As we head into the final month of summer, the time has come for us to decide who we like the most among the field of eight candidates hoping to become our next county executive.
Four elected Democrats — Larry Phillips, Dow Constantine, Fred Jarrett, and Ross Hunter — want the job, along with Republican and former KIRO anchor Susan Hutchison.
Rounding out the field are perennial office seekers Stan Lippman, Goodspaceguy, and Alan Lobdell.
Ballots were mailed at the end of July; they must be postmarked or dropped off by Tuesday, Aug. 18 to count in this year’s primary. So much political coverage these days focuses on the “horse race” (who’s ahead, who’s not) and personality that casting an informed vote can be difficult.
For the undecided, taking a little bit of time to learn about the candidates’ vision and positions on the issues can be eye opening.
For example, consider the topic of fiscal responsibility.
Jarrett, Hunter, and Hutchison have taken pains to remind voters they do not work in King County government or serve on the council, as Phillips and Constantine do. The trio points out that King County has long struggled to get costs under control and disclose how it actually spends money. (A troubled merge of antiquated computer systems dating back to the decision to combine King County and Metro has obscured transparency).
The county, they charge, has repeatedly found itself short of funds needed to provide quality public services to its residents, a problem the council has seemed powerless to fix.
Constantine and Phillips answer that the state is partly at fault for the county’s financial instability. The state’s problems are actually bigger than the county’s, and they start with our regressive tax system, which is a total mess.
The Legislature has repeatedly failed to take any steps to solve this problem. For instance, in November 2007, legislators had an opportunity to fix property taxes after the Supreme Court invalidated Tim Eyman’s Initiative 747. But instead, legislators (including Ross Hunter and Fred Jarrett) voted to reinstate Eyman’s draconian, artificial limits. Hunter’s vote was all the more inexcusable because he serves as the chair of the House Finance Committee. Where was his leadership and uncommon sense when we needed it?
Hutchison, for her part, has not held elected office before and has suggested that we can simultaneously improve public services while cutting taxes. This view absurdly posits that we can somehow get to four without actually adding two plus two together. In reality, there’s no free lunch. It costs money to do things, and Hutchison has not explained how we would pay for the services she believes in while deliberately eroding our common wealth.
What about transit? Larry Phillips and Dow Constantine are strong supporters of building light rail. They both sit on the Sound Transit Board and were early advocates for going back to the voters last year after the failure of the big Roads & Transit measure in 2007, which voters overwhelmingly rejected.
Hunter and Jarrett have not been so supportive; they both voted in favor of the legislation that forcibly coupled Sound Transit and RTID together to produce “Roads & Transit”.
Hutchison views Sound Transit and its mission somewhat scornfully. She has made it clear she was against Proposition 1 last year, but claims to be for a multimodal transportation system that offers choices.
The five generally agree that the Metro 40-40-20 funding formula is outdated and needs replacing, that raising fares to keep buses operating at current service levels outweighs the drawbacks, and that at least some money from the ferry district should be transferred to Metro to make up for a shortfall in revenue.
It would be difficult, if not impossible, to touch on all of the major challenges that confront King County today in one column.
Fortunately, with the advent of the Internet, doing research from home has never been easier. Most of the candidates have released a document which explains in detail what their values are and which policy directions they support.
Taking a little time to do a bit of civic homework makes it much easier to judge the candidates for executive on the strength of their ideas. And that’s what counts.
Andrew Villeneuve is the founder and executive director of the Northwest Progressive Institute, a Redmond-based grassroots organization. Villeneuve can be reached at andrew@nwprogressive.org.
