Rick Hughes leveraging valuable relationships while lobbying at State Capitol
Friday, January 31, 2025
by Jeff Noedel
video by Jeremy Tyler
A SanJuans.Today VIDEO IS AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE
Rick Hughes — for now anyway — has found work that employs his many strengths:
- a deep empirical knowledge of how state and county governments work
- a deep roster of working relationships and a good reputation with dozens of state leaders, including state legislators
- and an ability to craft and sell win-win deals — sales skills honed as a one-time Director of West Coast Advertising at ESPN
Hughes has been hired by Orcas Island’s OPAL to lobby the legislature this winter for $7.8 million in state funds for site work, so that the Pea Patch “unified social services” Community Campus in Eastsound can break ground on 20 new affordable housing units. Funding for the actual construction of the homes is already in place.
To learn more about that project, click here.
In the San.Juans.Today video recorded in the State Capitol building in Olympia last week (below), a noticeably more trim and relaxed Hughes discussed how he processed his defeat in the November San Juan County County Council race.
He stressed his long-term commitment to Ray’s Pharmacy in Eastsound. In fact, one of the laws he is lobbying for is House Bill 1009, a bill that would allow pharmacy owners to serve on the State’s pharmacy quality assurance commission. That bill passed the State House of Representatives Thursday (96 yeas, 0 nays) and now goes to the State Senate.
