King County Council to choose interim replacement for Maleng on Tuesday

[flamingyouth]

The King County Council on Tuesday will select one of Prosecuting Attorney Norm Maleng's top assistants to assume his office on an interim basis, while the county Republican Party submits three nominees to the council for a longer-term successor.

But voters will decide in November who will serve the remainder of Maleng's term, which expires in December 2010. It will be the Democratic Party's best chance to recapture the office since Maleng was first elected in 1978.

Maleng, who died of cardiac arrest Thursday night, was prosecutor for 28 years. He was the first partisan elected King County official to die in office since County Councilman Kent Pullen died in 2003.

This morning, the entire staff of Maleng's office gathered in the largest courtroom in the King County Courthouse to grieve and talk about their boss.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003722082_websuccessor25m.html

[flamingyouth]

1. Satterberg named acting King Co. Prosecutor

Norm Maleng's long-time chief of staff was named Tuesday as acting King County Prosecutor following Maleng's death last week.

Dan Satterberg was appointed to the position by the King County Council.

The state constitution still requires the Democratic-controlled King County Council to appoint a temporary successor for Maleng . That person must be a Republican, as Maleng was. The Republican Party has to submit three names to the council for consideration.

The appointee will serve until after the November election is certified and can run this fall to serve out the three years remaining in Maleng's term, which expires at the end of 2010.

Because the primary election now is a month earlier than it has been in the past - on Aug. 21 this year - the five-day candidate filing period opens June 4, nearly two months earlier than in past years.

Maleng, 68, died May 24 of a heart attack.

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/seattlepolitics/archives/115974.asp