people around his office or the Senate chamber, Dufault said.

“(Sen.) Honeyford cared about the people he served. You could find him on the Senate floor typing away long after the day’s final votes,” Dufault said in an email.

Dufault said Honeyford also cared about the integrity of the state Senate.

“In an age of anything-goes politics, Senator Honeyford was as gracious towards and respectful of his political opponents as he was firm in his convictions and tough with his votes,” Dufault said in an email. “He was always honest and fair.”

Retirement

With more than 60 years of public service accrued over his lifetime as a police officer, teacher and lawmaker, Honeyford said it’s time to retire.

He announced the decision after election filing week in May. When Torres was the only other person to file for the District 15 office, he withdrew his name from the ballot.

Honeyford said he is giving his leftover campaign funds to the Republican caucus and is tying up other loose ends, including selling the condo in Olympia where he and Jerri lived during the legislative session for more than two decades.

“I’m going to miss the people over there,” he said. “I’ve made a lot of friends, and a lot of my friends have retired and are gone so there’s fewer and fewer of them.”

Above the hearth of the fireplace and towering bookshelves in the study at Honeyford’s Sunnyside home is a photo of Jim, Jerri and their kids and grandkids. The couple hopes to travel now – Seattle, Michigan, Chicago, Germany and Australia to name a few possible destinations.

“There have been so many things we’ve put off,” Jerri said.

In addition to seeing family, Jim said he’s also looking forward to growing his hobbies.

“I like photography, I like woodworking, I like working on the old cars,” he said, hoping for more time for those activities now that his time is his time. “(I’m) looking forward to the fact that I now set my own schedule instead of other people, other demands. That will be nice. In fact, I’m kind of getting used to it now.”