Girmay Zahilay Outlines Vision for Executive Role

Campaign Website - Girmay Zahilay

[00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I’m your host, Crystal Fincher. On this show we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington state through the lens of those doing the work, with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what’s happening, why it’s happening, and what you can do about it.

Well, today, we're focusing on a powerful role that often flies under the radar: the King County Executive. As the top official in Washington state's largest county, the executive is responsible for both delivering vital regional services - like Metro transit, public health, courts, jails, and elections - and managing the day-to-day operations of county government. That means overseeing more than 15,000 employees, proposing a multi-billion dollar budget, setting policy direction, negotiating labor contracts, and leading on everything from housing and homelessness to climate and criminal legal system reform.

If you care about how government works - and whether it works for all of us - the King County Executive plays a central role in shaping that reality.

So we are thrilled to welcome King County Councilmember and candidate for King County Executive, Girmay Zahilay. Welcome back to the show!

[00:01:30] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: It's good to be here - thank you, Crystal.

[00:01:32] Crystal Fincher: Great to have you back. Well, we are going to get started with the Lightning Round to begin with. These are very short yes-or-no or short answer questions. We ask that you keep your answers short. If you can't decide between yes or no, we'll just call it a waffle and move on. You'll, of course, have the opportunity to expand on anything you want to expand on when we get to the long-form questions.

But we will get started. Starting out with - Do you own or rent your residence?

[00:02:03] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Own.

[00:02:04] Crystal Fincher: Are you a landlord?

[00:02:06] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: No.

[00:02:06] Crystal Fincher: Have you ever been a member of a union?

[00:02:09] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: No.

[00:02:10] Crystal Fincher: Have you ever walked on a picket line?

[00:02:12] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Many times.

[00:02:14] Crystal Fincher: Have you ever crossed a picket line?

[00:02:16] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Absolutely not.

[00:02:17] Crystal Fincher: Is your campaign staff unionized?

[00:02:20] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: No, my one campaign staff is not unionized.

[00:02:25] Crystal Fincher: If your staff wants to unionize, will you voluntarily recognize their effort?

[00:02:30] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Absolutely. My one campaign staff - if she decided to unionize on her own - yes, I would support her.

[00:02:37] Crystal Fincher: What political party do you identify with?

[00:02:40] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: I'm a Democrat.

[00:02:42] Crystal Fincher: Have you used the library system in the past month?

[00:02:45] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes, I had a meeting at the Skyway Library.

[00:02:48] Crystal Fincher: Have you or someone in your household ever relied on public assistance?

[00:02:53] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Very much so. My whole family - I grew up on food stamps and welfare-

[00:02:58] Crystal Fincher: Short form, short form - lightning round.

[00:03:00] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yeah.

[00:03:02] Crystal Fincher: Have you ever been stopped or questioned by police in Seattle?

[00:03:08] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: No.

[00:03:09] Crystal Fincher: Have you ever worked in retail or a job where you had to rely on tips?

[00:03:14] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:03:16] Crystal Fincher: Have you ever owned a business?

[00:03:18] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: No.

[00:03:19] Crystal Fincher: Have you ever managed a team of 10 or more?

[00:03:22] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:03:23] Crystal Fincher: 100 or more?

[00:03:24] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:03:25] Crystal Fincher: Have you ever reported someone's misconduct in your workplace?

[00:03:29] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:03:30] Crystal Fincher: Have you ever fired someone?

[00:03:32] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:03:33] Crystal Fincher: Do you have a favorite sports team you actively follow?

[00:03:36] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:03:37] Crystal Fincher: What is it?

[00:03:40] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Any team that LeBron is on.

[00:03:43] Crystal Fincher: Okay, fellow Lakers fan - okay.

[00:03:46] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: If the Sonics were here, I'd be with the Sonics.

[00:03:49] Crystal Fincher: I do miss the Sonics and OKC making it to the finals - it's a little bit of a gut punch, little bit of a gut punch.

[00:03:56] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yep.

[00:03:56] Crystal Fincher: Okay. Do you believe a larger, visible law enforcement presence is the most effective way to reduce crime in King County?

[00:04:05] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: No.

[00:04:05] Crystal Fincher: Do you believe the size of the King County Sheriff's office is too small, too large, or just right?

[00:04:11] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Currently too small.

[00:04:13] Crystal Fincher: Do you support implementation and expansion of non-deputy crisis response teams?

[00:04:18] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:04:19] Crystal Fincher: Do you support the use of automated license plate readers in King County?

[00:04:23] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: No.

[00:04:24] Crystal Fincher: Do you think facial recognition should be banned in county use?

[00:04:28] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:04:29] Crystal Fincher: Should King County significantly increase funding for public defenders and services?

[00:04:34] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:04:35] Crystal Fincher: Do you believe the King County Sheriff's Office budget should be increased in the next biennial budget?

[00:04:40] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:04:41] Crystal Fincher: Do you believe the new transit safety task force legislation will significantly improve safety on King County transit?

[00:04:51] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Not on its own.

[00:04:52] Crystal Fincher: Should King County prioritize investment in restorative justice programs over traditional incarceration for nonviolent offenders?

[00:05:00] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:05:01] Crystal Fincher: Should King County fund and provide gender-affirming care?

[00:05:05] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:05:06] Crystal Fincher: Should King County cooperate with ICE?

[00:05:09] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: No.

[00:05:10] Crystal Fincher: Do you support closing the King County Jail?

[00:05:13] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: No.

[00:05:13] Crystal Fincher: Do you support closing King County's Youth Jail?

[00:05:16] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: No.

[00:05:17] Crystal Fincher: Do you commit to maintain or increase funding for community violence intervention programs?

[00:05:23] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:05:24] Crystal Fincher: Do you agree with how former Executive Constantine handled disagreements over homelessness policy and enforcement with the City of Burien?

[00:05:33] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: No.

[00:05:34] Crystal Fincher: Have you ever contested a traffic ticket?

[00:05:38] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: No.

[00:05:38] Crystal Fincher: Have you ever served on a jury?

[00:05:41] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: No.

[00:05:42] Crystal Fincher: Have you ever been arrested?

[00:05:44] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: No.

[00:05:45] Crystal Fincher: Have you taken transit in the past month?

