As we reported in today’s Morning Fizz, the competition to replace King County Executive-Elect Dow Constantine on the King County Council is getting fierce. But the machinations go deeper—and have potentially more lasting implications—than we could fit in a single Fizz item.
First, some background. Constantine’s replacement on the county council will be chosen by a vote of the eight remaining members of the council. Although the council is now officially “nonpartisan,” the unofficial breakdown of those members is four Democrats and four Republicans. So far, none of the names being floated are Republicans, but anyone who wants to get the position will have to get the support of at least one Republican (more, if any of the four Democrats dissent).
The four Republicans voted in a bloc against creating a committee to come up with nominees last week, protesting that they hadn’t had enough time, in the middle of budget, to look at the names on the list, so it’s easy to see them voting in a bloc in the future.
An ad-hoc committee charged with coming up with a list of nominees has been asked to come up with at least one “caretaker” who wouldn’t run for reelection and one person who would seek the seat permanently—the election would be next year. Democratic legislative districts and labor unions are lining up in favor of a permanent appointment; both have considerable sway among Democrats on the council.
Now, the names. For a permanent appointment, the leading names are: State Sen. Joe McDermott (D-34), state Rep. Zack Hudgins (D-11), and Normandy Park Mayor Shawn McEvoy.
For a “caretaker” appointment, the leading names are: State Rep. Sharon Nelson, former Burien mayor Arun Jhaveri, and former Seattle City Council member Jan Drago.
McDermott, Constantine’s unofficial choice, could be hampered with Republicans on the council by his close ties to Constantine (at last night’s Constantine victory party, he did the “ask” for donations to help Constantine retire his debt), and the fact that he holds a partisan office. (However, Kathy Lambert, the only council Republican who has called PubliCola back so far, says she had a “long, delightful” conversation with McDermott, in which McDermott reminded her that “we worked great together” when both served in the state house of representatives. “I don’t have a problem with Joe,” she says.)
Although McDermott has insisted that the position should be permanent, not a caretaker, that might not be the smartest move: If he can’t round up five votes (according to council sources, McDermott hasn’t gotten any firm commitments from any council members), he’ll be at a disadvantage next November, when he’ll have to run against an incumbent.
Republicans reportedly consider Hudgins slightly more palatable than McDermott, both because he’s less closely linked to Constantine and because he’s considered less liberal than McDermott.
Similarly, because McEvoy identifies as “independent” rather than a member of either party, Republicans may see him as a better choice than either McDermott or Hudgins. However, liberal Democrats on the council may not be thrilled with McEvoy, who opposed changes to his city’s comprehensive plan that would have allowed more density and rebuffed suburban sprawl. As a council member, Constantine led on creating new rules to protect rural farmland and curb sprawl.
Nelson recently threw her hat into the ring for the caretaker position. One interesting potential scenario: Nelson gets appointed to temporarily fill Constantine’s seat, resigning her seat in the state house; McDermott runs for the seat in November and wins; McDermott resigns his seat in the senate, and Nelson gets appointed to replace him, a big promotion from her current job in the house.
Several roadblocks make that scenario unlikely, however. First, Nelson—a longtime Constantine staffer and political ally—may be opposed by council member Larry Phillips, a onetime county executive candidate who is reportedly still licking his wounds over his defeat in the primary election by Constantine. (Phillips says he’s “waiting to see where the process goes” and that any suggestion that he opposes either Nelson or McDermott is just a “rumor” with “no truth to it.”) Second, McDermott seems committed to seeking the seat permanently now, rather than running for it in the future.
Drago, meanwhile, could appeal to Republicans on the council, because she’s viewed as a political moderate with the ability to work with both parties.
Jhaveri—who was considered for a spot in the Obama administration—just surfaced today, and it’s unclear what his political allegiances and chances are.
Complicating matters even further, the Republicans on the council reportedly want to drag out the appointment process as long as possible so that they’ll have more leverage during the council’s annual reorganization, when the leaders of next year’s committees are determined. The Democrats have indicated that they want to take a vote by December 14, before the council goes into recess; however, Lambert says she doesn’t expect the council to vote until after the holidays, perhaps in mid-January.
That would leave Constantine’s district—nearly 200,000 people without a representative on the council for nearly two months. A January vote would also take place after the start of the legislative session, when Nelson, Hudgins, and McDermott would be otherwise occupied.
A final consideration: In the long term, it might be smart for the Republicans not to hold up the appointment process. The first time a Republican leaves the council—by resigning midterm or, as Reagan Dunn is expected to do, running for Congress—he or she will be replaced by a vote of the remaining council members, five Democrats and three Republicans. Assuming they appoint a Democrat, that would create a nearly unassailable Democratic majority on the council. So it might be smart for the Republicans to play nice with Democrats now in the hopes that Democrats will play nice with them in the future.
