Tag: Dow Constantine

Courts, King County

Public Defense Union Raises Concerns About Constantine’s Pick for DPD Director

By Erica C. Barnett

Earlier this month, as one of his final acts as King County Executive, Dow Constantine nominated Matt Sanders, the interim director of King County’s Department of Public Defense, as director of the agency, which has been without a permanent leaders since Anita Khandelwal resigned last September. In his announcement, Constantine called Sanders ” the ideal candidate to lead the Department of Public Defense in its important work” and praised his “leadership, advocacy, and unwavering commitment to both DPD employees and the people we serve.”

(The Sound Transit board voted to hire Constantine as Sound Transit CEO, at a starting salary of $450,000, on Thursday. The job comes with a monetary benefits package worth an additional $90,000 and will pay out one year’s salary when he leaves.)

Sanders was chosen over two other candidates, Snohomish County public defense department director Jason Schwartz and Morris Anyah, an administrative law judge at the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

A 12-person panel that interviewed the three applicants was made up mostly of management representatives, including several people who received promotions from Sanders and could lose their positions if the King County Council doesn’t choose him to lead the department. SEIU 925, the union that represents 371 DPD employees, including line attorneys and other staff, was allowed to have one attorney and one paralegal in the room.

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Rank and file union members have expressed concerns about Sanders, saying his management style has contributed to low morale and high turnover at the agency. DPD staff have struggled with high caseloads that, according to the union, still have not been resolved more than a year after the Washington State Bar Association adopted new caseload standards that would reduce the number of cases public defense attorneys have to but would also require departments to hire more staff. (Per a union communique in January: “Our Bargaining Team is juuuust about at its patience limit with this ‘collaborative process.’”)

On March 19, the union endorsed Schwartz over interim director Sanders, noting that as chair of the WSBA’s Council on Public Defense, he “was instrumental in drafting the new caseload standards” for public defense attorneys. “We are confident Jason would be an excellent leader during this time of transition,” the union wrote.

Two days later, Constantine announced he was appointing Sanders. The King County Council still has to approve the appointment, which will last one year; at that point, the next King County Executive will decide whether to reappoint Sanders to a full four-year term.

Attorneys who work in the King County court system say turnover at DPD is extraordinarily high, leading to a public defense department with fewer experienced attorneys. On the felony side, attorneys who are qualified to defend the most serious (Class A) felonies end up taking on cases from other attorneys when they leave, contributing to overwork and a lack of consistent representation for people who face the harshest penalties if convicted.

Two days after Constantine announced he was picking Sanders, SEIU delivered a petition demanding that he commit to “fully and faithfully implementing the caseload standards approved by the Washington State Bar Association within three years of July 1st, 2025” and that he reverse new caseload standards the department implemented last year, which, according to the union, are arbitrary and fail to limit caseloads to manageable levels..

“We, the employees of the Department of Public Defense, are feeling frustrated with your leadership,” the union wrote. “You have imposed policies that directly impact our working conditions without informing or consulting our union. We are not here to argue the details of specific policies. We have taken time away from our work—away from the clients that depend on us—to request that you display true leadership.”

In his response on March 27, Sanders wrote that DPD management “remains committed to ongoing improvements” in caseloads, but “will maintain the current status quo” until the union and management have finished bargaining over the new policy.

“[N]ot only am I committed to the implementation of the WSBA standards, but also I am embracing DPD’s place at the national forefront of implementation of these groundbreaking standards.”

The King County Council could approve Sanders’ appointment as early as next month.

Elections, podcasts

Seattle Nice: Sound Transit’s New Leader, Katie Wilson’s Run for Mayor, and Ann Davison’s Challengers

By Erica C. Barnett

On our latest episode of Seattle Nice, we discuss King County Executive Dow Constantine’s likely appointment to a $675,000-a-year job as head of Sound Transit; mayor Bruce Harrell’s first potentially viable challenger, Katie Wilson; and a new candidate, Erika Evans, who’s joining the race against Republican City Attorney Ann Davison. We also poured one out for the short-lived candidacy of Tanya Woo, who briefly filed to run for City Council District 2 (the seat she lost to Tammy Morales before getting appointed to the council and losing to Alexis Mercedes Rinck last year).

It’s somewhat unusual for an incumbent city attorney to have so many challengers this early in the race (in addition to Evans, Rory O’Sullivan and Nathan Rouse are running). But in the case of Davison, it’s hardly surprising.

In her first unsuccessful campaign, in 2019, Davison ran against Debora Juarez from the right. As part of her appeal to voters, Davison proposed warehousing unsheltered people in former big-box stores, called climate change a pointless “luxury” issue compared to removing encampments and making Seattle “clean”; and claimed the city’s streets were covered in human feces.