[00:05:47] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:05:48] Crystal Fincher: In the past week?

[00:05:50] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:05:51] Crystal Fincher: Do you prefer dogs over cats?

[00:05:53] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:05:54] Crystal Fincher: What's your favorite season?

[00:05:56] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Summer.

[00:05:57] Crystal Fincher: Do you believe King County should reduce its overall number of employees to cut costs?

[00:06:05] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:06:07] Crystal Fincher: Do you believe King County relies too much on contractors?

[00:06:12] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:06:14] Crystal Fincher: Are you open to privatizing some county services if it proves more efficient?

[00:06:18] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: No.

[00:06:19] Crystal Fincher: Do you believe King County government is currently sufficiently transparent?

[00:06:24] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: No.

[00:06:25] Crystal Fincher: Will you provide a base budget analysis of the King County budget in your first year?

[00:06:30] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:06:31] Crystal Fincher: Do you support a 0.1% sales tax increase for King County?

[00:06:36] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:06:37] Crystal Fincher: What should that sales tax increase go towards?

[00:06:40] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Public safety and public health.

[00:06:42] Crystal Fincher: Would you support any modifications to Sound Transit plans that would delay existing implementation timelines?

[00:06:51] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: As part of a comprehensive strategy for dealing with the revenue shortfall - yes.

[00:06:58] Crystal Fincher: Do you support King County issuing more bonds to fund large capital projects?

[00:07:03] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:07:04] Crystal Fincher: Would you support tolling on King County roads (beyond the existing toll lanes) to fund transportation projects?

[00:07:11] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:07:12] Crystal Fincher: Should King County prioritize investments in pedestrian and cycling infrastructure over new road construction?

[00:07:23] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: New roads, as opposed to maintaining existing roads - correct?

[00:07:27] Crystal Fincher: Correct.

[00:07:27] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Then, yes - I support the former.

[00:07:30] Crystal Fincher: What's your favorite park in King County?

[00:07:33] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Seward Park.

[00:07:34] Crystal Fincher: What's your favorite restaurant in King County?

[00:07:36] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Ooh - Poquitos.

[00:07:42] Crystal Fincher: What's the last live performance you saw in the county?

[00:07:46] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: They Not Like Us, Kendrick Lamar.

[00:07:48] Crystal Fincher: There you go. In the rain.

[00:07:50] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: In the rain. In the ice rain on my bald head.

[00:07:54] Crystal Fincher: What's your favorite song?

[00:07:59] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Probably Human Nature, Michael Jackson.

[00:08:01] Crystal Fincher: What's your favorite album?

[00:08:05] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: My actual favorite album, I can't say anymore because I don't like the artist anymore. But, I'll say Usher Confessions.

[00:08:14] Crystal Fincher: Who is your favorite local artist?

[00:08:19] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Sir Mix-a-Lot.

[00:08:20] Crystal Fincher: What's the last song you listened to?

[00:08:24] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Probably Backstreet Boys The One.

[00:08:29] Crystal Fincher: What's the most recent book you read?

[00:08:33] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Abundance by Ezra Klein.

[00:08:35] Crystal Fincher: What was the last sports event you attended in the county?

[00:08:44] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Mariner's opening day.

[00:08:46] Crystal Fincher: What's your favorite cafe?

[00:08:50] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Boon Boona.

[00:08:51] Crystal Fincher: Nice one. Do you plan to increase funding for investigations of labor violations like wage theft and illegal union busting?

[00:08:59] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes, I want to start an Office of Labor Relations.

[00:09:04] Crystal Fincher: Do large corporations in King County pay their fair share of taxes?

[00:09:08] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: No.

[00:09:09] Crystal Fincher: Do small businesses pay their fair share of taxes?

[00:09:12] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:09:13] Crystal Fincher: Do you support the rent stabilization bill that passed in the most recent legislative session?

[00:09:19] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:09:20] Crystal Fincher: Do you support stricter rent stabilization measures in King County?

[00:09:25] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: It depends what that looks like.

[00:09:27] Crystal Fincher: Do you support expanding the "Right to Counsel" for all tenants facing eviction in King County?

[00:09:36] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: All, as in every single person who's evicted? No.

[00:09:42] Crystal Fincher: Or do you support expanding the legislation?

[00:09:44] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:09:45] Crystal Fincher: Should King County continue its current level of funding for the King County Regional Homelessness Authority?

[00:09:51] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:09:52] Crystal Fincher: Do you support using county funds to purchase vacant hotels for immediate homeless shelter?

[00:09:58] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:09:59] Crystal Fincher: Do you support the county playing a more active role in regulating short-term rentals?

[00:10:04] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:10:05] Crystal Fincher: Do you believe King County should require cities to accept a certain quota of affordable housing units?

[00:10:12] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: I don't think that's within our jurisdiction, but I would want that authority.

[00:10:17] Crystal Fincher: What's your go-to karaoke song?

[00:10:18] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: NSYNC, It's Gonna Be Me.

[00:10:22] Crystal Fincher: What's your favorite TV show to binge?

[00:10:25] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Breaking Bad.

[00:10:26] Crystal Fincher: First concert you ever attended?

[00:10:29] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Oh - I think sometime in my early college years, I went to an LMAO concert.

[00:10:38] Crystal Fincher: What's your favorite Seattle sports moment?

[00:10:43] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: When we went to the '96 NBA finals as the Seattle Sonics.

[00:10:47] Crystal Fincher: What's your favorite comfort food?

[00:10:50] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Probably Ethiopian food. Injera.

[00:10:53] Crystal Fincher: Are you an early bird or a night owl?

[00:10:56] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Night owl.

[00:10:57] Crystal Fincher: What's a hobby people wouldn't expect you to have?

[00:11:01] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: I'm still into all the stuff that I was into as a kid. I passively will watch YouTube videos of Pokémon and WWF and Power Rangers if that stuff comes on. I think it's like a nostalgia, emotional comfort thing.

[00:11:19] Crystal Fincher: What's your favorite Pokémon?

[00:11:22] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Charmander.

[00:11:24] Crystal Fincher: I'm a Mudkip girl. What's your favorite neighborhood in King County?

[00:11:38] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: I grew up in so many South End neighborhoods, but I'm trying to pick my favorite one. I'll say Columbia City, Rainier Vista area.

