Bob Herbold. Remember the name. This may be the guy the Republicans send up against Gov. Gary Locke in 2004.

That’s if they can talk him into it, and they’re already on the job.

Herbold, in his late 50s, has semi retired from Microsoft where he is an executive vice president and was chief operations officer. He left the CO job to do some consulting and fly fishing.

He lives in Bellevue and both he and his wife have been active in the Republican party. They have three children, all graduated from college.

Herbold was the hit of the Association of Washington Business policy summit which I attended at Semi-ah-moo in late September.

Luncheon speakers don’t usually get much attention at AWB sessions, crammed as they are into a full schedule of panel discussions among top business and political leaders, but this one did.

One reason this country turns out so many students who can’t read a bus schedule is because we put most of our education money into non-teaching, he said, “too many in the system don’t teach.”

“We’re second nationally in lost time due to congested traffic and there still is no comprehensive plan in sight,” he said. “We have no coherent energy policy and no state support for additional generation facilities because we’re busy arguing whether global warming may be true.”

On water, “there are no efforts to advance permits in the face of possible drought. Permits on wells have been on hold for years.”

“We have one of the highest business tax burdens in the nation. Boeing is situated in 26 states but this is the only state where they have to pay a tax on labor and materials. Our unemployment rate is one of the highest in the nation and Washington is second for the length of time a worker stays on unemployment comp. Labor costs are so high, Spokane has a fiber optics innovation headquarters but the product is made in Poland and Mexico.”

“Business is very heavily regulated, particularly in the environmental area and the Department of :Labor and Industries wants new ergonomics rules, cost of which could be $725 million a year. Labor leaders are very adversarial and actively encourage strikes. The state labor office is solicitous in giving job action status to illegal strikes.”

The subject of this year’s AWB assembly was “Competitiveness,” so, “are we going to be competitive or not?” asked Herbold. “I don’t see an interest on the part of Washington to be competitive with other states and countries. What is needed? Adopt an attitude that we need to play in this ball game. We need leadership badly.”

When you mention lack of leadership these days, thoughts turn to Gov. Locke, because numerous editorial writers and even his own Democrats have commented on that major flaw in his performance. He waits for the Legislature or some special task force to take the lead, and heat, while he assesses any damage to HIS popularity. He’s great at announcing like a leader but let’s see if he really does lay off a bunch of state employees after the unions work him over.

I don’t know whether the governor heard about Herbold’s speech or the GOP’s hopes for the future but he suddenly decided to go to Semi-ah-moo on the last day and give a speech himself. He wasn’t available before but previous commitments canceled out. Give me a Democratic House and I’ll give you a transportation bill, he said. It was time to forget petty differences and move ahead on essential needs, and he hoped the national bipartisanship would trickle on down, he said.

Well, Guv, you’re still talking the talk but in five years you haven’t walked the walk. You’d better hope Bob Herbold doesn’t take you on because, I’m told, he is tough when he needs to be but is such a kind and understanding manager that he “is loved far and wide at Microsoft. He is not afraid to lead, and he knows how to get the job done.” Lord knows we need somebody like that.

(Adele Ferguson can be reached at P.O. Box 69, Hansville, Wa., 98340.).