Who doesn’t love Dow Constantine? He’s hip, hard-working, and well spoken. We met up at the Washington Bus headquarters before he spoke on stage to introduce Grimes. Dow isn’t running for anything this year—he’s comfortable as the King County Executive, and (in my opinion) is doing a damn fine job given the state of the economy.
“It’s nice to be able to campaign for things that aren’t myself,” he said. This year, one of his golden goose eggs (is that a thing?) is King County Proposition 1, which he thinks is a great idea. Here at The Stranger, we endorsed the hell out of it. Voting yes (which you should do) provides funds to build a new juvenile justice facility.
Some folks are all like “no jails anywhere ever!” which is crazy. The reason we need a new facility, says Dow, is because the current facility is “horribly inadequate and dangerous.” Planned for the same space, the facility is slated to have fewer beds.
- Alex Miller, Washington Bus
- Dow’s hand motions made that girl go wild
Dow sounded smart on I-502, which would legalize the sale of marijuana, saying we need to “approach it from a public health lens, not a criminal justice lens.” I couldn’t agree more, and this point ties into the complexity of criminal justice issues that surround the new juvenile justice facility. Of course, he was right on the money for Referendum 74, and sounded optimistic. “We’ve got a better chance of passing it than any other state.”
On stage, his speech was similar to, well, just about everyone else. Block Party-goers have been hammered with the message that they need to vote, damn it, and approve referendum 74. Seriously—if that’s not understood, I don’t know what will get through.
Props to Dow for coming out as a comfortably seated official, and stumping for other important things that will effect the community and folks who come out to the Block Party.