By electing Dow Constantine the next King
County executive, voters created a vacuum on the King County Council,
where Constantine had held a seat for seven years. Now the council must
appoint a replacement, and that’s causing an intense backroom commotion
over who should get the job.
State senator Joe McDermott (D-34) at first appeared to be at the
top of the heap as a potential replacement. Which is somewhat
predictable, because Constantine’s last two jobs—his spot in the
state house of representatives, which he left in 2000 for the state
senate, and his spot in the senate, which he left in 2002 for the
county council—were both subsequently filled by McDermott.
Tradition alone suggests that McDermott should follow in his footsteps
here, too.
McDermott has the backing of fellow legislators and, unofficially,
Constantine. Moreover, getting appointed to the council would mark a
milestone in county history. “I hope that Joe becomes the first openly
gay person on the King County Council,” said state senator Ed Murray
(D-43), the state’s most outspoken gay legislator and prime sponsor of
the state’s domestic-partnership laws. “That would be very important
for our community and another important moment in our struggle.”
Naturally, McDermott agrees that he’s the perfect fit. His
legislative district takes up more than half of the council’s 8th
District—which was Constantine’s district—and he’s versed
in issues facing the area. For instance, in 2010, the council must deal
with the shoreline master plan, which addresses regulations for the
county’s miles of waterfront. McDermott notes that his district, which
includes Vashon and Maury islands, contains about half of the
undeveloped shoreline in King County. “I know the issues facing the
district, and I believe I am a very collaborative leader who can work
well with the entire council,” McDermott said. He also has the
unanimous backing of the 34th District Democrats.
But he’s not the shoo-in that some expected. Other people have since
thrown their hats into the ring, most notably state representative Zack
Hudgins, a Democrat who represents the neighboring 11th District.
Speculation abounds that, amid growing behind-the-scenes political
tumult, McDermott will be snubbed and Hudgins—who was in India
when the paper went to press and wasn’t available for
comment—could have the upper hand.
Sources who spoke to The Stranger on the condition of
anonymity said that a couple of forces are likely at play. First:
Republicans on the council would prefer Hudgins, considered a moderate
Democrat in Olympia, because he could flip the council’s five-to-four
partisan default position on certain votes. (The council is technically
nonpartisan ever since Republicans pushed a ballot measure in 2008 to
remove party labels from county officials. But as the race between
Constantine and Republican Susan Hutchison proved, county politics
remain rooted in the clash between liberal and conservative ideologies,
and liberals currently have the upper hand.) Republicans also dislike
McDermott, a lefty homosexual, because he embodies everything their
party opposes. When the council voted on the replacement process for
the seat on November 16, all four council Republicans voted against an
amendment that would allow someone who wants to run for the seat in the
next election to fill the seat now—which would have put McDermott
(who has already filed his 2010 candidacy papers with the state) out of
the running for nearly a year. But the council’s five-Democrat majority
passed the amendment, keeping McDermott on the menu.
Second: McDermott—who basically owes his political career to
Constantine’s upward mobility—would be an ally for Constantine if
he were appointed to the council. This is not only a sore point for the
council’s four Republicans, who rooted for Hutchison to win the county
executive seat. Some sources say this could also upset Council Member
Larry Phillips. Phillips ran against Constantine in the primary
election and lost. McDermott on the council could be a yes-man for
Constantine.
With a December 14 deadline looming for making the appointment,
Phillips insists that he isn’t working to block McDermott, saying, “I
am emphatic that I have not made a choice here.” 
I don’t know McDermott well, though I do remember vividly being a passenger in an truck that just about ran him over on Alki, along with a gaggle of purposely moving Dems.
Couple of misstatements here. The 34th District doesn’t take up “more than half” of the 8th Council District — closer to two-thirds is more accurate.
The 43rd district has one precinct in the 8th. The 33rd has, by my count, 21. The 11th has 56, but many of them are in underpopulated industrial areas, and include Boeing Field. The 34th has 204 precincts, lying entirely in the 8th Council District.
The 34th has by far the greatest organizational muscle in the 8th Council District, and we intend to use it to put Joe on the council. Otherwise what is the point of all our meetings, all our caucuses, all our fundraising, recruitment, and get out the vote efforts?
It is likewise not accurate — in fact, it is just plain fraudulent — to say that Joe “basically owes his political career to Constantine’s upward mobility.”
Joe has benefited from Dow’s upward mobility, to be sure. But these succession scenarios occur in every Legislative District in the state. Somebody moves on, somebody else moves up. BFD.
All these elected officials carve out their own constituencies and have to win election and gain support in their own right. Does anyone imagine that if Eileen Cody had wanted to move to the County Council, that anyone would deny her? Or that anyone would call her a “yes-woman” for Dow, or say that she owed *her* political career to Dow’s upward mobility?
The thought is preposterous, and so is Dominic’s ignorant assertion. Joe was a leader on education, on the environment, and on LGBT civil rights in the House, and he has been one in the Senate. Appointing him now, and electing him next November, is by far the choice of his District constituents, and the Council, to have any credibility whatever, needs to heed the clear will of the electorate.
Three cheers Ivan – to the point and on the ground running.
Joe is smart, takes principled stances, and has political common sense. He will be excellent on the county council.
A couple of hacking Republicans mean nothing. What do the Dems want to do is the issue and it seems Joe is at the top of the list.
Thank you, Clyde. The Democrats need to stand firm and tell the R’s that Joe is our choice, his constituents OVERWHELMINGLY intend to have him and no one else appointed, and that it is in everyone’s best interest to implement the will of the clear majority.
That means no other names, no “caretaker,” no partisan political games from those who sought to make these seats “nonpartisan.”
Anyone else is free to run in the primary or in the general election. They can sell themselves to us at that time.
Joe McDermott is an outstanding progressive and would provide the sort of enlightened leadership that our state (and not just King County) needs more of. There’s been no better-represented, or more progressive, Seattle district than the 34th.
@ Ivan:
But that one precinct overlap with the 43rd is, by milestones, much more important that all of the 34th precincts combined 😉