Seattle’s Sound Transit CEO nominee faces allegations over lack of transparency, favoritism

After a long closed-door process, the Sound Transit Board of Directors announced on Monday that King County Executive Dow Constantine was named as the nominee. Pundits on both sides of the political aisle objected when Constantine’s name leaked as one of the finalists for the position out of 60 applicants.

Constantine announced last year that he would not run for a fifth term as King County Executive. He will leave King County with a $150 million budget deficit, record homelessness, and record-high drug overdoses.

Constantine has previously served multiple times as the board chair of Sound Transit, an organization plagued with massive cost overruns and crime. The construction of new lines is constantly behind schedule.

King County Councilmembers Girmay Zahilay and Claudia Balducci are now running to succeed him. Both are Sound Transit board members who were appointed by Constantine. Many other board members were also appointed by Constantine, which has residents crying foul over his nomination.

The left-leaning Transit Riders Union wrote in a letter, “We believe better candidates from outside of Sound Transit and Puget Sound exist and that the process for his consideration and possible hiring would be insurmountably tainted.” The group added, “Dow comes with a very large conflict of interest. As King County Executive, he was directly or indirectly responsible for appointing ten of the eighteen people who will conduct the hiring process. While we expect and believe that people can act impartially, humans are subject to all forms of influence, intended or not. The public would likely feel the same way.”

The organization slammed Sound Transit for not announcing “a public feedback or engagement process for this selection,” and for secrecy regarding the names of the candidates. The group claimed, “This puts Dow at an unfair advantage and keeps the public in the dark. A transparent, thorough vetting process is crucial for public trust and transparency as Sound Transit enters its next phase of major construction.”

The group also called out Constantine’s lack of experience, noting that the CEO of Sound Transit “is an administrative leadership position, akin to the General Manager of Metro, not a political one. This experience does not align with the positions to which Dow has been elected and held.”

David Scott, spokesman for leftist advocacy group Seattle Subway, said, “Selecting any current board member as CEO would be a massive breach of ethical standards. The CEO will have to exercise great fortitude in standing up to this board, to ensure the user experience is not sacrificed for the sake of [powerful] interests.”

He continued, ”The board and its consultant have repeatedly emphasized that confidentiality is essential to get the best talent interested in applying — that people won’t even bother to pursue the opportunity if they know their current employers will become aware they’re looking to move on. However, our team doesn’t feel that the agency made much of an effort to creatively work around that and make a real effort to create opportunities for the public to shape and influence the search process.”

“The board leadership’s decision to recommend one of its longest-serving board members following a series of nonpublic discussions that people outside ST couldn’t be involved in (at least not without signing a nondisclosure agreement) is also likely to renew calls for changes to Sound Transit’s governance — more specifically, replacing its board with one that is directly elected by voters in the state’s three largest counties.”

Republicans have slammed Constantine’s soft-on-crime policies and failure to address the homeless and drug crisis during his tenure as King County Executive. The problems have become so widespread that a recent study revealed that on buses and trains, meth was found in 100 percent of air samples analyzed and 98 percent of surface samples. Fentanyl was found in a quarter of the air samples and almost half of the surface samples.

Additionally, a recent Sound Transit report revealed that passenger assaults have jumped by over 53 percent, while attacks on transit workers have spiked over 80 percent since 2023. The system itself has been plagued with technical issues and closures including months-long service disruptions.

Constantine was also responsible for buying a former Red Lion hotel in Federal Way, Washington for almost $9 million to house the homeless, but sat dormant for years due to the remediation of high levels of methamphetamine. The hotel is also in the path of the proposed light rail expansion and will have to be torn down.

The Seattle Times reported that the Sound Transit CEO could make up to $675,000 annually, almost double what the CEO of New York City’s MTA earns. The MTA’s ridership is 1.9 billion annually, and approximately 6 million daily, while in comparison, Sound Transit draws approximately 42.6 million annual rides and a paltry 130,000 daily users.

Constantine is expected to step down from serving as county executive if he is appointed. The board is scheduled to vote on Thursday to appoint the 63-year-old Constantine as head of the agency. As a member of the board, he is expected to recuse himself from the vote.