Leadership

Commission term: October 2021-December 2025

Commissioner Hayward, longtime former legal counsel for members of the state House of Representatives, joined the Public Disclosure Commission in 2021. Hayward's interest in the work of the PDC dates from the agency’s early days. As a student at Willamette University in 1974, he wrote his senior thesis on Initiative 276, which established campaign finance disclosure and public records law in Washington.  He began his career in the House as counsel for the House Republican Caucus in 1979. In 1980, he became attorney to the Republican Co-Speaker of the House, and over the next 32 years continued to work as a senior legal counsel for House Republicans until retirement in 2013. In 2014 he published a book titled “My Ride: The people, procedures and politics of lawmaking at our state capitol.” Hayward, an Olympia native, lives in Tumwater. 

Commission term: June 2023-December 2027

Retired Snohomish County-based appeals court judge J. Robert Leach worked as an attorney in Washington state for more than 30 years before being appointed to the state Court of Appeals in Snohomish County by Governor Christine Gregoire.

While on the appeals court, he served on the Appellate Judge Education Committee, the Court of Appeals Executive Committee, the Judicial Information System Committee and the Court of Appeals Rules Committee. He retired in 2021 and is now a resident of Port Ludlow. 

Leach graduated from the University of Washington in 1973 and the UW School of Law in 1976.  

Commission term: Dec. 2023 - Dec. 2026

North served as a King County Superior Court Judge from 2000 until his retirement in 2022. He continues to serve as a Pro Tempore judge in King County Superior Court. 

He graduated from Stanford with a bachelor’s degree in 1974 and graduated from the University of Washington School of Law in 1977. North started his career as a law clerk for Judge Keith Callow at the Washington State Court of Appeals. 

North has been a member of the King County Superior Court’s Local Rules Committee, the Washington State Bar Association’s Rules Committee and the King County Bar’s Judiciary and Courts Committee. 

Commission term: January 2020-December 2024

Commissioner Isserlis is a lawyer with Winston & Cashatt, where she focuses on insolvency, restructuring and commercial practice. She rejoined the firm in 2016 after serving four years as Spokane City Attorney. Isserlis has been in practice in Spokane since 1981. She served as the Regional Directing Attorney for Columbia Legal Services for five years and, more recently, as a board member for Pioneer Human Services and the Endowment for Equal Justice. She is a past member of the Washington State Bar Association Board of Governors and past chair of the Spokane City Ethics Committee. Isserlis is well versed in campaign finance law and disclosure, having chaired or managed dozens of campaigns.   

Commission term: April 2024 - December 2028

Jim Oswald graduated from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law in 1977 and spent much of his career as an attorney in private practice. He was appointed to the PDC effective April 1, 2024. Now retired, he lives in Union. 

As Executive Director since June 2017, Peter has overseen a period of rapid growth and reform at the Public Disclosure Commission. He worked closely with the Legislature and Governor’s office to secure new resources and tools for the agency, modernizing its operations and fostering its mission to promote confidence in the political process. Prior to joining the PDC, Peter served as Communications Director and co-chair of the Operations Committee for the Washington State Attorney General’s Office. Previously, Peter worked as a Wall Street investment banker, including as a Vice President in the Mergers & Acquisition group at Merrill Lynch, where he advised clients on transactions totaling several billion dollars. An attorney, Lavallee served as general counsel of a NASDAQ-listed technology company and worked in private practice, including providing legal advice to political campaigns. In the 1990s, as Administrator of the Clinton Legal Expense Trust, Peter oversaw the nonpartisan legal defense fund for the U.S. President. He received his MBA from the Yale School of Management, his JD from Tulane Law School and his BA from Columbia University.