Dow Constantine

by Mark Neuman

Metropolitan King County Council member Dow Constantine has made it official.

“I’m running for King County Executive,” he said Monday (Feb. 16th) in an interview with The B-Town Blog.

“It’s a real big step, and I’m hitting the ground running.”

Dow has been on the Council since 2002. Just five weeks ago, he was unanimously elected by his colleagues as Council Chair.

Assuming current Executive Ron Sims’ nomination to serve in the Obama administration is confirmed by the US Senate, the council will select a replacement “quickly, soon after a vacancy in the office becomes official,” Dow said.

“The Senate vote is not expected to occur before the first week of March,” Dow said.

Dow favors selecting an interim executive “without political ambitions, but who has demonstrated managerial, budgetary and political skill.”

“We will strive to make the selection process open and transparent,” he said.

No matter who is selected to replace Sims on an interim basis, “the most important issue ahead of us on the council is the passage this fall of the toughest budget ever,” Dow said. “All of us on the council are keenly aware of the impact the current economic realities will no doubt have on the next budget.”

Dow, who in the State House and Senate represented Burien and surrounding areas before joining the council, is proud of Burien’s recent growth and development.

“It is a joy to watch Burien grow as a city,” Dow said. “I am proud to have included a provision for funding the Burien Transit Center on the recent Sound Transit ballot measure,” which passed last fall.

The Burien “Town Center and Transit Center are great models for other cities in the region to follow,” he said. “White Center and Burien are positioned as priorities for future light rail expansion.”

Dow promises more time for an in-depth interview with The B-Town Blog as the campaign progresses.

The only other announced candidate in the race for Executive is fellow Council member Larry Phillips.

For more information, here’s Dow’s campaign website: www.dowconstantine.org.

You can also view his video announcement on YouTube here.

Since 2007, The B-Town Blog is Burien’s multiple award-winning hyperlocal news/events website dedicated to independent journalism.