President Obama nominates Ron Sims to be Deputy Secretary of HUD

For weeks, we've been hearing rumors that Ron Sims was getting ready to head to Washington, D.C. to take a job with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. To date, we've refrained from speculating ourselves (this blog is not supposed to be a rumor mill) but today Ron Sims held a press conference to make the news official: He's leaving for the other Washington.

UPDATE: We've posted Sims' complete statement from this morning (PDF).

As Deputy Secretary, Ron Sims will be the No. 2 man at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, working for Secretary Shaun Donovan. Sims will be in charge of HUD's day to day operations. The Department's annual budget is about $39 billion and it has 8,500 employees.

According to Sims, Obama formally offered him the job last Thursday. He can't assume his new responsibilities until he is confirmed by the United States Senate. He says he won't resign as King County Executive until that happens.

Sim's confirmation will come as a big relief to Democrats and progressives across King County. Sims had been planning to run for a fourth term as Executive this year, a campaign that some of his own supporters had been dreading.

Obama has done us all a big favor by giving Ron Sims a fresh challenge and a change of scenery. Sims is a big picture guy - being Deputy Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development should be a good fit for him.

At his press conference this morning, Sims made it clear that he wants a caretaker to be appointed as his immediate successor as Executive, as opposed to Councilmember Larry Phillips, who announced last week he's running for Sims' job.

It is unclear exactly how Sims' successor will be chosen. The Washington State Constitution has this to say about filling vacancies:

SECTION 15. VACANCIES IN LEGISLATURE AND IN PARTISAN COUNTY ELECTIVE OFFICE. Such vacancies as may occur in either house of the legislature or in any partisan county elective office shall be filled by appointment by the county legislative authority of the county in which the vacancy occurs: Provided, That the person appointed to fill the vacancy must be from the same legislative district, county, or county commissioner or council district and the same political party as the legislator or partisan county elective officer whose office has been vacated, and shall be one of three persons who shall be nominated by the county central committee of that party, and in case a majority of the members of the county legislative authority do not agree upon the appointment within sixty days after the vacancy occurs, the governor shall within thirty days thereafter, and from the list of nominees provided for herein, appoint a person who shall be from the same legislative district, county, or county commissioner or council district and of the same political party as the legislator or partisan county elective officer whose office has been vacated, and the person so appointed shall hold office until his or her successor is elected at the next general election, and has qualified: Provided, That in case of a vacancy occurring after the general election in a year that the office appears on the ballot and before the start of the next term, the term of the successor who is of the same party as the incumbent may commence once he or she has qualified and shall continue through the term for which he or she was elected: Provided, That in case of a vacancy occurring in the office of joint senator, or joint representative, the vacancy shall be filled from a list of three nominees selected by the state central committee, by appointment by the joint action of the boards of county legislative authorities of the counties composing the joint senatorial or joint representative district, the person appointed to fill the vacancy must be from the same legislative district and of the same political party as the legislator whose office has been vacated, and in case a majority of the members of the county legislative authority do not agree upon the appointment within sixty days after the vacancy occurs, the governor shall within thirty days thereafter, and from the list of nominees provided for herein, appoint a person who shall be from the same legislative district and of the same political party as the legislator whose office has been vacated.

The Constitution is silent on the process of filling a vacancy in an elected office that is nonpartisan. That's covered by general elections law.

Because King County voters approved Charter Amendment 8 last November, the County Council seems to think that the office of King County Executive has ostensibly become nonpartisan (although when exactly the charter amendment goes into effect is unclear - we've asked the county for clarification).

However, Ron Sims was elected as a Democrat. It remains to be seen whether the King County Democrats will insist that they still have the power to choose a list of nominees for the County Council as provided above in Article II, Section 15.

King County Council Chair Dow Constantine has already released a statement saying the Council will take charge of filling the vacancy. Constantine's statement suggests the Council won't be taking any cues from the King County Democrats.

I will sit down immediately with my colleagues to create a non-partisan process to choose an interim replacement to serve the remainder of Executive Sims’ term.

An ideal appointee would possess the necessary policy experience, political skills, and management ability to help guide King County through the next several months. We need an appointed executive who can devote his or her full attention and talents to the unprecedented financial challenges facing King County.

It is the voters of King County — not this Council — who this November will select an Executive to serve them for the next four years.

The King County Democrats could always go to court to assert that they have the right to pick a list of Sims' successors.

UPDATE: I just talked to the Chair of the King County Democrats, Suzie Sheary. She says the party will have no role in choosing Sims' successor; it's all in the County Council's hands. The party has already researched county election law and concluded that Article II, Section 15 doesn't apply.