Former appraiser enters King County assessor race

Bob Rosenberger, a longtime former appraiser in the King County assessor's office, announced this morning he is running for assessor.

"I decided to step forward because I think it's important that we have an assessor who has experience in assessments," Rosenberger said in a phone interview from the King County Elections office in Renton, where he was about to file as a candidate.

A special three-day filing period began this morning for the Nov. 3 election to complete the remaining two years on the term of former Assessor Scott Noble. Noble resigned in June after pleading guilty to vehicular assault in connection with an alcohol-related, wrong-way collision on Interstate 5 in January that injured him and two women in another vehicle.

The election will be held without a primary because Noble resigned too late for a primary to be held.

Seattle Port Commissioner Lloyd Hara and Redmond accountant Bob Blanchard are also running.

Leadership of the assessor's office has been in flux since Noble was hospitalized after his freeway accident. His chief deputy, Rich Medved, became acting assessor when Noble resigned in June, and Medved announced his candidacy for election.

But Medved was hospitalized with a stroke last month, one day after the Metropolitan King County Council deadlocked on whether to appoint him or Chief Appraiser Lynn Gering as assessor until the November election.

When it became apparent Medved would not recover quickly, the County Council appointed Gering assessor. Gering had supported Medved for elected auditor, and Rosenberger was Medved's campaign manager.

Cathy Allen, Medved's political consultant, said last week he remains in a hospital, where he has opened his eyes but has not spoken since his July 14 stroke.

Rosenberger, who was a commercial and residential appraiser in the assessor's office from 1984 to 2008, was previously a real-estate agent and is now an investor in residential real estate.

If elected, Rosenberger said, he would "counter the misinformation" put out by initiative promoter Tim Eyman, and he would encourage the state to take a fresh look at 103 property-tax exemptions he said were enacted for worthy purposes but have shifted more of the tax burden onto ordinary working-class families.

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