[00:11:51] Crystal Fincher: Who's a Seattle-based artist or musician you love?

[00:11:58] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Macklemore. I like his music, and he's been supportive.

[00:12:03] Crystal Fincher: What's a book you wish more people read?

[00:12:10] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Probably The New Jim Crow.

[00:12:11] Crystal Fincher: What's your favorite rainy day activity?

[00:12:14] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Getting pho with my wife.

[00:12:17] Crystal Fincher: What's your favorite Sound Transit station name?

[00:12:22] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Gotta be Othello. It's my hood.

[00:12:26] Crystal Fincher: Have you voted in every general election in the past four years?

[00:12:30] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:12:31] Crystal Fincher: Every primary in the past four years?

[00:12:34] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:12:35] Crystal Fincher: Have you made any political endorsements that you regret?

[00:12:39] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:12:40] Crystal Fincher: Who were they?

[00:12:42] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: None that I'm willing to say right now. I'll waffle.

[00:12:46] Crystal Fincher: Have you made any political donations that you regret?

[00:12:49] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: No.

[00:12:51] Crystal Fincher: Did you vote to approve the Automated Fingerprint Identification System Levy on the April 22nd ballot?

[00:12:57] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes.

[00:12:58] Crystal Fincher: Did you vote for Nick Brown or Pete Serrano for Attorney General?

[00:13:04] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: My guy, Nick Brown.

[00:13:05] Crystal Fincher: Did you vote for Bob Ferguson or Dave Reichert for Governor?

[00:13:09] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Bob Ferguson.

[00:13:10] Crystal Fincher: Did you vote for Trump or Harris for President?

[00:13:14] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Kamala Harris.

[00:13:15] Crystal Fincher: Awesome. Well, thank you for your responses - that concludes our lightning round. So now we'll shift to the open-ended questions. So why are you running and what will your priorities be if you're elected?

[00:13:30] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: I'm running for King County Executive because I think that with thoughtful leadership and strong policies, this region can be a place of safety and opportunity for everyone. And I believe in what this place can be because I've seen what it was for me and my family. You probably know my story, Crystal, but my family and I came to the U.S. when I was three years old, as refugees. And we settled down here in the King County area in South Seattle - low-income housing projects like Rainier Vista, New Holly, back when it was still Holly Park, Skyway. And this region gave us the tools - through a strong public sector, in collaboration with the private sector - to rebuild our lives. From refugees who came here and experienced housing instability and poverty and homelessness, to going on to graduating from college and law school and starting a youth development nonprofit and working in the Obama White House and being the Chair of the King County Council. I want that trajectory for everyone, and I believe that the King County Executive is a powerful platform for being part of the solution to making that happen. During my time on the council, I've worked really hard on the types of issues that impacted my family - from homelessness to public safety to youth opportunity. And we've had big regional wins during my time on the council - from increasing the minimum wage, to fighting for stronger tenant protections, to fighting for workforce housing for our essential workers, to the Crisis Care Centers Levy, to the Youth Achievement Center, and so much more. And now I want to take those same values around focusing on the people who are really struggling in this economy, and collaborating and bringing in new voices to pass really important legislation and implement the most effective policies possible - as the next King County Executive. And I believe that if we work together, we can really create a region of safety and opportunity for everyone.

[00:15:46] Crystal Fincher: So, at the beginning of this year, the King County budget faced a $150 million shortfall. Counties, unlike cities, have more limited options in their taxing authority - and King County electeds and department heads have often spoken for the need for the State Legislature to provide a solution, as the county's revenues have not kept pace with rising costs and population growth. Since the Legislature did not provide a fix to King County's structural budget issues and federal funding under threat has only increased the potential shortfall, how will you construct a county budget that provides services residents can count on?

[00:16:24] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yeah, Crystal, I think it's really just - I know you already said it in your lead up, but just to hammer the point home - King County is extremely limited in what kinds of revenues we can put forward, or collect. And also, even in the regressive taxes we can put forward - that's still capped at 1% on a year-to-year basis. So those two restrictions - the inability to levy progressive taxes and the 1% cap on property taxes - both of those combine to create the most devastating impacts on our financial status as a county, and thereby limit our ability to provide critical services to our constituents. And so what I would support - in light of the circumstances we have, in light of the tools that we have - is to use the bad tools that we have in the dire circumstances that we're in. The Legislature just gave us a new councilmanic tax authority through House Bill 2015 - and that is a sales tax, 0.1% sales tax, that will allow us to fund critical public safety and public health initiatives. And I wrote a letter to Executive Braddock last month saying that we should urgently use this new tool to raise the revenues we need to fill our general fund shortfall and keep alive the thousands of people who rely on our public safety services and our public health services. And so I would rely on that sales tax, no matter how bad I think sales tax is. And then I would continue to advocate aggressively in Olympia to both give us new, progressive tools that allow us to offset regressive property taxes and sales taxes, and also help us lift this 1% cap that is arbitrary and absolutely not allowing us to keep up with the demand for our services.

[00:18:25] Crystal Fincher: So if that sales tax were to be enacted - that you're advocating for - you talked about it being used for public safety and public health. What specifically, within safety and health, do you want to see that spent on?

[00:18:38] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Well, first and foremost, when Dow Constantine left King County, he put forward a proposal for what would need to be cut if this $160 million shortfall were to come into fruition. And those cuts are deep cuts to our Sheriff's Office, deep cuts to prosecutors and public defenders, deep cuts to the court system. And deep cuts to our Department of Community Health and Human Services, DCHS. And so, as a general matter, I would want to avoid all of those cuts - and so backfilling those is really important. And then on top of that, I think there's so much room for us to do good in this space. You know, one data point that I want to point out that really highlights the crisis that we're in is - ten years ago, King County did a study called Familiar Faces, which studied the people who our media calls repeat offenders, the people who go into our King County jails four times or more in the span of two years. And that population was something like 2,500 people went to jail four times or more - cycling in and out of homelessness, addiction, jail over and over again - and obviously jail is not working to solve those problems. What they found out is out of that population of 2,400, 94% of them were suffering from overlapping and chronic mental health and substance use disorder issues - 94%. 74% of that population was receiving no ongoing care, no kind of treatment. In fact, incarceration was a disruptive force to their ability to get care. And since then, King County's invested in a response to that study called Vital, which is a partnership across Evergreen Treatment Services, DCHS, Public Health, to really focus on this population and give them the care that they need. But it's still super limited, and - because there aren't enough resources, there isn't enough housing available for this community outside of the jail, there aren't enough behavioral health services. And so the huge opportunity I see is - this population that is clearly the most suffering in our region - suffering from homelessness and poverty and addiction and mental health issues, and constantly going through incarceration, and is likely, the community of people, because of their issues, are causing a lot of the public safety and chaos issues that we're seeing out on our streets. Let's focus on that population. Let's make sure that a program like Vital is fully funded, so that there is enough mental health resources, enough addiction resources, and enough housing - so that we're not seeing these familiar faces cycling in and out of jail and homelessness and addiction.

