By a 3-2 margin Wednesday the Snohomish County Council voted to appoint Chief Deputy Prosecutor, Mark Roe to be Interim County Prosecutor due to the departure of County Prosecutor Janis Ellis who announced earlier this year that she would be leaving the prosecutor's office to take a job with the Tulalip Tribe. The highly anticipated vote pitted Roe, a 22 year veteran of the Snohomish County Prosecutor's office against City of Seattle attorney and Snohomish County District 1 Fire Commisioner, Jim Kenny. Following state law, the Snohomish County Democrats voted for a slate of three names to be submitted to the council for consideration. Kenny received the majority of those votes. Voting for Mr. Roe were John Koster (R-Dist.1), Brian Sullivan (D-Dist.2), and Dave Somers (D-Dist.5). Voting for Mr. Kenny were Dave Gossett (D-Dist.4) and Council Chair, Mike Cooper (D-Dist.3) Long-time party activist and recently elected Fire Commisioner, Millie Judge was the third person submitted for consideration but had made it clear that she was not seeking the appointment.
As I have written previously on this matter, both Kenny and Roe had already filed with the PDC as candidates for the position which was already scheduled to appear on the 2010 ballot and the appointed process had actually added additional urgency to their respective campaigns. Kenny, having received the majority of a 90-65 vote of the Democratic PCOs in November had hoped that the council would honor the tradition of supporting the party's top pick for such appointments as they had as recently as 2007 when two legislative district seats opened in Olympia due to the departure of Brian Sullivan to the county council and John Lovick to be County Sheriff. Going into the vote Cooper, Sullivan, and Koster had each made their preference known with Gossett and Somers remaining publicly undecided.
Unrest in the Party
An exchange between Cooper and Somers just prior to the final vote being taken may have opened a bit of a wound between Somers and many of the rank and file in the party. At the heart of the exchange was an explanation by Cooper of the process followed by the PCOs in the selection process. While he was at the time making a point about certain members of the public and the media mis-representing the role of the PCOs in the process, Somers apparently took the comment to be directed at him. Somers then shot back that he had attended the election and was concerned about the lack of content being presented to the PCOs prior to their vote. This has led some to believe that Somers was discounting the effort put in by most of the PCOs in attending previous forums and "meet-n-greet" sessions held by both candidates prior to the day of the election, as well as the amount of reading and one on one sessions many had already conducted with the candidates before casting their votes. Speaking with County Chair, Bill Phillips after the vote, he said he was "bitterly disappointed" by the outcome and "surprised that Dave [Somers] seemed to downplay the PCOs' deliberative role in the process."
Jim Kenny had a similar response when I spoke with him a bit later. Kenny also expressed his disappointment at the vote and said the he too was taken aback a bit by Somers' seeming disregard for the PCO selection process. he went on to add that, while he would have been honored to have received the appointment, he had already planned to run a campaign for the position next year and was "still on a course to win over the votes of the citizens of Snohomish County".
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Prosecutor candidate, Jim Kenny - disappointed by council vote
(Photo: JimKenny.org)
For his part, Somers (who has already begun taking some flack via Facebook for his vote) has offered a preliminary explanation via a quick email exchange with me shortly after the vote; with the promise of a more detailed response over the next couple of days.
I am absolutely comfortable with my decision and am writing up a more detailed explanation to share with everyone. Hope to get it out tomorrow or at latest Friday. I will share by email and Facebook when I get it together.
Mark Roe is a good Democrat. He is also highly accomplished and has an incredible network of support in the county. I received an amazing amount of emails, calls, and personal visits on his behalf. You do not throw away the experience, accomplishments, and public support without a good reason and Jim just did not make the case that the department needed new leadership and change that might last only 12 months...
...It was not easy for me to say no to Jim. He is a good man and has great potential and has helped me, but I did what I truly believe is clearly the best for Snohomish County and its citizens.
Thank you for all your past support. I think you know I did not discount the PCO vote, nor did I contradict it without strong reasons."
Dave Somers - in the doghouse with county Dems?
Photo - Snohomish County Gov.
With the appointment process behind them, the next step for both Roe and Kenny will be a nominating convention sometime most likely in May which (thanks to the state's "Top 2 Primary") will be convened to determine who will carry the official party designation after their name going in to the primary and, potentially the general election for this position next November. Once again the county's PCOs will be called into service to make this decision.
In the short term, the County Democrats will be holding the regularly scheduled quarterly meeting this coming Saturday at the labor temple in Everett. Phillips has told me that he has extended an invitation to the new Interim County Prosecutor to address the party as well as the usual call to any and all elected Democrats in the county. I will be curious to see if Dave Somers comes in some form of disguise.
Peace,
Chad Shue
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