Ryu says that she’ll decide whether to run for County Council during first week of special legislative session

State Rep Cindy Ryu

State Rep. Cindy Ryu says that she will wait until late next week to decide whether to run for the Metropolitan King County Council seat that current Councilman Rod Dembowski has held by appointment since former Councilman Bob Ferguson left to become State attorney general.

Ryu will head back to Olympia for the first week of a special legislative session.

Ryu was one of three finalists for the appointment in February. Ryu said at the time that she planned to run for the position.

She had registered with the State Public Disclosure Commission in late November as a candidate for the seat and raised $31,867 before state law prohibited her from raising money from 30 days before the legislative session until the end of the session.

She said Monday that with a special session scheduled to start next week she was unsure whether she could raise money during the two-week period between the regular session and the special session. She said that the law is unclear about such situations. She noted that some legislators who are running for local office this year have been raising money. She said, however, that she doesn’t want to take the risk of doing something improper.

She’ll have to decide quickly whether or not to run because the deadline for filing for ballot position is Friday, May 17. It’s a big decision because the filing fee is $1,396.

Ryu said that a special session lasting into June would leave her little time to raise the $250,000 that she thinks that she would need to challenge Dembowski. She said that she would need less if she were running as an incumbent. Dembowski has raised $91,186 so far. Another declared candidate, Naomi Wilson, has raised $1,930.

Here’s a report from our news partner, The Seattle Times:

King County update: Ryu undecided, Constantine quietly raising cash 

Metropolitan King County Council member Rod Dembowski was appointed in February to a vacant seat, so now he’s defending his position in the fall election. And it looks like he might have an easier time than he expected. State Rep. Cindy Ryu, a popular Shoreline politician, was a finalist for the appointment and planned to run for the seat after the County Council selected Dembowski. 

Ryu said today she is undecided whether she’ll seek the council seat after all. She has not been raising any money, even during the break between the Legislature’s session and special session. “It probably puts me at a huge disadvantage,” she said, noting that she thinks it’s best to stay focused on the Legislature’s work. A third finalist, Will Hall, has decided to run for re-election to the Shoreline City Council instead. 

Meanwhile, King County Executive Dow Constantine is preparing to kick off his re-election campaign comfortably with $357,999 on hand as of the end of April, according to his consultant, Christian Sinderman.

See the rest of the Seattle Times story here