[00:21:29] Crystal Fincher: So homelessness is up 25% over the last two years, despite the work of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority and other county initiatives, leading many people to question whether the money that has already been spent was worth it and whether investments are being made on the right things. As executive, how will you evaluate the effectiveness of the King County Regional Homelessness Authority and other county initiatives, and what specific changes would you propose to the county's approach to better address the homelessness crisis?

[00:22:00] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: I think it's important that we start off high-level and look at the state of housing in our region before going down into the homelessness response. We don't have enough housing in our region for our population, so everything that we've read basically says that housing is like musical chairs. We're making a decision that some number of people are not going to be able to afford their homes and they're going to end up on the streets. And so before we get to homelessness response, we have to increase our housing supply. We have to absolutely build more. We have to invest more public dollars through grants and levies and bonding like my Regional Workforce Housing initiative. We absolutely have to cut red tape and make it much easier to build housing. We have to change our zoning so that we can build more types of homes in more places - through our Comprehensive Plan process and increase our regional coordination through our comprehensive planning. We have to streamline our permitting process - that means, you know, making our code easier to read, it means increasing our staffing in our permitting division, and so much more. And then we should talk about homelessness response - because if our King County Regional Homelessness Authority was doing everything perfectly, but there were not enough roofs over people's heads and not enough behavioral health services, that entity would be destined to fail from the beginning. And I think that is-

[00:23:27] Crystal Fincher: Okay. I think that makes complete sense. And that was actually my next question. So let's flip it - let's start with that, then. What can you do to make housing more affordable in both the incorporated and unincorporated areas of King County?

[00:23:41] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yeah, I think it's absolutely the stuff that I mentioned before. We need to build more housing. We need to use our comprehensive planning process to make sure that all jurisdictions in King County are building the requisite amount of housing. We need to change our zoning so that restrictive zoning is not becoming an obstacle to building more. We need to find out what red tape exists, like design review, or delay - long permitting processes that increase the cost of construction. All of that is part of what a King County Executive can do to make housing more affordable. And then we get-

[00:24:19] Crystal Fincher: Are you in favor of eliminating design review?

[00:24:22] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes, I am - at least as it exists today, for sure. You know, I want us to do everything we can to thoughtfully deregulate in the urban areas so that we're building as much housing as possible. And the same can be true about our public transit or any of our infrastructure capital projects. You know, I have been a big fan of this new direction that our progressive community is going. You know, I know, progressives are generally the coalition of process and inclusivity, and so much more. But we have to take a step back and ask ourselves - in the totality, are all of the regulations that we are putting on housing, construction and infrastructure projects - is that creating the outcome that we want? And if it's not, then we do have to revisit that and reset.

And then when it comes to homelessness response, I think we need a reset of our King County Regional Homelessness Authority as well. Like I said before, I take the criticisms with a grain of salt - in that without increasing the capacity of our housing and our behavioral health services, that entity is never going to be successful. And it's also true that there is a lot that can be done better and should have been done better. Part of that is, you know, the open opposition to emergency housing, like Tiny House villages. We need to include that as part of our strategy, not reject it - because it is much better for people to be living under a roof. As non-ideal as a Tiny House village is, it's still better than people living under a bridge or on a sidewalk. And so increasing our priority for that type of housing is really critical. I also like the direction that the entity is going in terms of streamlining the board. I think there were too many chefs in the kitchen originally, so that streamlining is good. I think having a laser focus on unsheltered homelessness as opposed to homelessness broadly, I think that re-scoping of their mission has been in the positive direction. And just in general, I think that we have to be more outcomes-oriented. We cannot celebrate our success based on how much money we've spent or how many new projects or initiatives we've started. Our success needs to be measured based on how many people were stably moved from the streets and into housing. How many overdose deaths did we reverse? How many people have been reunited with their families and have stronger social bonds in their communities? Those are the things that should measure our success, and I think we have had a tendency to celebrate dollars spent rather than outcomes in the past.

[00:27:19] Crystal Fincher: So is there anything more, aside from implementing and including tiny homes, that can be done to increase the amount of emergency shelter? Because I assume you believe there is not enough emergency shelter currently available to get people off of the street. So what can be done to increase the amount of capacity to get people immediately off of the street?

[00:27:42] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Well, there's no easy answer, Crystal - because every time we try to site a shelter or a crisis care center, there is massive opposition. And so the earlier we can stakeholder, the earlier we can bring people in to be bought in on something that we're trying to site - the more likely it is that we'll be successful in siting that. I think it is also - the responsibility is on King County to show people the positive outcomes that come from more shelter. Show people the data behind how more shelter ends up with fewer people out in the streets, with more people surviving overdose deaths, with less crime, with less chaos. The more we can show people that, the more I think we'll have people bought in.

[00:28:35] Crystal Fincher: What can you do - you talk about stakeholdering earlier - but it actually seems like, no matter what the stakeholdering process is, at the end of it, you still have people staunchly in favor and staunchly opposed to siting critically needed services near them. What can be done? Or how do you decide to move past that and get beyond that? How can that process be handled more effectively to get something built?

