Longtime state auditor Brian Sonntag announced today that he will not seek reelection. Sonntag won the seat in 1992 and has held the job ever since. Before that, he served as Pierce County Auditor and Pierce County Clerk.

Sonntag, whose office brought us gems like the recent audit of the Seattle Schools that led to the Silas Potter scandal, considered running for governor earlier this year as a Democrat.

In an email announcement he said:

In the past week, I made a difficult decision not to seek re-election as Washington State Auditor in 2012. It was a tough call, but it is the right decision. At the end of my current term, I will have served 20 years in this Office and 40 years in public service - 35 in elected office. Based on what we has accomplished and what we will continue to do in behalf of citizens, the 2012 election is the right time for the Office to transition to new leadership. During my service as State Auditor, I am proud that we have become strong advocates for Washington taxpayers. We raised the visibility and enhanced the credibility of the Office, brought national recognition to our work, put the audit focus on the most risky areas, vigorously pursued fraud, seized on performance audit authority, engaged the public, and advocated giving citizens greater access to their government. My personal thanks to you for recognizing the value of this Office and the constitutional role it must play. You helped make citizens aware of what audit can do to make government work better for all of us.