Satterberg first to file for county prosecutor

Dan Satterberg opened his campaign as a Republican candidate for King County prosecuting attorney Monday, saying he would step up efforts to stop Internet sexual predators and control identity theft.

Meanwhile, two Democrats, County Councilmember Bob Ferguson and Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Bill Sherman, said they haven't decided whether to run for their party's nomination.

Sherman, an unsuccessful candidate for the 43rd District state House Democratic nomination last year, said he won't decide whether to run for prosecuting attorney until he finishes trying a domestic-violence case this week.

"As I've got more time later on this week, I'll sit down with my family and we'll make a decision," he said.

Prospective candidates have until Friday to decide whether to run for the office left vacant by the unexpected death of Norm Maleng, who was prosecuting attorney for 28 years.

The County Council appointed Satterberg acting prosecutor after the Maleng family and Maleng's top deputies supported him for the job. Maleng's wife, Judy, and son Mark are honorary co-chairs of Satterberg's campaign. Satterberg was Maleng's chief of staff for 17 years.

Two other Democrats, Superior Court Judge Bruce Hilyer and former state Supreme Court Justice Phil Talmadge, both said Monday they won't run for prosecutor. Former Seattle city attorney and current state Utilities and Transportation Commission Chairman Mark Sidran also has decided not to run, said a political confidant, John Arthur Wilson.

Jenny Durkan, an attorney and influential Democrat, said it is "very unlikely" she will run, but she did not rule it out entirely. "The most important thing to me is that that office continue its commitment to be a professional office and maintain its nonpartisan approach."

Durkan said she has known Satterberg since law school, "and I have no doubt in my mind what kind of prosecutor he would be. He would be fair and he would be committed to justice."

Satterberg was the first candidate to sign up for any office at the start of filing week Monday. He later held a news conference to discuss his candidacy.

One of his top law-enforcement targets, Satterberg said, would be pedophiles using the Internet to meet victims. "I want to make sure that people who are waiting for our kids to get online have something to be afraid of," he said. "I want to crack down on Internet predators."

Satterberg, a criminal prosecutor for five years before Maleng named him chief of staff, said he would also work with police to keep drugs and guns out of schools, would continue Maleng's campaign against car theft, and would seek to shorten the time to trial in major criminal cases. The prosecutor's office, he said, "is too important to leave to the politicians."

Ferguson said Monday he is taking continuing legal education in the form of live Webcasts before work this week in order to reactivate his Washington State Bar Association membership, and thus his license to practice law. He said he won't decide for "a couple more days" whether to run for prosecutor — and will decide only after completing the required course work.

Ferguson dealt with another thorny problem Friday, when he submitted delinquent reports on his County Council campaign spending dating back to May 2006. "I take responsibility," he said. "They should have been filed and they weren't, and it's been corrected."

Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105

or kervin@seattletimes.com