[00:29:06] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: I think we need to have a "yes, and" approach. We need to site things in the most effective place possible. And we need to take into consideration the valid concerns that surrounding communities have. And to me, that looks like going ahead and siting, and also adopting mitigating measures that will have a positive impact on the community. Maybe that could mean increased security in the area. Maybe that could mean transportation - so that somebody from far away who comes and visits a crisis care center or shelter is able to go back to their community or to their family elsewhere, rather than just being dropped off in the middle of this new location that they've been brought to. Maybe it could mean a clearer, individualized plan for the Continuum of Care - meaning that if they received care at a crisis care center or they received housing at an emergency shelter, that there is strong case management so that the person can go to whatever the next step in their journey is. Rather than what tends to happen now - in which surrounding communities are very valid in having these concerns - is that you get your treatment or you get your temporary housing, and then you're scooted off into that surrounding community with no next step. That is also unacceptable. So having that "yes, and" approach and allowing people the opportunity to have mitigating measures is really critical.

[00:30:41] Crystal Fincher: Does social housing have a role in housing in King County? Obviously, the City of Seattle recently passed social housing legislation and funded their public housing developer. Can that work in conjunction with the county, or should the King County implement something similar?

[00:30:58] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: King County is implementing something similar. And that was my Regional Workforce Housing Initiative that we put forward last year and that passed, from my colleagues. The idea is simple - that we need publicly owned homes that eliminate the profit motive so that they can remain affordable for generations to come. I think rent will probably still go up at a modest pace because operating costs will go up. Maybe the costs of servicing the debt that we take out to build this housing will go up. Maybe certain issues in the surrounding community could lead to rising costs. But it wouldn't be rising costs because somebody with a profit motive just wanted to hike up rent by 20%, 30% year-to-year basis. And so having publicly owned homes is absolutely critical. Right now, my Regional Workforce Housing Initiative is currently with the executive as they come up with a feasibility analysis and an implementation plan. And I'm hoping that they come back to us showing that this kind of bonding and public ownership is part of a broader strategy for making housing more affordable in our region. And I think the opportunity is huge because it's an untapped financial tool, meaning that King County has room to take out billions of dollars more debt if we have the revenue to pay off that debt without harming our credit rating.

[00:32:34] Crystal Fincher: So how do you define public safety, and how do you plan to make King County more safe for its residents?

[00:32:43] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yeah, I define public safety as the state of being secure - free from violence and free from the feelings of impending violence or crime, both to person or property. And so I have a very comprehensive plan related to public safety because this is an issue that's very personal to me. I grew up in neighborhoods in South Seattle where gun violence was a regular reality, where people experienced being robbed and burglarized and so much more, where so many young people have gotten lost to gang violence and so much more. And so having a comprehensive approach that really focuses on the communities most impacted is critical. I think we can't talk about public safety without first talking about changing the conditions that people are growing up in, so that public safety is not an issue - before violence ever happens. You know, that means stable housing, it means mental health resources, it means good jobs, it means good education, it means after-school activities and community centers, and so much more. And I know that's typically not what people are talking about when they say, What are you going to do for public safety? But it's so important to start off with that because we can't let that get lost. When I first got on the council, I sat with the prosecutor's office in 2020. They showed me a map of which areas in King County have the highest rates of gun violence. And then they showed me a map of which areas in King County are the most low income. And it was almost the same map. And so that tells you everything that you need to know.

Now, we don't live in a utopia. We don't live in a world where we're going to end poverty and trauma tomorrow. So what do we do in the interim? I think we have a lot that we can do. First and foremost, I want to hire a Public Safety Director that is executive-level, reporting directly to me, that can coordinate public safety strategies across all of the departments in my administration. Right now, we have "a public safety director" in a sheriff - but a sheriff leads her own agency, her own department in the sheriff's office. I want somebody who is broader than that, who is going to coordinate public safety strategies across Metro, and King County Public Health, and King County Parks, and the Sheriff's Office. And really bring things together so that the left hand is talking to the right hand - and we're using all of our resources to promote the public safety. I also want this director to work with me on establishing permanent neighborhood safety workgroups. Throughout my time on the council - because I represent a district that is so hard hit by public safety and especially gun violence issues - I have organized countless neighborhood safety workgroups, whether it's in the Central District or in Rainier Beach, or in Mount Baker or Little Saigon. And what these workgroups do is bring together all of the different sectors, all of the different decision makers, all of the different community members - and have them meet regularly once a month, focused on that neighborhood and infusing that neighborhood with all of the comprehensive collaborative strategies needed to reduce violence. It's been effective in places like Rainier Beach and beyond - and I want that to be something that is backed and well-resourced by an executive office. So that we have a scientific approach - finding out where are the areas that have the most public safety issues and how can we have a comprehensive, coordinated strategy in each of these neighborhoods. That's really critical.

Beyond that, I can keep going - this is a big topic, Crystal. We need to fix our criminal justice system, of course, so that people can get a resolution quickly to the issues that they're seeing. We need to have a strong first responder system where the appropriate first responder comes out and responds to the issue that we're seeing on the ground, no matter what it is. If we're seeing mental health and addiction issue, we need to have well-resourced mobile crisis responders coming out and taking care of that issue. If we're seeing shootings and other acts of extreme violence, we need to have a fast, well-trained, reliable police force responding to those issues. We're seeing simple - I don't know - code enforcement issues, music is too loud. We don't need a police officer to respond to that - we should have code enforcement officers that are well resourced to respond to that. And of course, we need more mental health resources, stronger addiction prevention plan, and so much more.

[00:37:31] Crystal Fincher: So, your view on whether the King County Youth Jail should be closed has evolved. Initially, you stated that you thought it should, and then changed your mind. Can you talk about that evolution and what went into your change? And how do you respond to people who express disappointment or dismay at that change?

[00:37:53] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yeah, this is a really important topic. I think it is a classic case of competing public interests. You know, first and foremost, I think that when we have acts of extreme violence, like a young person shoots another young person, there absolutely needs to be somewhere secure that they can be held temporarily as the situation is assessed. And I have visited the Youth Jail many times - where I go downstairs and into where the cells are. And for all of the pomp and circumstances surrounding this jail - around it being a new way to do things, and for as shiny and cool the top floors are - you go down to the place where the actual cells are, and it's just another jail. And I talked to the young people - and they come out of their cells, and they tell me they're feeling dizzy and disoriented and unable to manage their emotions after they come out of that kind of confinement. And that's unacceptable to me. And we know, based on the science, that youth developing brains are harmed by that kind of environment and become more likely to commit crime. So what do we do in this situation where the status quo of what we have is damaging youth brains? And we absolutely need a secure place to hold people after really serious charges are alleged? And by the way, this competing public interest became even more extreme and competing through the pandemic, where youth violent crime went through the roof - we had really high rates of gun violence and much more at the youth level. And I believe last year we broke our all-time youth firearm homicide record in King County. And at the same time - because of staffing shortages in our jails - young people were spending more time in that kind of confinement. So if it was a competing public interest before in this modern era - the need for security has gone up, and the need to avoid damaging young people's brains through long periods in confinement, that has also gone up.

