Update: West Seattle’s Dow Constantine WILL run for Executive

(added 11:05 pm, Dow Constantine’s video announcement of his candidacy)
We reported here last Thursday that County Council Chair Dow Constantine had told the 34th District Democrats the night before, he would make a “quick decision” on whether to run for County Executive, now that Ron Sims is leaving for D.C. After the meeting, he told WSB that “quick” meant “within a week to 10 days.” Apparently even quicker – seattlepi.com has just posted an item saying Constantine will announce tomorrow that he’s running. We have a message out to him seeking confirmation. ADDED 10:41 PM: Here’s the seattletimes.com story. ADDED 10:50 PM: And we’ve just received direct confirmation from the candidate himself, “It’s true.” (15 minutes later, his campaign sent the video link we’ve added above. Quote near the 2-minute clip’s start: “We need to hit the reset button on county government.”)

19 Replies to "Update: West Seattle's Dow Constantine WILL run for Executive"

  • WS local February 15, 2009 (9:47 pm)

    Go Dow!
    Christy

  • p February 15, 2009 (11:02 pm)

    Super excited for Dow!

  • Tyler February 16, 2009 (5:14 am)

    So we now have to candidates with very clear differences: Larry Phillips and Dow Constantine, the ultimate old-timer versus the up-and-comer.

    Phillips has been on the Council since 1992…long enough to remember a Councilmember Sims. He chaired the Council for an unprecedented three years, and has been around to be involved in every major stumble and foible of the past 17 years.

    Dow joined the Council in this century, and has really stood out on issues like land use (a principled proponent of common sense land management) and regional transit. But one of the most striking things that I’ve noticed is his willingness to wade into the details on less glamorous issues, like Metro bus fares. All in all, a solid choice.

    And no, I don’t work for Dow.

  • Ken February 16, 2009 (5:24 am)

    I don’t work for Dow either…

    But I will.

    I will alter the KCC elections signs I have stashed from his last 5 elections into KCE signs and put them out until new signs are designed.

  • rbj February 16, 2009 (8:17 am)

    I’m not so sure about this guy…

  • rockyraccoon February 16, 2009 (10:26 am)

    Good point, rbj.

  • LiferinTheWest February 16, 2009 (10:38 am)

    Like rjb and rockyraccoon, I wouldn’t be too quick to jump on the bandwagon. Spend five minutes with him one on one. Then decide.

  • Pete February 16, 2009 (11:03 am)

    After you spend five minutes with Dow you will definitely cast your vote for Dow and work to make sure that your neighbors do as well.

  • Julie February 16, 2009 (11:07 am)

    I think he’s an excellent choice–and we should know enough about him by now: he’s been representing us in one capacity or another long enough for anyone who pays attention to have a pretty clear sense of who he is and what he’s about.

  • WSB February 16, 2009 (11:16 am)

    We hope to be conducting a followup interview in the not-too-distant future so if you have any specific questions/issues you’re curious about, please e-mail us editor@westseattleblog.com or post ’em here! – TR

  • Dave February 16, 2009 (11:36 am)

    Hey, do those signs have the hammer and cycle plastered to them? I think that would be a great marketing addition to his campaign.

  • P February 16, 2009 (11:40 am)

    I have personally spent more than 5 minutes with Dow and I fully support him. I must say to all, just remember, not 1 canidate can make everyone happy, nor can they repair the entire system. That’s just my personal opinion. Just remember to vote when election day comes.

  • rockyraccoon February 16, 2009 (12:41 pm)

    Uhhh, the only point I was making was that rbj’s comment lacked any substance. It’s called sarcasm. I’m sure Dow’s a great guy. And that’s NOT sarcasm.

  • rbj February 16, 2009 (1:35 pm)

    Cheap shot, rockyraccoon. Try aiming somewhere with a little more “substance” next time, you might not look like such a cheap hypocrite.

  • Sarah February 16, 2009 (4:52 pm)

    rbj, rocky raccoon was not making a “cheap shot”; rather, he was pointing out that your comment was completely lacking in substance. Stating “I’m not so sure about this guy…” with no explanation, context, supporting comments, etc., makes one sound shallow and ill-informed. If you were to share why you are “not so sure” about Dow, you may find more support.

  • Ken February 16, 2009 (6:50 pm)

    A wordpress mod coming soon.

    http://stupidfilter.org/main/index.php?n=Main.News

  • rbj February 17, 2009 (12:37 am)

    Uh…yeah Sarah. I need to explain why “I’m not so sure about this guy” to get more support as to why “I’m not so sure about this guy”. The mere phrase “I’m not so sure” lends to the idea that I don’t have a lot of information about this guy and therefore am not so sure – meaning I am neither supportive of him nor against him. That’s some pretty heavy thinking isn’t it Sarah?

    Think it through. Not being able to see that, i.e read what it says (extremely simple) makes you extremely shallow but next time I’ll draw you a map.

    You want more? Ask. Don’t attack. That just makes you mean and if it was a comment so completely lacking in substance then why bother responding to it at all? Probably because you desire to make some self-righteous reply to make you feel better about your elitist and condescending self.

    If you don’t like shallow comments then don’t point out the ones you feel are shallow that distract from the main thread – Dow Constantine running for a new office.

    Feel better?

    And now that I have done some independent research on the guy I have come to the conclusion that we could do far worse than him, but can also do better.

  • rockyraccoon February 17, 2009 (2:08 am)

    Yeah, Sarah, I guess he told us. Or something. It probably makes sense to him. If we were on his medication it would all become clear. Or not.

  • WSB February 17, 2009 (2:27 am)

    This is way out of our rule zone. Talk about the opinions. Not about the people.

Sorry, comment time is over.