When David W. Irons Jr. defeated incumbent and fellow

Republican Brian Derdowski in the King County District 12 race in September, it

was a fore-drawn conclusion he’d breeze to an uncontested victory in

November.

As it turned out, that’s effectively what happened. Despite a

surprise write-in campaign by his sister Di Irons and the expenditure of tens

of thousands of dollars and much political advertising, Irons easily

defeated his sister by a total vote of 21,630 to 10,309. As a result, Irons will

succeed Derdowski on Jan. 1, just as he always intended.

Di Irons mounted a furious write-in campaign, complete with a

“voter’s guide” that has drawn the attention of Washington Secretary of State

Ralph Munro. The race drew regional and some national attention and a

large number of comments and a good amount of humor, particularly after

the senior Irons’ threw their support to their daughter. After the election,

David Irons Jr. speculated his sister was financed by his parents and spent in

excess of $100,000 in her failed bid. Di Irons responded she’d spent

more like $65,000 in trying to prove her brother was a “tool of the developers.”

In other elections, incumbent King County Assessor Scott Noble,

a Democrat, roundly defeated challenger Dave Callon by a 63 to 36

percent margin, while Bob Edwards and Clare E. Nordquist defeated

Laurie McDonald Jonsson and Chris Rayson for Port of Seattle commission

seats. Susan Randolph Agid ran unopposed to secure a seat on the Court of

Appeals, Division One, District One.

King County Charter Amendment No. 1, which would have

allowed county council members to send referendums directly to the voters,

bypassing the County Executive, was shot down. Opponents described

the amendment as being “… vague, mischievous …” and a thinly veiled

attempt to reduce the balance between the executive and the council.

In another statewide referendums, Initiative 696 – which would

have prohibited commercial net, troll and trawl fishing _ was also defeated by

a vote of 897,707 to 674,880. Senate Joint Resolution 8206, which

would allow a constitutional amendment enabling the state to guarantee

payment of voter-approved school district obligation debts, passed by a margin

of 59.85 percent to 40.15 percent. SSJR 8208, which would have allowed

the state legislature to invest the Emergency Reserve Fund, failed 51.93

percent to 48.07 percent.