So what do we do about that? First of all, I said that what we should do - if you read what I wrote in 2019 - is close that Youth Jail and set up smaller, secure facilities all over the county. For some reason, I do think there is a subset of the population who thought I was saying that we should close the Youth Jail and not have any kind of secure buildings - even though I've never said that, and it's well-written in everything that I've said and written. So the people that I've heard from who think that I'm saying something different are the people who think there shouldn't be no secure buildings. And we've never been on the same page. Now what I'm saying is - what I kept hearing from the executive's Care and Closure plan - first of all, I heard a lot of people who were let down by that process and not feeling like it was inclusive and representing their views. And so I was already skeptical of that process. But what made me more skeptical is the fact that I don't think the executive was ever coming out and saying - We are going to reform the environments that our young people are being confined in, and we will also have a secure building. I think there was way too much ambiguity about the fact that there would or would not be a secure building. I don't want that ambiguity. I don't want that confusion in my community. Because the communities that I grow up in - in Rainier Vista, New Holly, Skyway - they're not advocating for no secure buildings. They are being terrorized by shootings, bullets coming into their apartments hitting young people in the head, going into hookah bars, having mass shootings there. Rainier Beach parking lot, having mass shootings there. So they are looking for relief. They are not saying we should have no secure buildings. So what I've advocated for is the same position that I had in 2019, except we can reform how we do things within the existing building. So instead of spending lots of time and money building entirely new secure buildings, let's reform the one that we have right now. So that we still have a secure building, but internally, it's not just a baby version of an adult jail. I want it to be more dormitory-style. I want it to be more integrated with community-based services, so youth don't feel isolated and removed from their community. I want it to be more therapeutic, more jobs, more education, and so much more. So I think - in short, I want us to have a secure building and completely reform what happens in that secure building.

[00:43:03] Crystal Fincher: How do you plan to mitigate attacks on civil rights, particularly those that target our trans community and immigrant communities?

[00:43:14] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: We're living in really scary times right now, with the Trump administration fanning the flames of hate and violating all of our most fundamental values. And so I believe the next executive is going to have a huge role in protecting our values - and that's exactly what I plan to do. I plan to use all of the tools in our toolkit to protect King County residents, our economy, and our environment. First and foremost, I think we need to uphold the state law Keep Washington Working, which says that King County, as a local government, does not have to use our local resources to facilitate the actions of federal agencies like ICE. And so I would have a strong training program for my sheriff's deputies, for my jail directors, for our software systems to not assist unjust actions of agencies like ICE. Number two, we need to be filing lawsuits, and we need to be filing lawsuits collectively. I like that King County has recently been forming coalitions of counties and cities around the country and filing lawsuits against these arbitrary and harmful contract criteria that the Trump administration is putting forward. I know we've been successful recently in getting temporary restraining orders. I want us to continue leaning into that strategy - forming coalitions with like-minded localities around the country and suing the Trump administration so that we can stop him and his administration from doing harm to our region. I think we also need to be supporting our Attorney General Nick Brown. I'm proud to have his endorsement in this race. I believe the last time I checked, he was on his 16th lawsuit against the Trump administration in just a matter of months, and I want to have a strong collaboration with his office so that we can continue to defend the things that we care about in King County.

Lastly, we need to put our money where our mouth is. King County is a funding entity. We need to fund the community-based organizations and the non-profits that do the work that we care about and that are supporting our most vulnerable populations. We need to invest in organizations that support gender-affirming care for our trans community members. We need to invest in the nonprofits that support immigrants and asylum seekers in finding housing and mental health services and education for their youth. We need to fund climate action organizations that are seeing their resources dry up, which will absolutely have an impact on our local environment and so much more. So use our funding to back the organizations doing the critical work, and I will absolutely do that.

[00:46:06] Crystal Fincher: So when it comes to transportation, you will have influence over Sound Transit and direct control over King County Metro. What can be done to expand and strengthen King County Metro service and ensure Sound Transit service is delivered on time and on schedule safely and reliably?

[00:46:30] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yeah, I start off with that values statement, Crystal - I think that everyone in our region should have access to safe, reliable, frequent public transportation. It's critical for our environment. It's critical for our economy. It's critical for our values because we know that the people who are lowest income and most vulnerable rely on public transit to survive. Both Metro and Sound Transit are going to be falling off fiscal cliffs in the coming years - I believe Metro sooner than Sound Transit, but both. And in both cases, the revenues that are coming in are not keeping up with the cost of doing business - even the status quo, but certainly not for expanding service and capital projects that we have in the pipeline. And so we need to work diligently to get those costs under control. You know, you do that in a couple of ways - you can increase your revenue, you can reduce your costs. And both options are not great - because in our region, increasing revenues means increasing regressive taxes. We don't have a progressive tax option at King County, and the state has not given us that. I would absolutely advocate to Olympia to give us those progressive options so that we can fully fund our transit service in our region without putting it on the backs of working people. But in light of the environment that we're in, we would have to pursue something like a sales tax through the Transportation Benefits District. Today, we just had our first briefing on a proposal that's being put forward by Councilmember Dembowski and Councilmember Sarah Perry, where they are saying we should tap into our Transportation Benefits District. And just to give you a sense for the tough decisions before us, we have a year where we have many, many new taxes that we are considering - both renewals and new taxes - and they're all for really important things. And so, in light of that context - of a new criminal justice sales tax, renewing the Parks Levy, renewing the EMS Levy, renewing the Fingerprint Technology Levy, and the state has increased taxes and fees on some levels - to introduce a new tax yet again, that's going to be a difficult proposition and we absolutely need to be as well informed as possible, in knowing what would be the consequence if we didn't increase this tax and what is the impact of this tax? So we have that as a revenue option, and if we fund it, we can, you know, fix some of our roads, we can fund some of our Metro Connects vision to increase service hours across the region. And then, in Sound Transit - similar dynamic, you know - in the next decade or so, Sound Transit's revenues are going to fall short of the costs of doing business. And so I was just at a Sound Transit board retreat last week, where the new Sound Transit CEO Dow Constantine, announced a new initiative - the Enterprise Initiative - to really pursue every tool in our toolkit for cutting costs, for getting creative, for pursuing innovation to make sure that we're able to continue to deliver our Sound Transit stations and deliver our services in a way that serves everyone. And I'm looking forward to learning more about that Enterprise Initiative.