In her second campaign, for lieutenant governor in 2020, Davison ran as a Republican, announcing that she had left the Democratic Party as part of the Walk Away movement headed up by (later-convicted) January 6 rioter Bradon Straka. (State elections are partisan, but Washington state does not require voters to register as a party member, so there’s no way to confirm Davison’s previous Democratic affiliation).

After losing that race in the primary, Davison defeated police abolitionist Nicole Thomas Kennedy in 2021, running on a law and order platform. She has spent her term advocating for the right to prosecute people who use drugs in public, crack down on sex workers, and banish people who commit drug and sex work misdemeanors from parts of the city.

Under Davison, the city shut down community court, which provided an alternative to jail for people accused of certain misdemeanors; created a new “high utilizers” program in which people arrested over and over are subject to a higher level of punishment; and began pursuing charges aggressively under a new drug law that makes simple drug possession or using drugs in public a misdemeanor. She also supports limiting the number of times people are allowed to overdose before they’re thrown in jail.

We debated whether Davison is really a Republican (she is, ) or if she’s maybe some kind of moderate Democrat (as Sandeep seems to believe).

Last month, Davison belatedly joined a lawsuit filed by other cities against a Trump executive order threatening to withhold federal funds from cities that won’t help the federal government conduct immigration raids—a Seattle policy for many years. Unlike other city attorneys, however, Davison’s justification for joining was that the order violates “local control,” a tepid reason at best.

Notably, Davison has declined to denounce Trump generally or say whether she voted for Trump or Harris in the last election (we asked), and the policies she supports are, very generously, on the far right end of Seattle’s political spectrum. (Although, again, she denounced the Democrats and joined a national Republican movement in 2020, as Trump was running for reelection, and ran on a Republican ticket that was headed by a far-right MAGA extremist who went on to deny the election results.)

Check out our discussion on this week’s episode:

 

Guest Contributor, Opinion, Transportation

Sound Transit’s CEO Search Should Be About Leadership, Not Political Deals
Image via Soundtransit.org

By Francois Kaeppelin and Trevor Reed

Imagine applying for a high-powered job where you get to pick half of the hiring committee. That’s exactly what’s happening at Sound Transit, where King County Executive Dow Constantine is asking his own appointees to give him the top job.

As King County Executive, Constantine holds a built-in advantage on Sound Transit’s board: He personally nominated half of its 18 members and sits on it himself. With the rest of the board filled by top leaders from Pierce and Snohomish counties, their appointees, and the state Secretary of Transportation, Constantine still wields disproportionate influence over who gets the job. No credible hiring process would ever allow an applicant this level of influence over their own selection.

Think about that for a minute: the person who appointed half of the board members is now asking them for the agency’s top job. While Constantine has stepped aside from voting on his own candidacy, the people he chose are still there, making the decision.

This isn’t just a technical oversight—it’s a blatant conflict of interest. When those in power have a direct hand in choosing their own decision-makers, it becomes nearly impossible to say that the selection process is truly fair.

A second issue with this appointment is that Sound Transit has chosen to keep much of this process behind closed doors. The agency has publicly stated that state law allows them to hold secret hiring meetings. But the law they cite doesn’t require this secrecy—in fact, it explicitly encourages transparency, urging public agencies to seek community input even when not legally required to do so.

While other agencies openly disclose CEO candidates, Sound Transit has chosen, once again, to shield the process from public scrutiny.

The lack of transparency is compounded by hiring criteria that favor insiders over expertise. The job posting includes a requirement for an “understanding of the local cultural and political landscape.” At first glance, this requirement sounds reasonable—but in practice, it creates an artificial barrier to outside talent and reinforces the same system that has failed to deliver on-time and on-budget transit projects. Instead of recruiting the best leader for the job, Sound Transit is making it easier for a political insider to take control.

The new CEO will be responsible for making decisions that impact your daily commute, whether you’re heading to work or getting around the city. If political favors influence the selection process, there’s a real risk that the agency will prioritize insider interests over public benefit. This could lead to delays, rising costs, and a transit system that fails the millions of people who rely on it.

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For Sound Transit to deliver on its promises, the public must have confidence in its leadership selection process. While Dow Constantine brings decades of experience in public service, the next CEO should be chosen based on their qualifications and vision—not because they have been around the longest or have the right political connections. A truly accountable process requires public disclosure of finalists, clear evaluation criteria, and meaningful public input.

Other cities have recognized that effective transit leadership requires fresh perspectives, not just political familiarity. Canada’s VIA Rail, for example, brought in international talent to modernize its intercity network. Seattle needs a CEO who can bring innovative solutions to the agency’s long-standing challenges.

