Sound Transit Picks Dow Constantine, Elevating Board Insider to CEO
Today, the Sound Transit Board of Directors revealed its CEO pick is King County Executive Dow Constantine, who has served on the board for 16 years. The executive committee members who made the hiring recommendation referred to the pick only as “Candidate C,” but an agency press release revealed C indeed ends with “onstantine,” as long rumored. The Sound Transit Board is scheduled to vote on the appointment at its full board meeting on Thursday, March 27.
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Conflict of interest criticisms
A contingent of transit advocates including groups like Seattle Subway and Transit Riders Union have opposed the shrouded process and criticized the apparent conflict of interest in the board elevating one of their own with so little outside input. Opponents have pointed out that Constantine has appointed half of Sound Transit board through his powers as King County Executive. County Executives appoint their county’s delegation by choosing from local elected officials, and King County has 10 seats on the 18-member board.
Those appointees appeared poised to hand Constantine a position with an annual salary as high as $650,000, all while Constantine sits on the board making that decision, albeit recused. While Sound Transit Board legal advisers recommended that Constantine should recuse from the vote and hiring deliberations, they did not make the same ruling with respect to the nine members he appointed (or reappointed) to the board over the last 16 years.
Moreover, two King County Councilmembers sitting on the board — Claudia Balducci and Girmay Zahilay — have announced runs to succeed him as Executive and Constantine’s endorsement could potentially swing the race. This could make it hard for them to oppose Constantine’s CEO bid without suffering political consequences. For the candidates’ part, they say aren’t seeking or anticipating an endorsement.
https://www.theurbanist.org/2025/03/24/sound-transit-picks-dow-constantine-as-ceo/