KCDCC media coverage
Neil Modie of the Seattle P-I is back from vacation and has an article on the nominating convention in this morning's P-I:
Eric Pyrne of the Seattle Times also had his own article:
They obviously prepared the background information on the primary before attending the convention, as they didn't have much time afterwards to get their stories to their editors. The convention wrapped up at about 10:00 PM.
Pyrne apparently did reach Edmonds before she could manage to escape after the vote:
It shows Edmonds cares more about winning then she does about the Democratic party, which is very disappointing.
We'd welcome both Edmonds and Ferguson to file if there was an open primary system in which they could both compete for the Democratic nomination, but now it appears Edmonds will try to use her incumbent status and name recognition to battle against Ferguson in the "top two" primary election the county is probably going to hold.
She's playing right into Sam Reed's hands. Reed wants these kind of contests, to show that his baby primary is what's legally significant, not the parties' conventions.
The parties are battling Reed in court to throw out the ridiculous top two system. Judge Thomas Zilly will hear arguments in the case on July 13th.
Defying most local Democratic elected officials and party leaders, King County Councilman Bob Ferguson defeated council colleague Carolyn Edmonds last night to become the Democrats' official but legally iffy nominee for re-election.Neil also went into the background of the primary fight in his article. You can read more about our stance on the "top two" primary in our Special Report, here.
At a county Democratic "nominating" convention conducted in defiance of the state's new "top two" primary election law, which faces a court challenge, Ferguson easily outpolled Edmonds 381 votes to 288, among 150 precinct committee officers in the council's newly reconfigured 1st District.
It takes in north-central and Northeast Seattle, Shoreline, Lake Forest Park and parts of Bothell and Woodinville. Precinct officers were allotted different numbers of votes, up to eight each.
Eric Pyrne of the Seattle Times also had his own article:
Reverting to a candidate-selection method they haven't used in more than a century, King County Democratic activists last night chose Metropolitan King County Councilman Bob Ferguson over fellow Councilwoman Carolyn Edmonds to be the party's "nominee" in the new 1st Council District this fall.After Ferguson's victory, I watched both Modie and Pyrne walk up and sit down with Bob and their yellow legal pads to talk about the convention and his thoughts on his victory.
The vote, limited to party-precinct-committee officers from the heavily Democratic district, was 381-288. Incumbents Edmonds of Shoreline and Ferguson of Seattle were pitted against each other after the council was downsized last fall from 13 members to nine and the districts redrawn.
The significance of last night's back-to-the-future "nominating convention" in Bellevue won't be decided until next month, when a federal judge hears the major parties' challenge to the "top two" primary that state voters approved in November.
They obviously prepared the background information on the primary before attending the convention, as they didn't have much time afterwards to get their stories to their editors. The convention wrapped up at about 10:00 PM.
Pyrne apparently did reach Edmonds before she could manage to escape after the vote:
Before last night's convention, neither Ferguson nor Edmonds would say what they would do if they didn't win. After the vote, however, Edmonds said she would almost certainly file — as a Democrat.Maybe he won't criticize Edmonds, but we will. It's the same problem that the Republicans are having with Reagan Dunn and Steve Hammond. Edmonds' "revolt" completely undermines the entire purpose of the convention.
"I'm running," she said. "I've raised more than $100,000, and I've got an endorsement list that is so Democratic."
Ferguson didn't criticize Edmonds for not accepting the convention's outcome.
It shows Edmonds cares more about winning then she does about the Democratic party, which is very disappointing.
We'd welcome both Edmonds and Ferguson to file if there was an open primary system in which they could both compete for the Democratic nomination, but now it appears Edmonds will try to use her incumbent status and name recognition to battle against Ferguson in the "top two" primary election the county is probably going to hold.
She's playing right into Sam Reed's hands. Reed wants these kind of contests, to show that his baby primary is what's legally significant, not the parties' conventions.
The parties are battling Reed in court to throw out the ridiculous top two system. Judge Thomas Zilly will hear arguments in the case on July 13th.