[00:50:15] Crystal Fincher: So, in your view, are the challenges that Metro and Sound Transit experiencing directly attributable and predominantly attributable to funding? Or are there any management issues or changes in operation that you think can improve things?

[00:50:30] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: The funding is a huge piece, and we're living through an era of extremely high inflation, so the cost of construction has ballooned. And that's why you see things like the West Seattle Link extension and the Ballard Extension - those are all going to cost much, much, much more, billions of dollars more than we anticipated. So the cost of construction is huge. And then, of course, the fact that we live in a progressive West Coast region, and we fall to the same kind of dynamics described in that book that I described earlier - Abundance by Ezra Klein. We have lots of local control. We have lots of regulations. We have lots of process and that slows the process down and increase costs. And so, absolutely, we all need to get into a room together and continue to plan. I like that we have a new Enterprise Initiative to bring together all of the different stakeholders to really say - What can we do better? You know, which processes can we cut back on? How can we work together earlier? How can we have stronger oversight? How can we have more checkpoints and transparency so that we can catch cost overruns earlier so that we can deliver our projects on time? You know, there's no magic wand. We absolutely need to do the bread-and-butter things better.

[00:52:03] Crystal Fincher: So life expectancy in some parts of King County is up to 10 years shorter than it is in other parts. The longer life expectancies are predominantly in higher income areas, shorter life expectancies in lower income areas - and experts attribute that largely to air pollution. What can be done to mitigate the public health impacts of air pollution from roads and airports?

[00:52:32] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: You know, I'm going to answer this question in a way that is much different than how I would typically answer it - because typically, I would give you a long, laundry list of policy initiatives that I've pursued and that I would pursue as executive. But I think fundamentally - taking a step back - these issues don't get better because the communities who are impacted by them have no political power, or have very little political power. You know, as I'm running for King County Executive right now, I have a vantage point of our political system that a lot of people probably don't - because a lot of people don't run at this level. But our entire political apparatus - ask me how often I get asked about racial justice in my questionnaires or in my interviews. Ask me how often my work as an urbanist, who is focused on racial justice issues, gets highlighted versus when people talk about urbanist ideals - and they talk about trails and trains and really important things, but they will basically discount the things that I've worked on with my community around airport emissions, around pedestrian safety in Skyway - the lack of sidewalks, around the Rainier Valley Safety Master Plan to make sure that a surface level light rail on a super fast highway of MLK, where we have the highest rates of collisions and deaths along that stretch. How often is that work highlighted, valued, and prioritized? How often does the broader electorate vote based on who is going to champion those types of issues? We have a lot of work to do. And a lot of it has to do with the fact that our communities don't have the wealth, don't have the political power or the representation. And that is systemic, absolutely. And I believe in personal accountability, too. We need to be much better at being organized and using our collective power to put pressure on people in power to care about our issues. And so that's why I've launched things like Build the Bench to train people from our communities up so that they can better represent themselves. That's why I've done Budget 101 Town Halls. That's why I fought for participatory budgeting, so that communities like those in Skyway can fund the things that they care about. But really, the model that I tell our communities - whether it's Black communities, Brown communities, immigrant, low-income communities, especially in South King - the model that we should aspire for is what the unions do. No individual member of a union is powerful on their own - these are working class people, blue collar often - but they have found incredibly powerful strategies for using their collective power to push their weight around and get the things that they care about for working people. We need to do that also as communities of color, low-income communities, and so much more - to advance things like environmental justice, which are absolutely not uplifted to the same scale as more traditional climate action policies.

[00:56:07] Crystal Fincher: Are there any particular policies that you would advance or enact, if you're elected to be the executive, to mitigate that air and road pollution?

[00:56:17] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yes. First and foremost, I would work to build up the political power of communities who are most removed from power. I would do that through things like Build the Bench and Civics 101 Town Halls, and stronger partnerships with community-based organizations. I would also fight for really strong clean energy policies, so that low-income apartment complexes in our jurisdiction are using clean energy - so that there is a way of retrofitting existing appliances so that they're relying on clean energy. I would make sure that we change our zoning so that more types of housing can be built in more places and not just in large transit corridors and near highways. Because a lot of the communities that I represent - TOD [transit-oriented development] is a great thing, but if you're concentrating all low-income people along big, highway-like roads like MLK, or building dense apartment complexes like Creston Point right on top of a highway, that is bad for people's public health. And so we need to change our zoning so that more people have access to affordable housing in more different places. I also think that we need to take into account these disproportional impacts in our climate planning. So, when we're talking about the Strategic Climate Action Plan, I want to absolutely highlight that co-designing our climate strategies with these marginalized communities is not an afterthought. It should be absolutely central to all the policies that we pursue, all of the funding that we put forward for climate action should be - those criteria should be co-designed with impacted communities. I also think we need to expand public transportation. We need to electrify our fleet. We need to do so much more just to make sure that communities are not breathing in toxic air.

[00:58:28] Crystal Fincher: Makes a lot of sense. So we asked both you and Claudia to submit questions to ask each other. Claudia sent in a question, and this is as follows: Your platform as King County Executive relies on major new expenditures, not only a billion dollars in debt for moderate-income housing, but also 17,000 new emergency shelter beds - parenthetically, cost unknown - an estimated $30 billion to build out the full planned Metro bus network, likely tens of billions more in sewer and other infrastructure just to name a few. Even without federal rollbacks and state and local budget shortfalls, this would be an unprecedented heavy lift. How do you propose to pay for all of your promises?

