King County Council to choose interim replacement for Maleng on Tuesday

The King County Council on Tuesday will select one of Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng's top assistants to assume his office on an interim basis, while the county Republican Party submits three nominees to the council for a longer-term successor.

But voters will decide in November who will serve the remainder of Maleng's term, which expires in December 2010. It will be the Democratic Party's best chance to recapture the office since Maleng was first elected in 1978.

Maleng, who died of cardiac arrest Thursday night, was prosecutor for 28 years. He was the first partisan elected King County official to die in office since County Councilman Kent Pullen died in 2003.

This morning, the entire staff of Maleng's office gathered in the largest courtroom in the King County Courthouse to grieve and talk about their boss.

"The room was completely full to talk about Norm and how we are all just devastated," said Dan Donohoe, who had been Maleng's spokesman for more than two decades.

Donohoe said former deputy prosecutors and other well-wishers have been streaming in and out of the office all day with flowers and condolences.

No plans for a funeral or memorial service have been made yet, said Seattle attorney Mike McKay, a close friend of Maleng who has been working with his wife, Judy, on possible options. He said a decision will be made in the next several days.

The King County Medical Examiner's Office late Friday said an autopsy showed Maleng died of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, commonly referred to as hardening of the arteries.

Meanwhile, county council Chairman Larry Gossett, D-Seattle, and council staffers said the state constitution and the Revised Code of Washington lay out the three-step process for replacing Maleng:

First, the council will appoint one of Maleng's deputies or assistants to run the prosecutor's office for now.

Second, Republican elected officials and precinct committee officers will provide three names of candidates for prosecuting attorney. The county council has 60 days from the date Maleng's death to choose one of the three.

Third, the office will be on the fall ballot. Initial jockeying for both the Republican and Democratic nominations will be intense because candidates must file during the week of June 4-8.

Gossett said potential candidates for the immediate interim appointment include Maleng's chief of staff, Dan Satterberg; the deputy chief of staff, Bonnie Glenn; the civil-division chief, Sally Bagshaw; and the criminal-division chief, Mark Larson.

This succession process will choose "the next people's lawyer," Gossett said.

"I believe that's what Norm was in criminal and civil law. He was a giant of a man and a leader of this area. He would expect us to carry on in his absence, and that is exactly what we plan to do beginning next Tuesday."

Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com. Seattle Times staff reporters Steve Miletich and Jim Brunner contributed.