King County government bloated, needs cuts, Susan Hutchison says

Susan Hutchison, in her first debate with other candidates for King County executive, vowed to impose a hiring freeze if elected and to negotiate with employee labor unions to roll back benefits she said are too generous.

"The county has not lived within its means. We've had one regime for 12 years and that regime has bloated the government," Hutchison said Thursday, taking aim at former County Executive Ron Sims along with two Metropolitan King County Council members running for executive.

"One of the first things I'll do as county executive is make sure we cut out waste before we cut out anything else," Hutchison said.

Her appearance at the King County Police Chiefs Association forum in Burien came one day after Council Chairman Dow Constantine, also an executive candidate, accused her of ducking debates and media interviews to hide her "extremely conservative" views.

Constantine called on Hutchison, a former KIRO-TV news anchor, to discuss her positions on abortion, gay rights and intelligent design — issues she said aren't relevant to the executive's duties.

Hutchison's attack on county spending echoed themes that state Rep. Ross Hunter and state Sen. Fred Jarrett have sounded in the campaign. Also participating in the forum were Constantine and fellow County Councilmember Larry Phillips.

Three candidates who have reported raising little or no campaign money — Goodspaceguy, Stan Lippmann and Alan Lobdell — were not invited.

The primary is Aug. 18.

Hunter, chairman of the House Finance Committee, said state legislators resisted giving King County new revenue and spending options this year because they believe the county spends taxpayer dollars too freely. "We have to take on that spending problem," he said.

In the long run, Hunter said, King County "probably" will have to raise taxes to maintain basic services.

Phillips said that, as the County Council's budget chairman last year, he worked closely with Sheriff Sue Rahr to restore funding for some sheriff's programs that Sims had proposed to cut. He also touted his support for mental-health and drug courts that he said have reduced the number of jail inmates.

Phillips said the county might have to look at tax increases in the coming years for health, human services and public safety.

Jarrett said county employees should pay a portion of their health-care premiums, as do employees in most other workplaces.

"It's not impossible to do," he said. "It takes an executive who's willing to share data and be open about what the goals and the problems are."

Constantine, who left the forum early to head a Sound Transit task-force meeting, said the county's relationship with cities has been "fairly positive," but criticized Sims for sending cities a letter saying they couldn't send misdemeanor criminals to the county's jails after 2012. (County Executive Kurt Triplett announced later Thursday the county is offering to extend the cities' jail contracts.)

Hutchison said she solved a significant budget shortfall as chairwoman of the Seattle Symphony board of directors. "I solve problems and I fix things," she said, "and King County needs a fix."

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