The process to appoint a new King County Council Member to Dow Constantine’s open seat is over. Details are here. The eight King County Council Members have been equally split along party lines (but yes, technically their positions are non-partisan). The four Democrats had been supporting openly gay State Senator Joe McDermott and the four Republicans were supporting former Seattle City Council Member Jan Drago (who incidentally is a Democrat and has been very supportive of gay issues while serving the City of Seattle).
Democrat Larry Phillips joined Republicans in supporting Drago (who will not run for re-election) after it appeared that none of the Republicans would budge in supporting McDermott (who will be running for the position in a year). Rather than letting the position remain open and leaving the county council split, Phillips passed his support towards Drago. While Drago has a track record of being supportive of the gays one must ask where her allegiance lies after unanimous support from the council’s GOP members is responsible for her appointment.
Joe McDermott will be one of the top candidates for the position when the seat is open this November and the likely choice of voters in his district.
