The mess in Idaho's Jefferson County may be coming unsprung, with the departure - required after his conviction on three felony counts of misusing public money - of veteran Sheriff Blair Olsen. The courthouse has had a turmoil elements to it for some years, and the head of a local groups called the Restoring Integrity Project remarked in a letter to the Idaho Falls Post Register that "if elected officials, both past and present, had been doing their jobs, Jefferson County would not be the laughing stock of Idaho." However well known outside of eastern Idaho Jefferson's problems may have been (probably not very), it ought to make a point for Idahoans. Many people in Idaho revere local government, have some unease with the state and dispise the feds. Evidence from Jefferson County: There's no more perfection to found locally than there is Boise or D.C. It's all just people, wherever you go.
Washington state has set the salary schedule for the next couple of years. Governor goes up to $173,617. The proof of pricing an office by the responsibilities of the job rather than by the current occupant is the pay for state auditor - up to $121,663. That will apply, evidently, whether the state has one or not.