BOISE, ID – Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson will be without his top policy adviser through the rest of the year.
Policy Director Sahar Fathi went on leave July 1 and will not return before Jan. 1, a governor’s spokesperson said.
Brionna Aho, communications director for Ferguson, said Fathi is using accrued and unpaid leave for the six-month sabbatical. Aho did not respond to questions about whether Fathi requested the lengthy break or if she is expected to return for the 2026 legislative session.
Fathi did not return phone calls or texts requesting comment.
In an email, Ferguson said Fathi has been “a crucial member of my team” since 2019. She previously served as Ferguson’s policy director when he was attorney general.
“After six years and a particularly intense legislative session, in which she took on more than one full-time job, she’s taking a break,” he said. “I’m happy to support her. I appreciate our talented legislative and policy teams, who are already hard at work ensuring we’ll be prepared for the next legislative session.”
Deputy Policy Director Kenneth Martin has been appointed interim policy director.
Fathi, named to the governor’s executive leadership team on Nov. 7, oversaw a 20-person staff responsible for developing policy initiatives in support of Ferguson’s agenda. There are four deputy policy directors and 16 advisers who interact with lawmakers, local and state agency officials, and constituents in crafting and deploying policies.
Her lengthy resume of public service includes working for King County, the Seattle Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs and as a legislative aide to former Seattle City Council member Mike O’Brien, according to online biographies. In 2013, Fathi made The Stranger’s list of Smartest People in Seattle Politics.
Exits of multiple high-ranking members of Ferguson’s administration have marked the governor’s first eight months in office.
Legislative Director Joyce Bruce, who also worked in the attorney general’s office under Ferguson, resigned in March, not long after her deputy, Shawn Lewis, had quit. That left the first-term Democratic governor without a legislative team in the critical final stages of the session, as lawmakers finalized the budget and ironed wrinkles out of major legislation.
Also in March, Mike Webb, Ferguson’s chief strategy officer and most trusted adviser, resigned amid complaints that he fomented a toxic workplace.
He left less than a week after Bruce’s departure. She worked under Webb’s direction in the governor’s office, and before that in the Office of the Attorney General. Several lawmakers, most of them women, voiced concerns privately at that time that Webb’s management style may have contributed to Bruce’s decision to leave.
Aho did not respond to questions about whether the circumstances surrounding Webb contributed to Fathi’s decision to take extended leave.
In May, Ferguson hired Debbie Driver as his new legislative director. Driver served as a transportation policy adviser to former Gov. Jay Inslee, and also worked previously as the Washington State Department of Transportation legislative relations director.
The governor also appointed Shane Esquibel as chief of staff. Esquibel had served as chief operations officer since Ferguson took office.
This story first appeared on Washington State Standard.