There were no major surprises and no local celebrities throwing their hats in the ring when the filing date for local elections came and went June 8. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s race created the most local attention and even there the story was more in who wasn’t running for office.

One Republican and two Democrats filed for the Prosecuting Attorney’s office, vacated when longtime prosecutor Norm Maleng died on May 24. Acting Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg, Maleng’s longtime Chief of Staff, will be the lone Republican candidate in the August primary. Two Democrats will square off on August 21—current Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Bill Sherman, who ran for the State Legislature from Seattle’s District 43 last year, and former Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Keith Scully. On June 7, King County Council member Bob Ferguson, announced he wouldn’t seek the prosecutor’s opening. Former Seattle City Attorney Mark Sidran had also been mentioned as a Democratic candidate for the job.

In Seattle City Council races, 16 candidates will vie for the five slots that are on the ballot this year. Five candidates have filed for the open council position made vacant when Peter Steinbrueck decided not to run for a fourth term in Position 3: Scott Feldman, a technical marketing manager; Bruce Harrell, who worked as a lawyer at Seattle City Light for 30 years; John Manning, a former City Council member who resigned in 1997 after being arrested on domestic violence charges; Al Runte, a former UW professor who unsuccessfully ran for Seattle mayor in 2005; and Venus Velasquez, a public-relations consultant who was one of the finalists for a spot on the Council when Jim Compton resigned last year.

Jean Godden’s challengers for Position 1 are Lauren Briel, a sales-manager for a commuter-information group; Robert Sondheim, owner of Rosebud’s on Capitol Hill; and Joe Szwaja, a high-school teacher who ran against U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, as a member of the Green Party in 2000. Sally Clark, who was appointed to fill the vacant Position 9 a year ago is challenged by Bob Brown, a retired Seattle fire-fighter; Judy Fenton, a self-employed food concessionaire; and Stan Lippman, a lawyer, who has run for several City Council positions.

David Della, who like Godden and Tom Rasmussen is completing his first full term in office, is opposed by Tim Burgess, a former police officer and head of his own fund-raising agency.

Rasmussen was the big winner in last week’s filings. The Position 5 incumbent will be unopposed in the August primary.

—R.V. Murphy