Acting King County assessor Rich Medved still hospitalized, won't seek office

Rich Medved, the acting King County assessor who has been hospitalized since suffering a stroke July 14, won't seek appointment and election to a permanent assessor position, his campaign said today.

Medved's family instead will ask the Metropolitan King County Council to appoint Chief Appraiser Lynn Gering, who has carried on his duties in his absence, campaign consultant Cathy Allen said.

"Rich would have wanted Lynn to be named," Allen said.

She said Medved's campaign will be suspended while the family focuses on his recovery from the hemorrhagic stroke. He remains in intensive care at Swedish Hospital's Cherry Hill campus in Seattle.

"Everyone agrees that this recovery is going to be slow and he needs to put his own health first. What we are hoping is that he recovers, however slowly it might be, to regain his position in the assessor's office," Allen said on behalf of Medved's wife, Teresa, and their four children.

Allen said there has been "no appreciable change" in Medved's condition since he was hospitalized one day after the County Council deadlocked on whether to appoint him or Gering to serve as assessor until after the Nov. 3 election.

Medved, 56, has not spoken since he was hospitalized. He has been sedated in order to control swelling.

Gering, who supported Medved's election bid, sought the appointment after the Council said it wanted to appoint a caretaker who wasn't running for election. Medved subsequently applied for the appointment.

County Council Chairman Dow Constantine said the council will vote on the appointment Monday. "I fully expect that we will appoint Lynn Gering to be the assessor through certification of the election this fall."

Constantine called Medved's stroke "a most tragic event. ... Our thoughts and prayers are with Rich and his family as they struggle to come to terms with what has happened."

Leadership of the office has been in transition since longtime assessor Scott Noble resigned last month before he was sentenced to eight months in jail for vehicular assault. Noble pleaded guilty to a charge that he was intoxicated when he drove the wrong way on Interstate 5, colliding with another car and injuring himself and two other people.

Under a line of succession established by Noble, Medved automatically assumed the assessor's duties on an acting basis when Noble resigned and Gering automatically took over from Medved last week.

Noble hired Medved as his chief deputy in 2002. Gering was hired as an appraiser in 1975, became chief deputy assessor in 1992 and was named chief appraiser in 1998.

Medved had planned to file for election during a special filing period from Aug. 18 to 21. His withdrawal from the race leaves two candidates, Seattle Port Commissioner Lloyd Hara and Bob Blanchard, a certified public accountant from Redmond.

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