Biography
 Dow Constantine was sworn in as King County Executive on November 24, 2009. He has served King County for seven years, most recently as chair of the County Council and has held elected office in Washington state for 13 years.
A Seattle native, Dow graduated from West Seattle High School and the University of Washington. He received University of Washington post-graduate degrees in law (1989) and urban planning (1992).
Dow became interested in politics at an early age and in college served as a legislative intern to the 34th District State Sen. Phil Talmadge. After graduation he practiced law and worked on a number of community projects. While helping with efforts to preserve open space, he first worked with a young County Council member by the name of Greg Nickels.
Dow was appointed to the King County Council in January 2002, and won election to the office three times—in November of 2002, 2003, and 2005.In 1996 and 1998, Dow won election to the State House of Representatives, where he served as co-chair of the House Judiciary Committee. He was elected to the State Senate in 2000 and served as vice chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee and vice chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Today, Dow lives in the West Seattle neighborhood where he grew up.
As King County Executive Dow is working to make King County government more efficient and performance-based – giving citizens maximum value for each tax dollar. Dow is a member of both the Sound Transit and RTID (Regional Transportation Investment District) boards of directors. Dow is a major backer of water borne transportation alternatives, including the West Seattle water taxi. As chair of the Capital Budget Committee and a four-year member of the Council’s budget leadership team, he worked to help the county maintain service levels in the face of shrinking revenues and increasing health care costs. Dow worked the King County Council to slow the growth of King County’s jail expenditures through such innovations as drug court, mental health court and driver re-licensing programs.
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