Photo of Hutchison (l.) courtesy of Friends of Susan Hutchison. Photo of Constantine, by Alan Alabastro for Dow Constantine for King County Executive.

Hutchison, Constantine Wage 'Outsider-Insider' Race

10/27/2009

Next week voters will determine Ron Sims' successor. Sims joined the Department of Housing and Urban Development last spring, so a special election is in order for King County Executive. It's a race with the classic insider versus outsider dimension. Dow Constantine currently chairs the King County Council. He's running against former TV anchor and foundation chair Susan Hutchison.

It's a weeknight at the Belltown club The Crocodile. The event, billed as the Battle for Seattle, is a fundraiser for political candidates including Dow Constantine, who's running for King County Executive.

Finn: "He's my guy."

That's Jason Finn, the drummer for the band The Presidents of the United States. He says Constantine is a familiar figure on the Seattle music scene.

Jason Finn: "I've seen him out a little later than you'd expect to see an officeholder. He tries to make it look like he stays out all night, and I know he sneaks out by 11:00 p.m. but that's cool."

Constantine is well connected in the music business. Part of that came from the help he gave musicians and club owners fighting new regulations in the mid–1990s. Others are friends from his days as a student DJ at the University of Washington. He seems at home as he makes his way through the club.

Constantine: "It's really part of why people live in a metropolitan area like King County is to have access to music, arts, culture, live musical performance. We need to foster that here."

If Constantine has to miss the end of most shows, that's because by day he's in a suit and tie, performing the duties of local politician. One of his longest–runnning battles has been against a proposed gravel mine in his district, on Maury Island.

Just before the primary election, Constantine called a press conference on Seattle's waterfront to celebrate a court ruling against the mine. The judge found that agencies had not looked broadly enough at the mine's impact on Puget Sound.

Constantine was elated.

Constantine: "I think this is a signal that we're not going to have business as usual in either the federal, state, or for that matter, county review of these permits. Because there has been in places a less than rigorous approach to really examining the environmental impacts of projects."

Constantine has opposed the mine since his days in the state legislature in the late 1990s. Senate Majority leader Lisa Brown remembers working with him on that issue.

Brown: "He was very inspiring in terms of the work on Maury Island."

Constantine served two terms in the state House and one in the senate.

Brown says Constantine worked to create the Maury Island Aquatic Reserve. Brown and Constantine also formed the Gates commission, which led to the state's rainy day fund. Brown says the state has little help to offer cash-strapped counties these days. But she says Constantine's legislative experience would make him a strong advocate for King County.

Brown: "It's going to be tough because there's budget pressures at the state as well as the county level. I do feel like Dow understands Olympia because he was a member, so I think he will understand the time frame for coming forward with new ideas."

In 2002 Constantine left the state legislature to join the King County Council. In 2007 the council created a new flood district intended to repair levees throughout the county. Several council members say Constantine threatened to withhold his support unless they voted for a ferry district as well. Constantine dismissed those reports. But in a recent debate, his opponent Susan Hutchison said the paper trail suggests otherwise.

Hutchison: "And then today through public records disclosure we found that indeed an email has been released where you write, 'I am fully prepared to vote against the flood district.' Yet this summer you said that you've always been supportive of the flood district. I'd like to hear your explanation of how you could have said one thing when in fact the documentation shows the exact opposite."

Constantine says what matters is that he ultimately voted for the flood district.

Constantine: "You took one line out of an email between me and one of my staff people as we were having hard negotiations over how big the flood levy would be and how the money would be distributed. We arrived at that solution and I was proud to be one of the eight council members who voted in favor of creating the flood control district."

Enrique Cerna: "Alright, time, thank you very much."

Hutchison has spent most of her career as an anchor at KIRO TV. She and the station parted ways in 2003, although she sued them for discrimination.

Meanwhile, Hutchison says she'd met Microsoft millionaire Charles Simonyi while fundraising for Children's Hospital. Hutchison says two became friends.

Hutchison: "I said to him, why don't you have a foundation? And he said, well, someday, someday. And then back in 2003 he contacted me and said I'd like to start my foundation now and would you start it and would you run it."

So Hutchison became the executive director of the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences, which gives millions of dollars to organizations like the Metropolitan Opera and the Seattle Public Library. Her work there led her to be appointed chair of the Seattle Symphony Board in 2006. Music director Gerard Schwartz says through Hutchison's leadership the troubled symphony was able to balance its budget and hire new staff.

Schwartz: "She was tough as needed. I wouldn't call her a tough person. I would call her a very sensitive individual but who's willing to make the hard decisions to make sure the institution runs well."

Schwartz says comparing a symphony to a county presents an interesting question.

Schwartz: "Since I don't really know what it takes to run a county. I do know what it takes to run a symphony orchestra and I couldn't have hoped for a better chair than she was, she was remarkable."

Some of the Simonyi fund's work has been more controversial, such as giving thousands of dollars to the Washington Policy Center, a conservative think tank.

At a recent candidate forum at the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, the candidates were asked about Initiative 1033, which they both oppose. The measure would put a cap on property taxes. Constantine told the crowd Hutchison endorsed the Washington Policy Center's manual, which contains even more drastic tax cut proposals.

Constantine: "She gave a ringing endorsement to their book that proposed not just this initiative version but a constitutional version of this same law that she now claims goes too far."

At this point the candidates actually tussled over the microphone as Constantine tried to hand it back to the host. Hutchison got it.

Hutchinson: "No, this is not fair. This is an absolute falsehood. I never endorsed anything."

Hutchison says the fact that Constantine would criticize her for liking that book shows he's overly narrow.

Hutchison: "My response to him is that he comes from such an insular, dogmatic political point of view that he is not open to new ideas to solve problems, and I think that's one reason the county's in the shape that it's in."

Meanwhile Constantine accuses Hutchison of being equally narrow in her orientation, as he did during a recent debate.

Constantine: "I believe that my opponent's contributions to George Bush, to the very conservative and anti–choice Mike Huckabee, to the BIAW's PAC which spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking environmental policy and the candidates who support environmental policy say a lot about who she is and what she believes in."

Constantine touts the fact that he's a Democrat at every opportunity. Hutchison declines to take a party label, but has many Republican ties. Before running for executive, she assisted in the efforts to make the office nonpartisan. One of her key Democratic endorsements has come from state auditor Brian Sonntag. He says they became friends several years ago.

Sonntag: "She and her husband have been over here to our house for dinner before and attended church with us… Just,you know, a nice person, smart lady. And I'm always encouraged when new folks want to get involved in public service."

Sonntag says people coming from the private sector can make great elected officials. He holds up former governor Booth Gardner as an example. Like Hutchison, Gardner had little political experience when he became Piece county executive.

Whoever wins the election will have a quick turnaround. Because this is a special election, the winner of the county executive's race will take office November 24. Only one of the candidates can look forward to a relaxing Thanksgiving.

I'm Amy Radil, KUOW News.

© Copyright 2009, KUOW