Sound Transit is responsible for billions of taxpayer dollars and the future of mobility in our region. This decision must be made with full public trust. To make this possible, the Board must:

• Fully disclose the criteria they’re using to judge candidates;

• Publicly disclose the list of finalists before making a hiring decision;

• Host a public hearing on the finalists; and

• Establish a structured public feedback process to inform the CEO selection.

If Sound Transit is confident they have the best leader, why keep it a secret? Riders deserve transparency—before it’s too late.

Francois Kaeppelin is a transportation policy researcher focused on transit governance, infrastructure development, and equity. He currently serves as Legislative Advocacy Director for Seattle Subway, working to advance transit governance reform in the Seattle metro area. Previously, he conducted research at the National Center for Sustainable Transportation and the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies, focusing on the impacts of freeway construction on communities of color, barriers to transit-oriented development, and regional transit coordination in California.

Trevor Reed represents the East-King sub area on Sound Transit’s Community Oversight Panel and is founder of Transportation Reform. He completed his Master’s degree at University College London where he worked as a researcher at the Omega Center for Mega Infrastructure and Development focusing on how governance structures impact the efficient delivery of transit projects internationally. His work concerning traffic’s economic impacts has appeared nationally in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and PBS’s Nightly Business Report.

City Council, King County

Seattle Nice: Dow Constantine’s Legacy as King County Executive

By Erica C. Barnett

On this week’s episode of Seattle Nice, we spend some time talking about outgoing King County Executive Dow Constantine’s legacy as the man who has held that position longer than anyone in modern history.

Although the county doesn’t get nearly as much coverage (and thus attention) as the city of Seattle, it has equal or more power and authority over a lot of policies and issues people care about, including the fentanyl overdose crisis, solutions to homelessness, mental health care, incarceration, and transit. Seattle controls the streets, but the county controls the buses; Seattle passes local laws and arrests people, but King County oversees the jails.

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In his 15 years as executive, Constantine has watched five elected Seattle mayors come and go (six if you count Greg Nickels, who served during Constantine’s time on the King County Council). He oversaw the expansion of the county’s Veterans Levy to include human services and programs for seniors; was instrumental in passing a sales tax for, and implementing, the Health Through Housing shelter program; and he oversaw the Public Health Department’s response to the COVID pandemic. He served as chair of the Sound Transit board during the campaign and successful passage of the $54 billion Sound Transit 3 ballot measure, proposed the Best Starts for Kids levy, and championed the recently passed Crisis Care Centers levy, which will fund five walk-in clinics for people experiencing mental health crises.

We talked about Constantine’s legacy—including his seeming flip-flops on jail closure and his big plans for South Downtown and Pioneer Square (oh yeah, he also proposed eliminating the planned Chinatown/International district light rail station, a move that furthers his proposal)—before turning to other subjects, including Cathy Moore’s proposed capital gains tax (more on that in our next episode) and efforts by new city council members to tell King County how to operate its sobering center and buses.

 

Courts, King County

Department of Public Defense Director Resigns Abruptly

Anita Khandelwal reappointed to lead Department of Public Defense | Employee News

By Erica C. Barnett

Anita Khandelwal, the director of King County’s Department of Public Defense since 2018, resigned abruptly on Wednesday; her last day will be October 4. She announced the news to staff in a brief email this morning, saying, “I am proud of my small role in helping build a community where we show our clients and each other compassion in the face of a system that has none. I will always reflect on our work together with awe and humility there is no place like DPD, and to have been part of it is my good fortune.” The email did not provide any explanation for Khandelwal’s decision or details about her future plans.

Her deputy director, Gordon Hill, will go back to being a supervising attorney at the Associated Counsel for the Accused (ACA), a division of DPD. Matt Sanders, who joined the then-independent ACA as an intern in 2011 and is currently one of four managing attorneys for the division, will replace Khandelwal on an interim basis; officially, he’ll be taking over Hill’s old job and will not have his own deputy director.

The process for appointing Khandelwal’s permanent replacement is somewhat convoluted and will likely take months.

Khandelwal declined, through a DPD spokesman, to speak to PubliCola about her decision to quit the department; according to multiple sources, she said she was exhausted after leading DPD for the last six years, including during the COVID pandemic. Khandelwal has long been a vocal advocate against policies that penalize vulnerable people for crimes that are often related to poverty and addiction, including a recently passed law criminalizing public drug use, laws creating new drug and sex-work banishment zones, and City Attorney Ann Davison’s unilateral decision to shut down the local Community Court..

In 2022, the King County Council reappointed Khandelwal on a narrow 5-4 vote.

