Maneuvering and lack of trust as King County seeks a new executive

When the Metropolitan King County Council voted to approve Shannon Braddock as the county’s first new executive in 15 years, the vote was unanimous. No argument, no discussion.

As the County Council seeks to choose an executive for the next six months, ahead of the election in November, the process is proving more complicated. And while Braddock remains the odds-on favorite to keep the job, the decision has opened rifts of mistrust and accusations of political maneuvering among the usually genteel council.

Running like a live wire underneath the debate is the fact that two council members — Claudia Balducci and Girmay Zahilay — are competing against each other for the county executive position currently held by Braddock.

Braddock became county executive when Dow Constantine resigned, near the end of his fourth term in office, to become CEO of Sound Transit. The County Council quickly approved Braddock, who had been Constantine’s deputy, as acting county executive.

But there are now two dueling approaches for filling the position until voters make a choice in the fall.

Some on the council want to give the job to Braddock and be done with it. Others want to establish a committee, which would work over the next few weeks to gather information on possible candidates and then make a recommendation to the council.

“Nobody trusts anybody right now,” said Councilmember Reagan Dunn, who has sponsored legislation to create the committee to study potential executives. “There’s a lot of political back and forth here.”

In total, seven of the nine members of the County Council are up for election this year.

Dunn’s committee would be composed of the mayor of Seattle (or his appointee), the mayor of an Eastside city and a South King County city. He wants them to get answers from potential executives on issues like the county’s budget deficit, new tax proposals and public safety issues.

“This feels a little too much like a coronation,” Dunn said of Braddock’s ascension. “There should be more deliberative process for one of the state’s highest elected offices.”

Balducci has sponsored legislation to make Braddock the executive, through November.

“With less than six months on this assignment, we should stick with the person who’s very qualified and willing to do the job,” she said. If others “sincerely” want a more extensive selection process, Balducci said, the County Council should have already put out notice that they were soliciting candidates.

The County Council already has a letter from 10 Eastside and South King County mayors urging them to appoint Braddock.

Balducci said there is a risk of politicizing the process and she raised doubts about the motives of her colleague and opponent, Zahilay.

“One of the reasons I introduced the motion to appoint Shannon was just to make it very, very clear that as a candidate for this office I am not angling for an early appointment,” she said.

Of Zahilay, she said, “I would like to hear him say that he would put the stable functioning of the county ahead of his political ambitions as I am saying that I will do.”

Both Dunn’s and Balducci’s proposals are expected to be considered by the full County Council next Tuesday.

Zahilay, who chairs the council, is noncommittal.

“My job as council chair is to hear everybody out and make sure we have properly given everybody the chance to make their case,” he said.

Braddock, he said, is the best person for the job and his “best guess” is she will ultimately be appointed.

If other council members sought to appoint Zahilay as executive through November, is that something he would do?

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I don’t anticipate that that will happen.”

“I want us to have a stable government,” he said. “And I want to be able to support the leadership that is already there at this time.”

Balducci, Zahilay and County Assessor John Wilson all announced campaigns for county executive last fall. Potential candidates have until May 9 to file for office.