Someone called "Bob Ferguson Democrat" created an "Our Campaigns" page for the 2009 King County Executive Democrat Primary. The page lists potential contenders: Ron Sims (reportedly uninterested in another term, but registered as a candidate with the PDC), Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, County Council Chairman Larry Phillips, State Rep. Sharon Tomiko Santos, former Supreme Court Justice Phil Talmadge and... County Councilman Bob Ferguson.
Not clear whether "Bob Ferguson Democrat" is actually the Councilman. It's been rumored that Ferguson intends to run for Executive. He's a guy to watch, or used to be, anyway. In his two primary races for Council he knocked off machine Democrats Cynthia Sullivan and Carolyn Edmonds by positioning himself as an independent Democrat with crossover appeal to moderates and Republicans. But he may have blown his wad. In his 2003 campaign against Sullivan, he campaigned as a Sound Transit watchdog, but once in office he's done absolutely nothing to impose discipline on the runaway train agency. In 2005 he won support in his close primary from this blog and others partly because of his representations as an "election reform advocate". But as soon as he was re-elected he helped Sims steamroll in the irresponsible partisan scheme to impose mail-only voting. Then he caved to party pressure and reneged on his support for making the county elections director an elected position (had he kept his word, that initiative would have been on the ballot this election and would have been expected to pass). Now that Ferguson has established himself as just another self-serving politician who doesn't keep his word and can be counted on to fall in line with the Democrat machine on the big issues, he's converted his credibility advantage with many Republicans into a deficit. And he's alienated enough Democrats that he needs all the help he can get from outside the party. So it's hard to see how he'll be competitive in future Democrat primaries. On the other hand, he has more personal appeal than most of the local Democrats and he's smart enough that he might figure out how to win some of his erstwhile credibility back, but he has a lot of work to do. In the meantime, he has to hope that Joni Balter has long coattails.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at November 30, 2006 11:41 AM | Email ThisWe as Republicans helped him beat Carolyn Edmonds by a small margin last year. Without our help he wouldn't be in office right now.
We took the position that we would prefer the lessor of two evils and many believed that he was a true moderate.
His actions since being elected have clearly been designed to pander to the left but show himself as the "anti" Ron Sims.
He hasn't gone against his party at all as some republicans had hoped but he has managed to work behind closed doors to alter the direction of some of the issues.
If he decided to run again in 2009 he would probably face a serious challenge from the Democrats in the primary so it makes sense for him to throw his hat in the Executives race.
However people need to really pay attention to what he ISN'T doing before they decide to back him again.
Of course had the 1st District had elected Steven Pyeatt instead none of this would be a problem now. Bob would be gone and the Republicans would have been able to keep Ron Sims in check.
Posted by: Truth Detector on November 30, 2006 01:47 PMThe profile lists Federal Way as his city (he lives in Seattle) and many of the posts say he was against issues that the Council Member voted for.
http://www.ourcampaigns.com/UserDetail.html?UserID=352
Posted by: Truth Detector on November 30, 2006 03:30 PMhttp://www.ourcampaigns.com/UserDetail.html?UserID=352
06/26/2003 - 11/27/2003: scott
11/27/2003 - 01/08/2004: ralphie parker
01/08/2004 - 03/02/2004: Rex Grossman
03/02/2004 - 03/22/2004: QB Eagles
03/22/2004 - 04/14/2004: Sparky McClydesdale IV
04/14/2004 - 04/16/2004: President Scott II
04/16/2004 - 05/05/2004: Craig Benson Republican
05/05/2004 - 05/14/2004: Alexander Hamilton
05/14/2004 - 05/27/2004: Meriwether Lewis
05/27/2004 - 06/10/2004: Ryu
06/10/2004 - 06/18/2004: ralphie parker
06/18/2004 - 06/20/2004: The Frappuccino That Ate Seattle
06/20/2004 - 07/16/2004: ralphie parker
07/16/2004 - 08/06/2004: Frank Sinatra
08/06/2004 - 08/17/2004: Rex Grossman
08/17/2004 - 08/23/2004: Hiroyuki Sakai
08/23/2004 - 08/28/2004: Rex Grossman
08/28/2004 - 08/31/2004: Bullets, not boobs!
