RIP. A public servant, a family man, gone too young.

My condolences to those who knew him. No one ever deserves to die of cancer.

"Republicans in the 45th Legislative District, covering Redmond, Kirkland, and other nearby areas, will now appoint his replacement."

No. No, they won't.

Republican PCOs in the 45th LD will nominate three potential replacements; the King County Council will pick from among them, and that appointee will serve until a Special Election is held next year to elect someone to serve out the remainder of Sen. Hill's term, which expires in 2018.

Please note that:

1) this process happens often enough that The Stranger should know better than to imply that a bunch of locals will appoint whomever they want.

2) Republican's, who howl and scream that a special election should be immediately held whenever a Democrat vacates a seat, will be completely fine with the process now that it helps them hold onto a swing-district seat a bit longer.

Why is this a story?
People die every day
(It's sad but it happens)
Sympathy to his family but why any public notice in SLOG?
The TG bit?

@5 - the story here, which Heidi completely failed to pick up on and address, is that Sen. Andy Hill was elected as a Republican in a suburban King County legislative district that has two Democrats serving in the House. This is a true 'swing district' that will effectively have an open seat in a special election next year (a Republican appointee will serve until then). You can expect a multi-million-dollar off-year political battle for that seat next year, with control of the state Senate very likely resting on the results. Of course, The Stranger can't see that far ahead - or that far across the Lake Washington. They'll focus instead on which liberal Democrats are beating each other up for the chance to rule Seattle.

@4,6...interesting, I was wondering what the process was. It will be most interesting to see who the parties put forward- can the R's find another centrist to put up and will they do it? The current crop of D's in the 45th I find underwhelming, to say the least. A strong candidate and the seat is theirs for the taking.