LIVE from Seattle: Who will succeed Jessyn Farrell? Democratic PCOs selecting nominees

Good morn­ing from Lake City. I’m here at the Seat­tle Men­non­ite Church, where the Demo­c­ra­t­ic precinct com­mit­tee offi­cers of the 46th Leg­isla­tive Dis­trict are gath­ered to draw up a list of can­di­dates to suc­ceed Jessyn Far­rell, who recent­ly resigned from the state House to run for May­or of Seattle.

Because Jessyn has quit the leg­is­la­ture to focus on her may­oral can­di­da­cy, a vacan­cy now exists for state rep­re­sen­ta­tive in the 46th.

The Wash­ing­ton State Con­sti­tu­tion stip­u­lates that the process for fill­ing a Demo­c­ra­t­ic leg­isla­tive vacan­cy begins with the nam­ing of three can­di­dates from the same dis­trict and of the same par­ty by the Wash­ing­ton State Demo­c­ra­t­ic Cen­tral Com­mit­tee (WSDCC) or the rel­e­vant coun­ty Demo­c­ra­t­ic cen­tral committee.

The WSDCC spec­i­fies in its bylaws that when a vacan­cy is declared, the coun­ty or state par­ty chair shall call a spe­cial nom­i­nat­ing cau­cus of precinct com­mit­tee offi­cers from that dis­trict for the pur­pose of draw­ing up a list of three names to rec­om­mend to the King Coun­ty Coun­cil for its consideration.

That’s what’s hap­pen­ing today. I will be updat­ing this post at peri­od­ic inter­vals to sum­ma­rize the pro­ceed­ings that are tak­ing place.

10:56 AM: Ini­tial cre­den­tial count shows 84 of 122 PCO’s present. The names of eight can­di­dates have been placed into nom­i­na­tion, sev­en of whom are present.

• Nigel Her­big
• Melis­sa Taylor
• Javier Valdez
• Lau­rie Lippold
• Jill Geary
• Lelach Reva
• Olivi­er Ben­Haim (not present)
• Bet­sy Walker

11:02 AM: The body is at ease until 12:00 noon and the can­di­date’s forum is underway.

All can­di­dates except Javier Valdez have pledged to sup­port the PCO’s top choice when the nom­i­nees go before the King Coun­ty Coun­cil for appoint­ment. Valdez is also the only can­di­date that stat­ed (by ‘YES’ card in a light­ning round) that he would run in 2018 if not appointed.

11:48 AM: After a 45-minute ques­tion and answer forum, in which there was much con­sen­sus, the can­di­dates are now min­gling with PCOs on the floor gar­ner­ing sup­port for the upcom­ing vote.

12:00 PM: King Coun­ty Democ­rats Chair Bai­ley Sto­ber has called the meet­ing back to order, draw­ing names at ran­dom from a box for can­di­dates or sur­ro­gates to make final statements.

In a calm, per­son­al speech, Lelah Reva tells the audi­ence she has a unique con­tent exper­tise among all leg­is­la­tors in Olympia. There are cur­rent­ly no physi­cians serv­ing in the leg­is­la­ture “where cru­cial health­care deci­sions are being made”.

For­mer 46th LD chair intro­duces Bet­sy Walk­er, tout­ing her dri­ve to do the work on the streets, includ­ing areas out­side of Seat­tle. Can­di­date Walk­er then lists her top pol­i­cy pri­or­i­ties includ­ing intro­duc­ing a car­bon tax and fam­i­ly sick leave.

Nigel Her­big, a Ken­more City Coun­cilmem­ber and for­mer Jessyn Far­rell Leg­isla­tive Assis­tant touts his sup­port from Far­rell and his accom­plish­ments at the local lev­el, declar­ing him­self the only can­di­date with a track record in elect­ed office and expe­ri­ence at the legislature.

A proxy is now speak­ing on behalf of Rab­bi Olivi­er Ben­Haim, who could not be present today.

Melis­sa Tay­lor, a soft­ware engi­neer and exec­u­tive and cit­i­zen lob­by­ist in Olympia. Calls her­self a cre­ative, resource­ful inno­va­tor. She cites her build­ing of a mul­ti-mil­lion dol­lar busi­ness for Dell in Asia, time as a cit­i­zen lob­by­ist in Olympia, and mother.

Jill Geary, a cur­rent Seat­tle School Board Direc­tor cites her strong edu­ca­tion back­ground at a time when edu­ca­tion pol­i­cy is of cen­tral focus at the leg­is­la­ture. Geary’s role on the Seat­tle School Board has also giv­en her expe­ri­ence work­ing on leg­is­la­tion in Olympia.

Javier Valdez is intro­duced by for­mer Con­gress­man Jim McDer­mott who sells the can­di­date as “not a showhorse- a work­horse.” Valdez tells his sto­ry as the son of farm work­ers from Cen­tral Wash­ing­ton and a prod­uct of pub­lic edu­ca­tion who has been ded­i­cat­ed to the 46th LD Democ­rats for years.

Lau­rie Lip­pold, intro­duces her­self as a long-time cit­i­zen activist involved with count­less pieces of leg­is­la­tion from incep­tion to imple­men­ta­tion. she has the rela­tion­ships and knows how to build bridges and consensus.

12:33 PM: The final cre­den­tial count shows 90 of 122 PCO’s present. Vot­ing by bal­lot begins now.

12:45 PM: The first vote count:

Javier Valdez — 35

Nigel Her­big — 20

Melis­sa Tay­lor — 15

Lau­rie Lip­pold — 11

Bet­sy Walk­er — 6

Jill Geary — 1

Lelach Reva — 1

Olivi­er Ben­Haim — 1

12:49 PM: The sec­ond round of vot­ing is now underway.

Javier Valdez is the top choice of the 46th LD PCO’s. The results of the run-off between the top two can­di­dates are as follows:

Javier Valdez — 51

Nigel Her­big — 38

12:56 PM: Vot­ing is now under­way to deter­mine the sec­ond and third ranked can­di­dates to send to the King Coun­ty Coun­cil for appointment.

1:03 PM: 86 bal­lots cast and no can­di­date received 50%+1, so we are now enter­ing anoth­er round of vot­ing between top two remain­ing can­di­dates, Nigel Her­big and Melis­sa Taylor.

1:08 PM: Melis­sa Tay­lor is the sec­ond ranked choice.

Melis­sa Tay­lor — 43

Nigel Her­big — 40 votes

Bal­lot­ing is now under­way for the 3rd and final nom­i­nee to send before the King Coun­ty Council.

1:16 PM: The third and final can­di­date to go before the King Coun­ty Coun­cil for appoint­ment will be Nigel Her­big, who received 45 of the 79 votes in the final round.

1:20 PM: The meet­ing is now adjourned. The final nom­i­nees to go before the King Coun­ty Coun­cil for appoint­ment to the state house are ranked as follows:

#1: Javier Valdez

#2: Melis­sa Taylor

#3: Nigel Herbig

Tay­lor and Her­big have pre­vi­ous­ly stat­ed they would sup­port the top choice of the PCO’s, so Valdez will like­ly face no oppo­si­tion when the nom­i­nees go before the council.

NPI con­grat­u­lates all three well-qual­i­fied can­di­dates on their nominations.