08/31/2004 - 09/15/2004: scott
09/15/2004 - 09/26/2004: Voice of Harold
09/26/2004 - 09/27/2004: submit screen name suggestions to this profile
09/27/2004 - 10/03/2004: Strategeric Genius
10/03/2004 - 10/19/2004: ralphie parker
10/19/2004 - 11/01/2004: Crazylegs Hirsch
11/01/2004 - 11/14/2004: Thierry St-Cyr
11/14/2004 - 11/22/2004: Ronnie James Dio
11/22/2004 - 11/24/2004: scott
11/24/2004 - 12/26/2004: ralphie parker
12/26/2004 - 01/16/2005: Bucky Katt
01/16/2005 - 01/23/2005: Triclyde
01/23/2005 - 02/10/2005: GOP Hipster
02/10/2005 - 02/22/2005: Butters
02/22/2005 - 03/05/2005: Dan Evans Republican
03/05/2005 - 03/15/2005: Sonny "Space Needle Rox" Jurgensen
03/15/2005 - 03/21/2005: Scoop me up!
03/21/2005 - 04/01/2005: Rayburn For Clerk
04/01/2005 - 04/02/2005: Eubanks For Coroner
04/02/2005 - 04/07/2005: Reed Rethug
04/07/2005 - 04/18/2005: Reed Tory
04/18/2005 - 04/27/2005: Slade Tory
04/27/2005 - 05/07/2005: Budnick
05/07/2005 - 05/31/2005: ralphie parker
05/31/2005 - 06/12/2005: Art Garfunkel
06/12/2005 - 06/18/2005: Ziggy Stardust
06/18/2005 - 06/21/2005: Jim Croce
06/21/2005 - 07/03/2005: Neil Young
07/03/2005 - 07/07/2005: I'm for Skip!
07/07/2005 - 02/12/2006: Mister Mystery Part Deux
02/12/2006 - 03/04/2006: Conor Oberst
03/04/2006 - 03/10/2006: Dan Evans Republican
03/10/2006 - 03/14/2006: Rob Rosencrantz Democrat
03/14/2006 - 03/23/2006: Thom Yorke
03/23/2006 - 04/01/2006: Niles Crane
04/01/2006 - 05/07/2006: Ralphie Parker
05/07/2006 - 05/16/2006: Conor Oberst
05/16/2006 - 05/18/2006: The Real Oilers
05/18/2006 - 05/24/2006: Crevé!
05/24/2006 - 06/06/2006: Return of Arlo
06/06/2006 - 06/23/2006: The only Gay in the village
06/23/2006 - 07/25/2006: Ralphie Parker
07/25/2006 - 08/05/2006: 25-Cent Insurance Policy
08/05/2006 - 08/20/2006: Brandon Flowers
08/20/2006 - 09/06/2006: John Stossel
09/06/2006 - 10/04/2006: Slick
10/04/2006 - 11/01/2006: Cpl. Walter O'Reilly
11/01/2006 - 11/04/2006: Holden Caulfield
11/04/2006 - 11/08/2006: Влад Ульянов
11/08/2006 - 11/16/2006: Slick
11/16/2006 - 11/25/2006: Wes Uhlman Democrat
At one point he was drawing close to 6 figures as county exec, a similar amount from the monorail board, *and* a check from Sound Transit. Take him out of King County (unless he gets the gov's chair in Olympia, where he could really line his pockets), and he's nothing.
As KCE, he gets everything he wants and holds what amounts to absolute power. Not unlike Huey Long or Papa Daley back in the day. No way does he walk away from "the life". Unless somebody's convinced him to take a run at Patty Murray in 2010.
Posted by: Steve (was steve_dog) on November 30, 2006 07:17 PMWhat's really funny is that some people actually take this stuff seriously.
Posted by: Michelle on November 30, 2006 08:11 PM