(Still photos in this report are courtesy King County)
A photographer working for King County took that photo of West Seattleites Dow Constantine and longtime partner Shirley Carlson in the front row at Daniels Recital Hall downtown, moments before he went to the stage to be sworn in as King County Executive. From the balcony overhead, we caught the subsequent aerial view:

We added a long excerpt of his speech to our original as-it-happened report on this afternoon’s event. You can also read the full speech text here. The county’s photos also include parental congratulations:

And here’s a cutaway of the camera-laden crowd:

Afterward, the Total Experience Gospel Choir (which rehearses at West Seattle’s Kenyon Hall) sang:

And then, with the 5 pm news hour approaching, it was time for the new County Executive to meet the media, and talk more about his immediate priorities:

His move to the County Executive’s office leaves a vacancy on the King County Council for District 8, which includes West Seattle. We’ve reported before on the process planned to find his successor to cover the next year, till what was his term expires in fall 2010. This afternoon – just moments before he was sworn-in – the county announced the list of 11 applicants for the immediate appointment (the following is an excerpt from the announcement, with the descriptions exactly as the county provided them):

Jan Drago—A member of the Seattle City Council who is leaving the Council this year
· Helen Howell—Former Director of the state Department of Financial Institutions, served as Deputy Chief of Staff under Governor Locke
· Zack Hudgins—State Representative from the 11th District
· Jake Jacobovitch—Engineer in the Road Services Division of the King County Department of Transportation
· Arun Jhaveri—Former Regional Technology Manager with the Federal Energy Management Program and former Mayor of Burien
· Lucy Krakowiak—Burien City Council Member and a member of the King County Library Board of Trustees
· Joe McDermott—State Senator from the 34th District
· Shawn McEvoy—Mayor of Normandy Park
· Sharon Nelson—State Representative from the 34th District,
· Vlad Oustimovitch—A partner at VoKa Incorporated, and a former Development Program Manager for the Seattle Housing Authority
· Kathleen Quong-Vermeire, Commissioner, Highline Water District, former Mayor of Normandy Park

Only two West Seattleites on that list — Sen. McDermott, whom the 34th District Democrats support (as reported here) as Constantine’s successor, and Oustimovitch, who also currently serves on the group of “stakeholders” helping plan the South Portal end of the Viaduct/Tunnel project. Rep. Nelson has been a longtime Constantine staffer; she emceed this afternoon’s event:

According to the county’s news release about the applicants, they both say they would run for the job after the appointed year expires; the advisory committee that will review them is supposed to recommend at least one finalist who would run, and one who would not. The County Council, now chaired by Councilmember Bob Ferguson, will interview the finalists starting Dec. 7; the advisory committee plans interviews on Dec. 3. In the meantime, another sign of the changing of the guard: Some new features on the county website, including, of course, the County Executive section.