Ferguson breaks with past Washington governors — on his official bill-signing pens

This week has been full of reactions to Gov. Bob Ferguson signing the budget into law — consternation from Republicans calling it the largest tax hike in state history, relief from Democrats worried he’d send them back for a redo.

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But while much ink has been spilled to encourage Ferguson to bring out the red veto pen, less has been spilled on the signatory blue pens he used to sign the budget into law: felt-tip Paper Mates, a big departure from Ferguson’s predecessors.

It might seem like marginalia, but signatory pens are an extension of a lawmaker. Just look at Donald Trump’s big black and gold sharpies, a break with the tradition of presidential Cross pens dating back several decades.

Signatory pens are also tokens. Governors give them away to those who wrote or helped pass the legislation being signed. At Ferguson’s budget-signing this week, he used and gave away six different pens, including to the budget writers and King County Councilmember Sarah Perry, whose husband, state Sen. Bill Ramos, passed away suddenly in April.

Even political opponents get a pen: Last year Gov. Jay Inslee, after signing a final budget, didn’t even make eye contact with also-retiring state Sen. Mark Mullet (Inslee urged voters to unseat Mullet, a fellow Democrat, in 2020) when he held up a pen for Mullet to snatch and walk away with.

What kind of pen the governor uses has varied in Washington state over the last 50 years, according to the Washington Secretary of State. In the 70s, Dixy Lee Ray, Washington’s first female governor, used a white felt-tip Flair pen. Her successor John Spellman started using ballpoint pens. Govs. Gary Locke, Mike Lowry, and Booth Gardner used white Sheaffer pens before Gov. Christine Gregoire switched to a black BIC rollerball. Inslee stuck with it. But Ferguson switched.

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“Not good enough,” Ferguson joked this week as his official pens came up after a press event. "I'm not sure how long I've used that particular pen, but it's been a long, long time, so it's a bit of a joke around the office that that's the only kind of pen I want in my hand."

Switching to the felt-tip, which hasn’t been used by a governor likely since the 80s, was one of the first decisions Ferguson made in office.

“I've been given sort of the old ballpoint pens in the past, but they're not — they often don't really work that well,” he said. “So, we feel it's a practical pen as well. And we're all about running a practical government.”