With former Seattle City Council member Jan Drago appointed as a caretaker to fill Dow Constantine’s vacated King County Council seat through the end of the year, the rest of the dominoes are beginning to fall into place.
State Sen. Joe McDermott (D-34), the first choice of Democrats on the council as well as West Seattle party loyalists, will return to Olympia for the coming session, before running to fill the seat permanently next November. No doubt state Rep. Zack Hudgins (D-11) will be awfully tempted to take a crack at the race too, but at this point you gotta consider McDermott the frontrunner.
And with Constantine’s seat settled, and a Democratic majority back in control of the council, the once crowded field to replace state Sen. Fred Jarrett (D-41) is starting to clear out. Last week Vicki Orrico withdrew her name from consideration, and today Maureen Judge (who I call “Mo” and my daughter calls “mom”) announced her withdrawal too:
I have decided today that I am withdrawing my name from consideration for the 41st State Senate appointment.
Because these are difficult times, because we face so many challenges throughout the district and state, I feel my most vital and important contribution to our community is in my current role role as Executive Director of the Washington Toxics Coalition and getting the Safe Baby Bottle Act of 2010 passed in Washington state.
The only inside information I’ll pass on is that it wasn’t an easy decision, but it’s probably for the best… at least for me. Mo would have made a great progressive addition to the state senate, but I have to admit a little selfish relief at her withdrawal. Had she won the appointment, the next two months would have been rather hellish from a scheduling perspective, and then once the session was done the campaign would begin.
As for the rest of the field, considering the number of endorsements and commitments he’s already locked up, you gotta consider Randy Gordon the clear frontrunner in tomorrow’s vote of 41st District Democratic PCOs. And as a matter of protocol, the council almost always goes with the PCO’s first choice.
So the Republicans win again, because a spineless Democrat (see: Larry Phillips) broke ranks with his party and voted with the goopers to break a deadlock.
The goopers got what they wanted: A candidate who, as the price of appointment, agreed not to run for the position next fall. And who clearly isn’t the candidate most representative of the district’s voters.
And Democrats once again rewarded GOP intransigence by rolling over and playing dead.
When will this shit stop? When will Democrats grow some balls?
Guess what will happen next? Having been successful with this tactic again, the pirates that Larry Phillips just rewarded for their acts of piracy will hijack more ships to get more ransom. When you cave in to blackmail, the result is always more blackmail.
Rabbit @ 1:
ONE Democrat rolled over. “Democrats” didn’t.
Am I the only one that thinks that the people who got us into the mess we’re in can not, and will not, be the people getting us out of the mess we are in?
@3 It only took 1.
@4 No, there’s at least two of us.
are you smoking crack?
there was a 4 4 tie. The republicans would have happily kept it that way for one whole year….depriving the dems of their fifth vote on the council…..
are you suggesting that a massive public outreach campaign by dems would have “forced” von reichbauer and reagan dunn to give up their power …. to approve the guy you like….are you suggesting they would have done that, um, why, because it’s the right thing to do? Goodness of their hearts?
hahahahahahahahahahahaha
you sure believe in republicans, don’t you….
@7. There is a 60 day limit on the process, and I think we were about half way through. After 60 days, if still an impass, it gets kicked up to the Governor and she appoints.
This would have been settled soon enough, and we would have gotten Joe, if only the Dem’s had been patient and waited it out.
The Republicans didn’t hold the cards, the Dem’s did, but folded anyway.
Well congrats to Jan Dargo. When her new e-mail kicks in I will start to hound her too.
The big winners in the appointment to replace Dow likely aren’t the Republicans, but Glacier NW. Jan doesn’t know Maury Island from marzipan, but then she never met a big business or developer she wasn’t willing to grease the skids for. Larry took money from Glacier in the County Exec race. On the other hand Joe along with Sharon and Dow have been long-time opponents to Glacier’s plans.
The only real consolation is Drago has been a pretty good advocate for transit (enough to stand out on the rather pro-transit Seattle City Council).
So looking ahead is there anyone out there who should be encouraged to run for Larry’s County Council seat?
Well, well, well what we have here?
Reagan “Get Things Dunn” takes you guys to task and you cry about it.
Ever stop and think that in front of Marummy was Reagan Dunn, the Mack Strong, the fullback blocking for the running back?
Uh huh. Perhaps some people should show up to King County Council public comment and ask Reagan Dunn to try out for the Seahawks.
@ 8:
Just quit it, will you? Only Phillips folded. I was sitting right there. Ferguson, Patterson, and Gossett didn’t fold. The 8-0 acclamation vote at the end is only for show, because the meaningful votes already have been taken.
Otherwise you are correct about the process. Phillips knew damn well that the Governor would have appointed Joe.
@ 11:
Reagan Dumb didn’t “take” anyone “to task.” Quit making shit up. He was just posturing for the TV cameras.
What the fuck is Marummy anyway?
Sarge @8 nails it. What I’d like someone (Larry) to explain is why, when D’s and R’s are deadlocked on an important issue, is it always a D who caves?
I’m sure that most voters in the 8th district would’ve happily gone without representation for another month until the governor could’ve broken the impass by appointing Joe. But we’ll never know because one D voted with the R’s. Sigh….
@8 & @12
I don’t believe the 60-day impasse would lead to a gubernatorial appointment. King County is a home-rule county. So the method set up per the county charter establishes how appointments are made. It was messed up with the change to non-partisan, which didn’t include a process to appoint. But nonetheless, it’s up to the county.
I believe the RCW which sets up a 60-day timeline is only for those counties that are not home-rule.
@ 16:
You’re right, but only for the moment. Legislation to fix this was going to be introduced on the first day of the session, and the Speaker told me he was for it.
Phillips knew this, of course, and he knew that the Governor would have appointed Joe immediately after she signed the bill. So when Phillips says he was concerned about District 8 not having representation, he is a liar, plain and simple.
ivan @16:
So any ideas of who should be encouraged to run for Larry’s County Council seat?