Council narrows field for vacancy

The Seattle City Council whittled the list of candidates for its vacant seat to 14 Tuesday with selections that seem to respond to calls for more diversity.

In announcing their first cut, several council members said they were looking for more diversity on the nine-member body, which now includes two women and two racial minorities.

"It seems like the council is headed in the direction of [appointing] a woman of color. It seemed to be the momentum of this process, and I think it's going to stick," Councilman Peter Steinbrueck said.

No white men were among the semifinalists.

Narrowing the field from 98 applicants, council members selected six African Americans, three Latinos, three Asian Americans and two white women to advance to interviews Thursday. The semifinalists include five men and nine women.

The council hopes to cut the list to six next Monday and swear in a new member by Feb. 6. The new member will replace Jim Compton, who resigned this month to write and teach in Romania and Egypt.

Each of these semifinalists received at least five votes from council members:

• Ross Baker, a lawyer, public-relations consultant and lobbyist who has worked for Lifelong AIDS Alliance and AT&T Wireless Services.

• Bruce Bentley, a supervisor with the waste-hauling firm Rabanco, former Seattle Parks commissioner and one of five finalists for a vacant council seat in 1997.

• Juan Bocanegra, a Latino activist who has headed a downtown social-service agency and worked for the YMCA and City Light.

• Gail Chiarello, a Hawthorne Hills neighborhood leader and Democratic party activist who managed grants at the University of Washington.

• Sally Clark, community-resources director at Lifelong AIDS Alliance, who worked for former Councilwoman Tina Podlodowski and the city Department of Neighborhoods.

• Joann Francis, a lawyer and former Sound Transit executive who also worked for former Mayor Charles Royer and the federal Small Business Administration.

• Verlene Jones, a union organizer for the King County Labor Council.

• Ven Knox, former director of the city's Human Services Department and community-outreach director for the Seattle Monorail Project.

• Sharon Maeda, a former executive director of Pacifica Radio Network and federal Housing and Urban Development employee; active in Asian-American philanthropy.

• Dolores Sibonga, a lawyer, former council member and former president of the Filipino Community of Seattle Development Corp.

• Darryl Smith, a realtor and president of Rainier Chamber of Commerce who ran for City Council in 2003.

• Javier Valdez, a City Light employee and Democratic Party activist.

• Venus Velazquez, a public-relations consultant, board member of Casa Latina and former Department of Neighborhoods employee.

Maeda was the only candidate to receive votes from all eight members. Baker, Jones, Chao and Knox each won seven votes, while Clark, Sibonga and Smith got six.

Just missing the cut were Alice Woldt, former director of the Church Council of Greater Seattle, and union representative Bob Zappone, who each received four votes. Also left behind were four candidates for city office in 2005: Ángel Bolaños, Darlene Madenwald, Robert Rosencrantz and Al Runte.

Council members said they considered not only diversity, but leadership, collegiality, integrity, knowledge of city government and community support.

Bob Young: 206-464-2174 or byoung@seattletimes.com