Democrat Sherman to join prosecutor's race

Bill Sherman, a King County deputy prosecuting attorney, says he expects to file today as a Democratic candidate for prosecuting attorney.

If he takes the plunge, he will face Keith Scully, another lawyer with criminal-prosecution experience and strong environmental credentials, in the Aug. 21 primary.

The only political heavyweight who was widely expected to enter the race, Metropolitan King County Councilmember Bob Ferguson, has decided not to run, saying he wasn't prepared to take on a major campaign four months after the death of his father.

The winner of the primary will almost certainly face Acting Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg in the November election. Satterberg is seeking the Republican nomination with the support of GOP leaders and the family of his late boss, Norm Maleng.

Maleng, who was county prosecutor for 28 years, died unexpectedly May 24, leaving potential candidates little time before today's filing deadline to decide whether they would seek to complete his four-year term.

Ferguson, a tough campaigner who defeated two veteran County Council members in a two-year period, said Thursday he won't run. "You've got to give 110 percent — at least for me — to go through a campaign, and given what the family's going through right now, I didn't have that," he said.

Before deciding not to run, Ferguson scrambled to reactivate his bar association membership and to get his County Council campaign-disclosure forms up to date.

Shortly after Ferguson's announcement, Sherman, a deputy prosecutor since 2003, said he expects to enter the race today. But he said he hadn't made a final decision because he has been preoccupied with a domestic-violence trial that ended Wednesday.

Sherman, who clerked for two federal judges and worked for a private law firm before joining the prosecutor's office, won endorsements from the Sierra Club and Washington Conservation Voters when he ran against five other Democrats for a 43rd District state House seat last year. He placed third, but overspent his contributions by $36,608, according to his most recent public-disclosure filing.

Sherman said Thursday the filing was "just wrong" and he paid off his campaign debts through fundraising and his own contributions.

The unanticipated prosecutor's race has overshadowed filings for the King County Council positions of Dow Constantine, D-Seattle; Larry Gossett, D-Seattle; Jane Hague, R-Bellevue; and Larry Phillips, D-Seattle. Goodspaceguy Nelson, a perennial candidate who is running for the Democratic nomination against Constantine, was the only challenger as of Thursday.

Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com