Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 3, March 2003

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POLITICALLY SPEAKING:

What about Bob? Ferguson challenges incumbent Sullivan

By JAMES BUSH

Twenty years ago, Cynthia Sullivan hit the streets of Northeast Seattle to win a seat on the King County Council. Then a 35-year-old former city planner, she took on a better-funded incumbent (Scott Blair) with a dozen years of legislative experience.

Sullivan personally rang doorbells and introduced herself to voters in more than one-third of the Second Council District's 336 precincts.

Fast forward to 2003: Sullivan's a 20-year incumbent facing a challenge from Bob Ferguson, a 38-year-old attorney determined to take her seat by doorbelling every precinct in the Second District.

Ferguson acknowledges the incumbent will likely outspend him, but tells voters that "20 years is enough" and it's time for a change.

Maple Leaf resident Ferguson has already spent several weeks knocking on doors and has raised $36,521, plus another $11,000 in pledges. "I've sat in a lot of living rooms already talking to people and finding out what's on their mind," he says.

Part of what's probably on their mind is wondering what this personable young fellow is doing on their doorstep in the dead of winter. He needs the early start: both Sullivan and Ferguson are Democrats and the Second hasn't seen a serious Republican candidate since 1983, which makes the Sept. 16 Democratic primary a winner-take-all affair.

Ferguson has taken a leave from his day job at the downtown law firm of Preston Gates and Ellis to campaign. His Dec. 3 kickoff event drew some 140 supporters to the University Heights Center in the University District.

When making his door-to-door rounds in North End neighborhoods, Ferguson generally promises to visit again this summer but only after he's rung another 25,000 doorbells.

But Sullivan has not yet begun to fight. She's raised $51,306 and plans an April 10 campaign kickoff. The Wedgwood resident also brings the momentum from her attendance at hundreds of meetings, forums, and events over the past two decades (and a reputation for sending staffers to the meetings she can't attend).

In fact, the second-year County Council chair says she welcomes the competition. Without a serious electoral challenge, a public official's work doesn't get the scrutiny it deserves, Sullivan says. "Having a young man challenging you on those details is probably the best thing in the world to sharpen your game."

Among the issues expected to dominate the discussion are:

· Sound Transit: Ferguson says it makes no sense to build the initial light rail segment from the airport to downtown without guarantees the line will be extended north at least to Northgate. Sullivan argues that the transit agency has left behind its initial troubles and impressed government regulators, paving the way for future federal funding. Once the initial light rail segment is built, she says, the two biggest issues with the public will be "When do we get more?" and "When does it come to my neighborhood?"

· The size of the County Council: Ferguson backs a proposal to shrink the council from 13 to 9 members, thus saving more than $1.2 million annually. "If you've got a budget crunch going on you've got to sit down and look at your own budget in the way you look at everybody else's," he says. Sullivan says she'll withhold judgment on the issue until the release of an upcoming comprehensive study of county government operations.

· The environment: Ferguson touts his work as a pro bono lawyer for environmental non-profit groups and notes that Sullivan backed moving the urban growth boundary to allow Eastside developments such as the Issaquah Highlands project (originally known as Grand Ridge). Sullivan responds that the Issaquah Highlands project's approval came only after developers deeded some 2,200 acres of open space to the county and adds that the development lies on the outskirts of Issaquah, not in the middle of a rural area.

In taking on a 20-year incumbent, Ferguson's biggest challenge is getting attention on a scale larger than one home at a time. It's an uphill battle: the County Council is the least known of the three legislative bodies that represent Seattleites (the others being the state Legislature and the Seattle City Council). "If I had a nickel for every person who can't name one person on the County Council, I could fund my campaign with that," he jokes. The former University of Washington student body president has gotten his best press clippings from the UW Daily; a Seattle Times columnist touting the concept of a nine-member County Council interviewed Ferguson, but wouldn't even mention his name in print.

It's up to Ferguson, a two-time Washington state chess champion, to think several moves ahead if he wants a win in his first try for public office.

OK Bob it's your move.