County Council fails to fill Constantine's post

A deadlocked Metropolitan King County Council failed Monday night to fill the vacant council seat left by Dow Constantine, who was elected county executive last month.

After 5 ½ hours of debate, members could agree on only one thing: to try again when they return Jan. 4 from their year-end recess.

It was their first attempt to fill a council vacancy since voters last year made the council nonpartisan.

But partisanship remained alive and well, with members twice splitting their votes along party lines. A vote to appoint state Sen. Joe McDermott, the Democrats' favorite, died 4-4. Departing Seattle City Councilmember Jan Drago, a Democrat who was backed by Republicans, also lost on a tie vote.

Drago called the meeting "surreal" and "weird, weird, weird."

"It's turned into a Stockholm syndrome where you've been here so long you feel you can't leave — and you fall in love with your kidnappers," West Seattle resident Michael Heavey, a supporter of McDermott, said nearly three hours into the meeting.

Council Chairman Bob Ferguson was more philosophical. "Would I have liked to reach a consensus?" he said. "Yes, but in politics sometimes that doesn't happen. It's rare that we have a true deadlock like this, but it happens."

Republicans blamed Ferguson and his fellow Democrats for the inconclusive outcome.

Late in the meeting, Republican Pete von Reichbauer telephoned former Seattle Mayor Charles Royer — who had not applied for the one-year job — and asked if he would accept the appointment. Von Reichbauer said Royer agreed to serve as a caretaker member who would not seek election to the seat next fall, but Ferguson said it wouldn't be proper to appoint him without a more formal process.

Ferguson didn't rule out the possibility of adding Royer to the list of candidates in the coming weeks.

The two parties disagreed not only on individual candidates but on a policy issue: whether the new council member should be someone who would stand for election next November (as Democrats favored) or a caretaker who vowed not to run (the Republican preference).

McDermott has already filed with the state Public Disclosure Commission as a candidate for County Council next year. Drago said she wouldn't run.

McDermott, Drago and two other applicants for the job — state Reps. Zack Hudgins and Sharon Nelson — were recommended to the council by an advisory committee from a field of 11.

Nelson, a longtime ally of and former council aide to Constantine, said she would be a caretaker member and plans to seek the Senate seat if McDermott leaves for the better-paying County Council. No one made a motion to appoint Nelson.

After the tie votes on McDermott and Drago, Councilmember Reagan Dunn moved to appoint former Burien Mayor Arun Jhaveri, who was not recommended by the advisory committee. "I'm going to go down the list" of caretaker candidates, Dunn said.

Dunn accepted von Reichbauer's amendment to replace Jhaveri with Hudgins if Hudgins agreed he would serve as a caretaker and would resign his House seat.

Hudgins agreed to both conditions. But Dunn withdrew his name, explaining that Hudgins said he would quit the House but would then run for his old House seat while serving on the County Council.

Keith Ervin: 206-423-5409 or kervin@seattletimes.com