[00:59:16] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: I plan to pay for them the same way that all candidates are saying that they're going to pay for really critical initiatives that are required - and that is by taking the time to find new revenue sources and reprioritizing our existing revenue sources. And so if you're talking about the billion dollar Workforce Housing Initiative, for example, I was very clear that I'm asking the executive to explore whether this works and how we can make it work. From my talking to our Budget Director, what he told us is that we could take out a billion dollars of loans and not impact our credit rating whatsoever - we would still be AAA bond rated. We actually have capacity to do up to $9 billion of bond issuances. And I said - Let's try it with $1 billion. Do I know what the executive is going to come back with? No. And that's why I didn't commit us to issuing those bonds at the outset. What I said is, let's do the analysis, let's do the feasibility study, and let's make sure that the math works. And that would be my approach across all of my plans. It is to say that these are my ambitious targets. And we will need either new revenue or to reprioritize our existing revenue. I think there are plenty of places where we could reprioritize because the last administration's priorities are not the exact same as my priorities. And then when it comes to new revenues, we need to thoughtfully pursue new revenues, like this new criminal justice sales tax, which I'm a supporter of. Because the alternative to raising sales tax - which I don't think is ideal - is to cut deeply into our critical public safety services and that's not an option that our community can stomach at this time. And so I would pursue that tax. So in each of these situations, I have ambitious targets that I will work towards. I will think thoughtfully with our financial experts about which path to pursue. And I will be very, very transparent with our communities about the trade-offs that we have in front of us.

[01:01:33] Crystal Fincher: Now we're going back to our regular Hacks & Wonks questions - thank you for answering that. Now, the role of the executive is one of being a manager of the entire county - a very large county, one of the largest in the country. King County Executive Dow Constantine previously left the position. How would your leadership style differ from his? What unique strengths do you bring to the executive role? And what prepares you to be an effective manager of the county and all of its departments and people?

[01:02:06] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: I'll start off with how my managing style would be different. And I would begin by saying that my experiences growing up in South King County - experiencing housing instability and homelessness and gun violence, and so much more, in these communities that are most impacted - I think that is a unique qualifying factor for my position in leadership. In that I would have strong relationships with the communities who are most impacted by these issues, and I would be able to bring them into the decision-making process for more effective policy-making. Number two, I think that my ability to bring people together more broadly, beyond just impacted communities, is really effective - as you can see from the number of endorsements that I've been able to get in my race, from the Governor to the Attorney General, to our members of Congress, who span the full political spectrum. And I think the next executive is going to absolutely have to be able to bring lots of divergent voices together and put them forward on a common path if we're going to solve these problems - because King County on its own is not going to be able to tackle the scale of issues that we're seeing. We're going to have to have effective partnerships across our suburban cities, across the state government, across the federal government. And I believe my endorsements and my ability to work with people is really, really exceptional here.

And then I also believe that the next executive is going to have to work to truly advance a coalition of building and not of bureaucracy. By building, this goes back to what I was talking about - the Ezra Klein book before - we have way too many regulations and processes that are slowing the process down for us to be able to build the housing that we need, the community centers that we need, the healthcare that we need. And I will work thoughtfully to remove as much red tape as possible so that we can build more quickly. And lastly, I would say, likely the biggest difference is my propensity for having boots on the ground. We have a government - in the era of remote work - where lots of people are behind computers, lots of people are removed and disconnected from communities most impacted. I would have a strong policy for shifting as many of my staffing positions as possible to having boots on the ground, to doing community service activities, doing community cleanups, knocking on doors of low-income apartment complexes - getting them plugged into resources, teaching them how King County works, teaching them how our budget works, and really making sure that this is an open, transparent, on-the-ground government. And I don't think it's been doing enough of that so far.

[01:05:19] Crystal Fincher: So, as we move to close this interview today, I think about the number one question, certainly, that I get when asking listeners of Hacks & Wonks what questions they want to ask - a lot of it boils down to, so what is the difference between Girmay and Claudia, anyway? So as you're talking to voters who are trying to figure out what you stand for and how you differ from your opponents - including Claudia - what do you tell them? How do you guide them about how to view you in this race?

[01:05:52] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Yeah, well, first, I'll start off by saying - this is not some traditional Democrat versus Republican type of race. I think Claudia would make a good executive. And if she wins, I'll be happy to support her. I'll say - for me, I want to do things very differently than how they've been done. Like I mentioned before, I want to expand the scope of who participates, of who is seen, of how we prioritize the issues that our communities care about most - because I've been impacted by those issues personally, and the communities that I grew up in have impacted by those personally. When we're talking about the public safety crisis, the homelessness crisis, the affordability crisis - those are the top three issues in our region if you poll the community broadly, but especially if you poll communities in Skyway, South King County, South Seattle. Those are communities who are experiencing these issues most acutely, and I come from these communities and I can partner with these communities. You know, the clearest example that I can give you is the public safety crisis. If you recall, I talked to you about the people cycling in and out of our jails four times or more in that study that King County did 10 years ago. That population is something like 40% to 50% Black in a region where our community is in the single digits, right? Super over-representation. So the policies that we have to pursue - if we are actually going to solve this problem of familiar faces cycling in and out of jail, of our youth disproportionately being victims of and perpetuators of gun violence, of our homeless population being disproportionately from our communities - we have to do things differently. We have to show up with solutions that are effective and scientific and culturally informed. And I feel that I'm the best person in this race to advance those policies. And you can see it from my track record, you can see it from my relationships, and you can see it from my approach. And I hope that I can earn your support as the next King County Executive.

[01:08:15] Crystal Fincher: Well, thank you so much for joining us today. We sincerely appreciate you taking the time and sharing where you stand with our listeners and the public. Thank you so much.

[01:08:24] Councilmember Girmay Zahilay: Thank you so much, Crystal.

[01:08:26] Crystal Fincher: Thank you for listening to Hacks & Wonks, which is produced by Shannon Cheng. You can follow Hacks & Wonks on Bluesky @HacksAndWonks. You can find me on Bluesky at @finchfrii - that's F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I. You can catch Hacks & Wonks on every podcast service and app - just type "Hacks and Wonks" into the search bar. Be sure to subscribe to get the full versions of our Friday week-in-review shows and our Tuesday topical show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave a review wherever you listen. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacksandwonks.com.

Thanks for tuning in - talk to you next time.