In an email to staff this morning, Hill wrote, “Working in the Director’s Office for Anita for the last 5 years has been the greatest adventure and privilege of my life; at the same time, this position has pulled me a long way from working directly with DPD’s clients and the legal work that brought me to public defense in 2005 when I first began at ACA.  I’m excited to set aside the administrative work of the Director’s Office and re-immerse myself in direct service of public defense. I’m equally excited to see the fresh ideas and bold vision that a new person will bring to the role.”

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Khandelwal’s decisions at DPD have, at times, been internally contentious; earlier this year, Khandelwal withdrew from discussions about the city’s then-pending contract with the South Correctional Entity, a jail in Des Moines, saying there was no point in participating because Mayor Bruce Harrell wouldn’t listen to her questions and concerns. The decision to withdraw from the conversation about the jail was unpopular with some DPD employees, who wanted the department to be at the table even if the jail contract was a foregone conclusion.

Khandelwal’s departure comes at a time when the department is preparing to seek county funds to hire potentially hundreds of new attorneys and support staff to reduce caseloads that are widely considered unsustainable. Next week, the Washington State Supreme Court will hold a public hearing on proposed new maximum caseloads for public defenders, which the Washington State Bar Association’ Council on Public Defense (CPD) proposed earlier this year.

Unlike prosecutors, who choose which and how many cases to prosecute, public defenders must provide legal counsel in every case they receive. Under the current WSBA standards, each public defender is expected to handle as many as 150 felony cases or 400 misdemeanor cases a year—a workload that works out to as little as 11 hours per felony, or 4.5 hours per misdemeanor. The proposed new standards would reduce those caseloads and change the way caseloads are determined to better reflect how much time attorneys and staff actually spend on each type of case within the broader felony and misdemeanor categories.

King County Executive Dow Constantine expressed opposition to the new standards, which he said fail to consider “the practical problems of adequate legislative funding from the state to fund the new caseloads and the daunting question of whether there are enough defense attorneys to staff the caseloads proposed by the CPD, as well as the increased numbers of judges, prosecutors, staff and infrastructure that would be necessary to maintain an operational criminal justice system.” Constantine is expected to release his 2025 budget proposal next week—an unusual one-year budget before the county returns to a normal biennial budget process next year.

“Matt Sanders has been appointed the Deputy Director and will serve as interim Director of DPD and provide stable leadership and continue to manage the department while a recruitment process takes place,” a spokesperson for Constantine said. “We have seven days to commence recruitment and we’re working on getting notifications” to the public defense advisory board—a group that, under county law, selects three candidates from which the county executive picks one to forward to the county council for an up or down approvalvote. “We have a code requirement for action within 60 days and we’re exploring options,” the spokesperson said.

King County

County Council Commits to “Maintain Operations” at Youth Jail Until Someone Comes Up with a Better Solution
King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay

By Erica C. Barnett

The King County Council committed yesterday to keeping the Patricia Clark Children and Family Justice Center open, in a symbolic vote that signals a retreat from previous commitments to close down the youth jail.

The resolution, originally proposed by Republican Councilmember Reagan Dunn, says, “It is the intent of the King County Council to maintain operations of the juvenile secure detention facility at the Judge Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center.”

During the summer of 2020, King County Executive Dow Constantine committed to closing down the youth jail, saying the county would move “public dollars away from systems that are rooted in oppression and into those that maintain public health and safety, and help people on a path to success.” Historically, the county has disproportionately jailed Black youth; in 2021, Constantine said closing the youth jail would affirm
King County’s commitment to becoming an anti-racist, pro-equity government.”

As part of this “Care and Closure” effort, an advisory committee recommended six actions the county could take to facilitate the closure of the youth jail, but not all had unanimous support; for instance, a proposal to create a “receiving and respite” center for young people to go immediately after they’re arrested, as an alternative to jail, proved contentious.

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During yesterday’s meeting, Democratic council members emphasized that they were still committed to creating a better kind of youth detention at some point in the future.

Councilmember Girmay Zahilay called this a “yes, and” approach, through which “we can have a building with a secure perimeter, where the internal infrastructure is far more conducive to rehabilitation, mental health, education, job training and more. … This is what our amendment calls for—a commitment to transformation, while acknowledging the persistent need for a serious building that is far more oriented toward rehabilitation.”

A majority of the people who spoke about the jail supported closing it or replacing it with a less punitive facility. The jail supporters included several speakers who suggested that incarcerating young people was the only way to keep children, elderly people, and other law-abiding people safe.

“Unfortunately some kids need to go on to a juvenile detention center because the other things are not working,” said one Maple Valley resident, who said her daughter was attacked by “minorities” because she is white. “Please, keep the facility open,” she said, claiming this was the only way her family could feel safe from “being jumped” by non-white people in their community.

As of today, there are 59 young people, from 12 to 18 years old, incarcerated at the youth jail, with another 48 on electronic home detention; 61 percent of them are Black.