Democratic organizations in 32nd and 46th Legislative Districts approve candidates for county vacancy; citizens' committee picks five

Corrected and updated 12-24-2012

By Evan Smith
 
 

The Democratic organizations in the 32nd and 46th Legislative Districts each have voted to approve three candidates for appointment to fill the vacancy on the King County Council. 

Then, Friday, a screening committee recommended five of the 13 applicants for the position. County Executive Dow Constantine will nominate three of the five for consideration by the County Council.

Democrats in the 46th District voted Dec. 13 to recommend three candidates, with Seattle attorney Rod Dembowski their top choice, well ahead of King County Deputy Ombudsman Chuck Sloane and Shoreline City Councilman Will Hall. 

District Democratic Chairwoman Sabrina Hill said recently that the recommendations are only for the appointment process, not for the coming election.
 
 

Dembowski, Hall and Democratic 32nd District State Rep. Cindy Ryu have registered as candidates for the position with the State Public Disclosure Commission, a step that allows them to raise and spend money for the August primary and November general election.
 
Candidates file in May for ballot positions.
 


Elected precinct committee officers and paid members of the 32nd District Democrats had voted Nov. 14 to support Dembowski, Ryu and Shoreline Planning Commissioner Keith Scully. The organization did not list the three in order of preference.
 
Apparently, the vote came from District members and PCOs from both the King County and Snohomish County parts of the 32nd Legislative District.
 
 

District Democratic Committee Chairwoman Carin Chase said Thursday that District Democrats wanted a Council member who would be ready to "hit the ground running" as a candidate in the 2013 election, rather than a "caretaker," who would take the position with the understanding that he or she would not seek the position in the next election.


The County Council appointed caretakers in 2009 to replace former County Executive Ron Sims and former Assessor Scott Noble and in 2010 to fill the council position that Dow Constantine gave up after he won election as county executive, but last year it appointed a county sheriff who ran, and lost, in the fall election.
 

Ryu has said that she wants the position only as a “permanent” Council member who would expect to run for a full term.
 
 Dembowski said that he plans to run for a full term whether he wins the appointment or not.
 
 Dembowski has reported raising $51,603 and spending $1,323. No other candidates have reported raising or spending any money.
 

Hall said last week that if he wins the appointment he would immediately resign from both his part-time position on the Shoreline City Council and his full-time job as a policy analyst for Snohomish County to concentrate on work on the County Council and a fall election for a full term on the County Council. He said, however, that if he doesn’t get the appointment he would re-evaluate whether to run for the county position or to run for re-election to the Shoreline Council.


A screening committee announced its approval of five candidates Friday -- Dembowski, Hall, Ryu, Scully and Sloane – from whom County Executive Constantine will nominate three candidates to present to the County Council.
 
The 1st County Council District position on the Council will become vacant in mid-January, when incumbent Councilman Bob Ferguson leaves to start the term of State attorney general that he won in the recent election.
 

The eight remaining Council members then will have 60 days to appoint someone from among Constantine’s three nominees.
 
If the Council can’t get a majority for a caretaker within 60 days, Gov.-elect Jay Inslee would make the appointment.
 

The appointee will represent the District through the November 2013 election, when voters would elect someone for a full four-year term plus the last month of the term that Ferguson won in 2009.
 
If three or more candidates file for the position, it will appear on both the August primary and November general-election ballots. If only one or two candidates file, the position will appear only on the November ballot.
 

Council District 1 includes Shoreline, Lake Forest Park, Kenmore, Woodinville, the King County part of Bothell, north Kirkland, unincorporated areas between Bothell and Kirkland, and part of north Seattle. The Council District overlaps with parts of the 1st, 32nd and 46th legislative districts.
 


The 32nd District includes Shoreline, part of northwest Seattle, south Edmonds, Woodway and nearby unincorporated areas of southwest Snohomish County, Lynnwood and part of Mountlake Terrace. 

The 46th District includes Lake Forest Park, Kenmore and northeast Seattle. 
While party organizations make endorsements and recommendations, they have no official role in the appointment process for the non-partisan position.


If County Council positions still were partisan offices, the remaining Council members would have made the appointment from a list of three candidates submitted by a vote of precinct committee officers of the party of the candidate being replaced from within the Council District. Now that Council positions are non-partisan, the Council makes appointments on a non-partisan basis from three candidates nominated by the county executive.