(Councilmember Drago sworn in by Superior Court Presiding Judge Bruce Hilyer, official county photo added 5:15 pm)
2:47 PM: As noted toward the end of our earlier report, the King County Council is back in session. It is now moving back to the item regarding appointment of a new councilmember to fill the seat left open when Dow Constantine became County Executive. Larry Phillips has suggested reconsideration of former Seattle City Councilmember Jan Drago – procedural points are being discussed. (A motion to appoint Drago failed three weeks ago in a 4-4 deadlock, as did a motion to appoint State Sen. Joe McDermott, who is supported by the 34th District Democrats, which has a contingent of supporters here as was the case during the 7-hour meeting three weeks ago.) Councilmember Patterson says she’d vote no on Drago; she’s in favor of appointing McDermott. (Drago is not here.) Phillips says he supports McDermott too BUT he doesn’t see another way for the 8th District to go ahead and get representation, aside from the Drago move. Councilmember Larry Gossett says he’ll vote no on Drago – saying he got three more pro-McDermott e-mails just since the council meeting resumed. Gossett says it seems clear McDermott will get voters’ support later this year, so why postpone the inevitable and appoint someone else in the interim? Chair Bob Ferguson says he will vote against reconsideration, too. 1st vote, to reconsider: As he said he would, Phillips goes with the 4 Republican members, and the motion to reconsider passes 5-3. Phillips then defended his move, saying that there is no other way to break the impasse, and saying Drago had an excellent career and will be a good councilmember.
3:12 PM: Councilmember Reagan Dunn says Phillips is doing “a noble thing”; several in the McDermott-support group in the chamber groaned at that. He says, “It may take 12 months but everybody will get what they want here.” He also suggests that maybe it’s better that McDermott not be representing the district while running for the office because campaigning is a “big job.” He says it’s not good for democracy to put somebody in who is “anointed. … But I just want to remind folks, these are all solid Democrats who are here … we followed a process, we worked hard not to hold it up, we haven’t put a Republican name in there … I hate to say it but I think we are being very fair in this process … in the end of the day, democracy wins.” Now there will be a vote to amend the legislation to add Drago’s name. That passes 5-3, the Republicans plus Phillips. And that leads to one more vote.
3:21 PM: Patterson says “it’s a done deal so I’m switching my vote to aye.” McDermott supporters from the 34th District Democrats have gotten up and left the council chambers. Ferguson says he also will vote yes on final passage. And the appointment of Jan Drago passes unanimously. She is not in the chambers but reportedly will be tracked down to be sworn in (not clear at this point if that will happen today).
4:01 PM: We talked briefly with Sen. McDermott afterward. Here’s his short comment on video:
We’ll also be adding video of Councilmember Phillips explaining why he broke ranks. (5:52 pm – here’s the clip):
4:26 PM UPDATE: Drago has been sworn in. Photos at Publicola.
5:15 PM UPDATE: The county shared its official photo, which is now atop this report. With Councilmember Drago, from left, are Councilmembers Dunn, von Reichbauer, and Phillips.
5:47 PM: Congratulatory statement from County Executive Dow Constantine:
“I know that Jan will do a great job as the caretaker in this important office. We have had the opportunity to work together on a number of issues, including the viaduct replacement. I look forward to working with Councilmember Drago to serve the people of the 8th Council District.”
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