State Rep. Hunter of Medina vies for Sims' job

State Rep. Ross Hunter's plunge into the race for King County executive sets the stage for the most wide-open, competitive election for the office in years.

Hunter, D-Medina, announced Wednesday he would seek the position Ron Sims has held since 1996.

Sims is expected to resign within days to become deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee endorsed his nomination Tuesday, and confirmation is now before the full Senate.

Hunter's widely anticipated announcement widens the field in the officially nonpartisan county executive election to four prominent Democrats and a Republican.

Hunter, 47, will face Metropolitan King County councilmembers Dow Constantine and Larry Phillips, former KIRO-TV news anchor Susan Hutchison and state Sen. Fred Jarrett, D-Mercer Island, in the August primary. The top two move on to the November election.

Constantine and Phillips were elected as Democrats before voters last fall made executive and council offices nonpartisan. Hutchison once considered running for the Republican nomination to the U.S. Senate and has contributed to Republican campaigns. Jarrett left the Republican Party two years ago.

Alan Lobdell, a former consultant and project manager who, like Hutchison, has never held public office, is also running for executive.

Hunter, a former Microsoft manager, kicked off his campaign by emphasizing his 17 years of management experience there.

"Make no mistake, this is a management job," he said in a telephone interview. "The county is trying to hire an executive. We call it an executive, not a head council member, because you're managing thousands of people."

He said he would work to restrain county spending, calling the $1.8 billion Brightwater sewage treatment plant "the world's largest mitigation project, with an attached sewage-treatment facility."

Before asking citizens to approve a sales-tax increase to balance next year's budget, Hunter said the county should first prod cities to annex expensive-to-serve residential areas and "should get a handle on their employee cost. ... What do all those people who make $100,000 a year do?"

Political observers said the election will test whether power is moving from Seattle — where Constantine, Hutchison and Phillips live — to the suburbs.

Former King County Councilmember and former state Republican Party Chairman Chris Vance said Hunter and Jarrett are "pro-business Democrats" who have helped that party capture most Eastside legislative seats.

Now the Eastside candidates will have to draw distinctions between themselves, Vance said: "Each of them is going to have the exact same message: 'I'm not a conservative like Susan Hutchison but I'm not a county politician either, I can bring real change to the courthouse.' They both have the exact same message. How do they find oxygen in that environment?"

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

The information in this article, originally published April 30, 2009, was corrected. Ross Hunter, candidate for King County executive, is a state representative from Medina. A story on April 30 incorrectly identified him as a senator.